Seiji Ozawa

Seiji Ozawa (September 1, 1935 – February 6, 2024), [16] was born in Shenyang, China. He was a Japanese conductor. [3]

In 1951, he was admitted to the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo and studied conducting with Hideo Saito. [3] In 1959, he won the championship of the Besançon International Conducting Competition in France. [3] In 1960, he won the first prize in the international competition presided over by Herbert von Karajan. [3] In 1961, he served as the assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra; [3] in the same year, he made his debut on the stage of Carnegie Hall, conducting in cooperation with the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. [4] In 1962, he served as the conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra. [3] From 1965 to 1964, he served as the conductor of the Ravinia Festival Orchestra. [4] Starting from 1965, he served as the music director and principal conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in Canada. [3] In 1970, he served as the music director and principal conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in the United States. [3] In December 1976, he paid a one-week visit to Beijing and Shanghai in China. [4] In 1978, he made his first cooperation performance with the Central Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of China in Beijing. [4] In 1979, he led the Boston Symphony Orchestra to visit and perform in Shanghai and Beijing in China.

In 2000, he founded the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy. [10] In 2002, he served as the conductor of the Vienna New Year’s Concert. [12] In 2004, he led the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to hold a concert in the Great Hall of the People. [11] In October 2005, he led the “Seiji Ozawa Music Academy” to conduct a tour in China. [10] In 2007, he conducted the Symphony Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera in Shanghai, China. [9] In 2010, he suffered from esophageal cancer; in December of the same year, he conducted the Saito Kinen Orchestra in Carnegie Hall in New York, USA, which was his first performance after the esophageal cancer surgery. [8] In 2015, he won the Kennedy Center Honors. [3] In 2016, he won the Grammy Award; [3] in the same year, he cooperated with the conductor Zubin Mehta to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. [6]

On February 6, 2024, the Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa passed away at home due to heart failure at the age of 88.