My 50th anniversary concerts have begun.
The first big stage among them was held at the Minato Mirai Main Concert Hall.
It was a festive kind of concert in which I performed with my brother Akira Senju, who is also celebrating his 40th anniversary, and we performed opera arias (arranged by Akira Senju) and his other works together.
On the day before the concert, we discussed our costumes and we decided to change our costumes between the first half and the second half to wear suitable outfits to match the programme for this special anniversary concert.
Five minutes before the start of the show.
I was waiting backstage opening my violin case, trying to resist the mounting excitement.
Akira, who was looking at the audience through the viewing window at the stage right, suddenly softened his expression on his face and came over to me and whispered.
“Mari-chan, there are so many friends of yours sitting in the front row!”
My brother smiled with a mischievous look as though he had seen something very amusing.
Oh…in the first two rows? Our eyes might meet…What should I do?
I felt a bit shy and made a troubled face, but inside, I was filled with a sense of joy that made me want to jump up and down. Should I avoid making eye contact, or should I make sure to look into everyone’s eyes? The bell rang to announce the start of the performance before I could decide.
The stage lights were on, and the stage manager opened the backstage door encouraging us to step out onto the stage.
When I stepped onto the stage as usual, but with the excitement of the 50th anniversary…
I saw the group of my friends right in the middle of the first two rows, smiling and waving something “yellow and square shaped” in their hands toward me.
Wow, what they were holding were Feiler towel handkerchiefs, which had just gone on sale as a limited edition of my 50th anniversary product! Feiler created this special product using a motif of Mount Fuji, designed by my elder brother Hiroshi Senju.
My friends had bought them immediately and were showing them to me. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing, and even my brother standing next to me joined in.
It happened when I stepped onto the stage, a moment when there usually was a certain tension between the performers and the audience…but the tension soon dissolved softly thanks to my friends in front of me.
I started playing the song “Kimi wo Shinjite”, the theme song from the NHK morning drama series “Honmamon”, a bright and hopeful tune that matched my feelings, and we were able to have a good start.
Then, Akira and I took the microphones on the podium to give a greeting speech to the audience.
It was at that moment.
An amazing sight came into my eyes.
My friends had unfurled a banner!
“Akira-san, congratulations on your 40th anniversary!
Mari, congratulations on your 50th anniversary!”
It was the first time in my 50 years on stage that, I saw a banner!
It usually does not happen in classical music concerts, so it was a complete surprise for me and I was full of joy.
“So, it is my 50th anniversary this year!”, I thought.
I somehow felt like realizing this fact for the first time and was filled with a very fresh sense of joy.
I saw friends in the front two rows waving to me holding up the banners with big smiles on their faces.
I felt hot with excitement with various memories from my childhood with those friends flashing in my mind.
When I was in junior high school, my friends would take turns rubbing my stiff shoulders after concerts. During my difficult times, when I hid in the bathroom and cried, my friends would call out to me with kind words.
As I glanced at the banner losing my words from joy, I realized that it was only the two of us and the orchestra on stage, plus the audience seated behind the stage could see the banner. My brother and I thanked them over and over again and said, “Please turn around and let everyone in the hall see it too!”, and our friends turned around and unfurled the banner to the 2000 people in the hall.
The warm applause from the audience brought a heartwarming atmosphere once again.
I was deeply touched, feeling yet again, that it was the 50th anniversary since my debut.
It became a concert where I sang my heart out with the Stradivarius Duranty, expressing my gratitude from the bottom of my heart.
My friends are the same age as me, meaning they are also in their 60s now, and yet they had prepared this surprise for me feeling a little timid. I heard afterward that they were scared that they might be told off by the concert organizers, but they still made this beautiful banner and spread it in front of me with everyone’s help.
I got so emotional each time I thought about it.
My other friends who were not among those with the banners, also kindly shared their joy with me.
Some of the audience kindly said and smiled to me during the autograph session after the concert, “I felt like I was unfurling the banner together” and “I felt so good just watching it” and “You have wonderful friends!”
I was also really happy to see comments on Instagram and Facebook saying that they also could feel the warmth of the event.
Using this warmth as my energy, I would like to express many “Thank you” and “Love” from the stage through my music in the 50th anniversary year.
