Words are Music, Music are Words Vol. 7
“The Orgelbüchlein Project - Completing J. S. Bach’s Plan” Ⅰ, Produced by Naomi Matsui

Naomi Matsui graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, where she also completed a master’s program. She continued her studies at the Freiburg State University of Music where she obtained her Konzertexamen with highest distinction. She has won first prize in various national and international competitions, including the 2nd Japan Organ Competition and the 21st Budapest International Competition. She gives recitals regularly in Japan, Europe, and Asia, and has been actively involved in performing with major orchestras worldwide. Her eight-year project “J.S. Bach: Complete Works for Organ,” which began in 2014 at Musashino Civic Cultural Hall and has just concluded in 2022, has received rave reviews. Currently, she serves as organ advisor at MUZA Kawasaki Symphony Hall. She is professor emerita at Seitoku University.

Hatsumi Miura graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts, majoring in Organ, and then received an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory in Boston. She has studied organ with Michio Akimoto, Tsuguo Hirono, Reiko Shimada, Michiko Kikuchi, Guy Bovet, and Yuko Hayashi. Currently she is a part-time lecturer at Ferris University and organist at St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Yokohama. She was awarded the Yokohama Culture and Arts Encouragement Prize in 2007 and the Yokohama Culture Award in 2021.

Megumi Tokuoka graduated and completed her graduate studies at Tokyo University of the Arts. Further studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg followed. During her studies abroad, she won prizes at several international organ competitions and was awarded the DAAD Prize by the Hochschule. Since returning to Japan, she has performed in concert halls and churches throughout the country as well as in Europe.

Currently Megumi Tokuoka is Organist in Residence at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre and Toyota City Concert Hall, and she is also a lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts. She serves as an organist at Katakura Church of Christ and the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo. She has recorded several CDs, among them "Schumann and Brahms Organ Works" (Belgium), "10th Anniversary Toyota City Concert Hall Organ", "Puer natus in Bethlehem" (Hamburg) and "Die Kunst von Buxtehude" (Stade).

Jean-Philippe Merckaert began his musical studies in Mons, Belgium. He graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, where he studied with Olivier Latry and Michel Bouvard, earning the First Prize in organ. He also obtained a Master's degree in classical composition at the Royal Conservatory of Mons.

He won Second Prize at the Gottfried Silbermann Organ Competition in Freiberg (2007) and at the Musica Antiqua Competition in Bruges (2009).

In 2003, he spent a year as resident organist at Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara, and he is currently organist at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre and Nasunogahara Harmony Hall.

His recordings include J. S. Bach's Leipzig Chorales (Porrentruy, Switzerland) and transcriptions of orchestral works by Franck, Saint-Saëns, and Debussy (Paris).

Masayo Katsuyama was born in Osaka, Japan. She graduated from Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music with a degree in organ performance. She was awarded Akanthus Music Prize, and the scholarship of Yasuda-Seimei quality of life. She won the third prize in the International Schnitger Organ Competition in 2003 in Alkmaar, Holland. She studied at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel and is currently devoted primality to concert for children.

Satoko Kawagoe earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Tokyo University of the Arts, and the Diplôme Supérieur from the Centre d'Études Supérieures de Musique et de Danse de Toulouse. She studied organ with Hideyuki Kobayashi, Michel Bouvard, and Jan Willem Jansen. In 2006, she won Second Prize at the Andrea Antico da Montona International Organ Competition. She has served as the first hall organist at the Tokorozawa Civic Cultural Centre MUSE and as associate organist at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. Invited to festivals in France, Austria, Belgium, Russia, and Spain, she has performed at notable venues including Notre-Dame Cathedral and La Madeleine in Paris (2018). Her CD Liaisons, featuring French Classical organ works, was recommended by The Asahi Shimbun. She currently teaches at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music and Tokai University, and is a member of the Japan Association of Organists and the Japan Organ Society.