World-Renowned Conductor Seiji Ozawa Dies at 88
Tokyo, Feb. 9 (Jiji Press)--World-renowned Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa died of heart failure in his home in Tokyo on Tuesday, it was learned Friday. He was 88.
Ozawa was a pioneering Japanese conductor on the world stage, serving as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for roughly 30 years.
Born in modern-day northeastern China in 1935, he studied under composer Hideo Saito at the Toho Gakuen Music High School. He moved to France in 1959 and won the International Competition for Young Conductors in Besancon, France.
He later studied under top conductors Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein and took up roles such as conductor at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and music director of the San Francisco Symphony.
Ozawa also served as music director of the BSO for nearly three decades from 1973. He made guest appearances with prestigious European orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic.
He was chosen as conductor for the Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert of 2002. That year, he began his tenure as music director for the Vienna State Opera to 2010.
Ozawa was involved in the globally-acclaimed Saito Kinen Orchestra, which mainly comprised Saito's students, with the first Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto held in 1992 in the city of Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan. The event was renamed the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival in 2015, with Ozawa becoming its director.
He also trained young musicians through the Mito Chamber Orchestra and the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Opera Project.
His esophagus was removed due to cancer in 2010, and he underwent surgery for back pain the following year. Since then, he took intermittent breaks from his activities.
Ozawa won the Grammy Award for best opera recording in 2016 with a recording of Maurice Ravel's opera "L'Enfant et les Sortileges."
He appeared at the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival last September in a wheelchair and reunited with U.S. composer John Williams.
Ozawa was awarded the Order of Culture in 2008. His daughter Seira is an essayist, while his son Yukiyoshi is an actor. Pop musician Kenji Ozawa is a nephew.
In a statement, the Vienna Philharmonic said it mourns the loss of Ozawa, calling him "one of the great conductors of our time."
He "left a great artistic legacy with the Vienna Philharmonic," the statement said.
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