The figure of Japanese director Seiji Ozawa became legendary As one of the first Asian musicians to conquer the main musical catwalks in the West. He was born in Shenyang (occupied China) in 1935. He died in Tokyo on February 6, at the age of 88.As announced by Vienna’s main lyrical venue, the Wiener Staatsoper, where Ozawa was musical director between 2002 and 2010. He is considered one of the most important conductors of the last 60 years.Evgeni Onegin had a large repertoire of operas with various titles such as Queen of Spades, Falstaff, Ernani, Jenůfa, The Flying Dutchman, Manon Lescaut, Wozzeck, Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Elektra or Fidelio.
Master Ozawa graduated from the School Music He gained recognition by winning the Toho of Tokyo and the Besançon Directors’ Competition in 1959. (France); He later expanded his studies at the Tanglewood Music Center in Boston and later went to Berlin, where he assisted Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein and enjoyed triumphs with the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. His career in the United States led him to sign contracts with major record labels. In 1973, he succeeded as conductor of the Boston Symphony, where he reviewed and recorded an extensive symphonic repertoire.
After almost three decades of working with the North American troupe, Ozawa focused on his work as head of the music department of the Vienna Opera, without giving up on continuing his collaborations with such highly prestigious ensembles as the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony and the National Orchestra. In France, he participates as a guest in the seasons of lyrical stadiums such as La Scala in Milan, the Paris Opera, Covent Garden in London or the Salzburg Festival.
At the Vienna Opera, where flags are lowered to half-mast in his memory these days, musicians remember him for the importance he gave to troupe rehearsals.He engages with intensity and passion and without resorting to the hierarchical thinking characteristic of some famous batons; on the contrary, Ozawa was a man as humble as he was wise.and his performance, both operatic and symphonic, was characterized by a friendly treatment as well as a deep knowledge of the scores. He will also be remembered for being a major music disseminator and leading educational projects for children and youth. “We must do our best to introduce children to the beauty of music. “And if we can get just one percent of the 3,500 kids who attend a show to be enthusiastic about music, a lot will have already been achieved,” he said.
Among many other titles, he holds honorary doctorates from universities such as Massachusetts, Harvard or La Sorbonne, the New England Conservatory and Wheaton College in Norton. He founded the Saito Kinen Orchestra and Festival (Matsumoto, Japan), received an Emmy for a TV series dedicated to his relationship with the Boston Symphony, a Grammy for his recording of L’enfant et les sortilèges, and conducted the New Year’s concert in 2002. Concert in Vienna.