Seiji Ozawa (born September 1, 1935) 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.
Preceded by:
Walter Susskind
Musical Directors, Toronto Symphony Orchestra
1965-1969
Succeeded by:
Karel Ančerl
Preceded by:
Josef Krips
Music Directors, San Francisco Symphony
1970-1977
Succeeded by:
Edo de Waart
Preceded by:
William Steinberg
Musical Directors, Boston Symphony Orchestra
1973-2002
Succeeded by:
James Levine
