Seiji Ozawa
is a
Japanese
conductor. He is particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late
Romantic works.
Born in Hoten (
Shenyang),
Manchukuo, he studied at the
Toho School of Music in
Tokyo and graduated in 1959 before travelling to Europe for further study.
Charles Munch eventually took Ozawa to the
United States of America for lessons at the Berkshire Music Center (now
Tanglewood). He won a scholarship to study with
Herbert von Karajan and the
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 1961 he was appointed an assistant conductor of the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra by
Leonard Bernstein. He was
music director of the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1965 to 1970, of the
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra from 1969 to 1976, and of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1973 to 2002. Since then, he has been music director of the
Vienna State Opera.
Ozawa has also been an advocate of
20th century classical music, giving the premieres of a number of works including
György Ligeti's
San Francisco Polyphony in 1975 and
Olivier Messiaen's opera
Saint François d'Assise in 1983.
On
February 1,
2006,
Vienna State Opera announced that he had to cancel all his performance commitment for 2006 due to his illness.
* Sony Classical:
Seiji Ozawa* Special web site of Seiji Ozawa photos and more: [
1][
2]
* The Long Career of the Boston Symphony's Music Director[
3][
4]
* Seiji Ozawa: Definition and Much More From Answers.com[
5]
* Book recommendation: "Seiji: An Intimate Portrait of Seiji Ozawa" (Hardcover) by Lincoln Russell (Illustrator), Caroline Smedvig (Editor)[
6]
* International Music Academy of Switzerland :
IMAS
