Seiji Ozawa

Seiji Ozawa , 1935-, Japanese conductor, b. Manchuria. A graduate of the Toho School of Music, Ozawa won competitions in Europe and the United States and was hired (1961) by the New York Philharmonic as an assistant conductor. He was director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (1965-70) and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (1970-73) before he served as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for almost thirty years, from 1973 to 2002. In 2002, he left Boston to become director of the Vienna State Opera. Ozawa was the first Japanese conductor to gain recognition in the West. Interested in performing unfamiliar works, he is noted for the breadth of his repertoire and the clarity, sensitivity, and precision of his technique.

Ozawa, Seiji (b Fenytien (now Shenyang), China, 1935). Japanese cond. Won int. cond. comp., Besançon, 1959. Début Tokyo, NHK Orch. Ass. cond. to Bernstein, NYPO 1961–2 and 1964–5. Cond. Ravinia Park Fest., Chicago, 1964–8; Toronto SO 1965–9; S. Francisco SO 1970–6; Boston SO 1973–2004; Vienna State Opera from 2004. London début 1965; Salzburg Fest. début 1966 with Vienna PO, opera 1969 (Così fan tutte, this being his opera début); CG 1974; NY Met 1992. Cond. f.p. of Messiaen's St François d'Assise (Paris, 1983).