Seiji Ozawa is a Japanese conductor known for his advocacy of modern composers and for his work with the San Francisco Symphony, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna State Opera, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he served as music director for 29 years.
31 Facts About Seiji Ozawa
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Seiji Ozawa went to the Toho Gakuen School of Music, graduating in 1957.
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Almost a decade after the sports injury, Seiji Ozawa won the first prize at the International Competition of Orchestra Conductors in Besancon, France.
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In 1960, shortly after his arrival, Seiji Ozawa won the Koussevitzky Prize for outstanding student conductor, Tanglewood's highest honor.
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Under the tutelage of von Karajan, Seiji Ozawa caught the attention of prominent conductor Leonard Bernstein.
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In December 1962 Seiji Ozawa was involved in a controversy with the prestigious Japanese NHK Symphony Orchestra when certain players, unhappy with his style and personality, refused to play under him.
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Seiji Ozawa went on to conduct the rival Japan Philharmonic Orchestra instead.
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From 1964 until 1968, Seiji Ozawa served as the first music director of the Ravinia Festival, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
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Seiji Ozawa was music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1965 to 1969 and of the San Francisco Symphony from 1970 to 1977.
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Seiji Ozawa was involved in a 1974 dispute with the San Francisco Symphony's players' committee that denied tenure to the timpanist Elayne Jones and the bassoonist Ryohei Nakagawa, two young musicians Ozawa had selected.
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Seiji Ozawa returned to San Francisco as a guest conductor, conducting a 1978 concert featuring music from Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake.
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Between 1964 and 1973, Seiji Ozawa directed various orchestras; he became music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1973.
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Seiji Ozawa won his first Emmy Award in 1976, for the Boston Symphony Orchestra's PBS television series, Evening at Symphony.
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In December 1979, Seiji Ozawa conducted a monumental performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the Peking Central Philharmonic.
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In 1998, Seiji Ozawa conducted a simultaneous international performance of Beethoven's Ode to Joy at the opening ceremony of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
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Seiji Ozawa stepped down from the BSO music directorship in 2002.
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Seiji Ozawa became known for his unorthodox conducting wardrobe, where he wore the traditional formal dress with a white turtleneck, not the usual starched shirt, waistcoat, and a white tie.
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In 2001, Seiji Ozawa was recognized by the Japanese government as a Person of Cultural Merit.
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Seiji Ozawa continues to play a key role as a teacher and administrator at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer music home that has programs for young professionals and high school students.
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On New Year's Day 2002, Seiji Ozawa conducted the Vienna New Year's Concert.
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Seiji Ozawa returned to conducting in March 2007 at the Tokyo Opera Nomori.
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Seiji Ozawa stepped down from his post at the Vienna State Opera in 2010, to be succeeded by Franz Welser-Most.
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In October 2008, Seiji Ozawa was honored with Japan's Order of Culture, for which an awards ceremony was held at the Imperial Palace.
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Seiji Ozawa is a recipient of the 34th Suntory Music Award and the International Center in New York's Award of Excellence.
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On January 7,2010, Seiji Ozawa announced that he was canceling all engagements for six months in order to undergo treatments for esophageal cancer.
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On December 6,2015, Seiji Ozawa was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors.
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Seiji Ozawa holds honorary doctorate degrees from Harvard University, the New England Conservatory of Music, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, National University of Music Bucharest, and Wheaton College.
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Seiji Ozawa is a Member of Honour of the International Music Council.
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Seiji Ozawa has three brothers, Katsumi, Toshio, and Mikio, the latter becoming a music writer and radio host in Tokyo.
30.
Seiji Ozawa is married to Miki Irie, a former model and actress, born in 1944 in Yokohama and who is a quarter Russian and three-quarters Japanese; he was previously married to the pianist Kyoko Edo.
31.
Seiji Ozawa has two children with Irie, a daughter named Seira and a son named Yukiyoshi.