In Memoriam ’24] Playing with a Chihuahua in a Shopping Arcade…An Unexpected Expression of Seiji Ozawa, the “World’s Ozawa” as Seiji Ozawa was seen by this magazine

Many famous people sadly passed away in 1924. We look back on the activities of the past and remember the deceased, based on the articles and other information we have published in the past.

The “NHK Symphony Orchestra Incident” was a turning point

Conductor Seiji Ozawa passed away peacefully on February 6 at his home in Tokyo. He was 88 years old. The cause of death was heart failure.

The news of the death of Seiji Ozawa, who was known as “The World’s Ozawa,” came via his office’s official website.

Mr. Ozawa was born in 1935 in Shenyang (formerly Mukden), China. He first wanted to be a pianist, but when he was in junior high school, he broke the index finger of his right hand playing rugby, so he switched to conducting. He became a student of conductor Hideo Saito, and after graduating from the music department of Toho Gakuen Junior College, he went to France in 1959. During his stay in Paris, he won the Besançon International Competition for Conductors that same year and studied under Charles Munch, who was a member of the jury, as well as such renowned masters as Karajan and Bernstein.

The “NHK Symphony Orchestra Incident” in 1962 is said to have been a turning point for Ozawa, who was active on the world stage at a young age. When Mr. Ozawa was between 26 and 27 years old, the NHK Symphony Orchestra invited him as a guest conductor, but he eventually had a friction with the orchestra members and was boycotted from performing. This incident led Mr. Ozawa to decide not to pursue musical activities in Japan, and he began to focus more on the world.

In 1973, he became the Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, one of the five major orchestras in the U.S. In 2002, he became the Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, one of the five major orchestras in the U.S. He was appointed to the position of Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, He served as Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, one of the five major orchestras in the U.S., for 29 years until 2002. It is said to be unusual for one conductor to serve as music director of the same orchestra for nearly 30 years.

In Japan, he was involved in the founding of the New Japan Philharmonic in 1972, and he was also involved in the development of the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto (now the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival), held annually in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, from a memorial concert held 10 years after the death of his former teacher, Hideo Saito. He also served as music director for the 1998 Nagano Olympics.