ZUM TOD DES JAPANISCHEN DIRIGENTEN SEIJI OZAWA

09.02.2024 Der am 1. September 1935 in Shenyang, Mandschukuo (heute Volksrepublik China) geborene japanische Dirigent Seiji Ozawa (Bild) ist am 6. Februar 2024 in Tokio gestorben. Nach einem Rugby-Unfall, bei dem sich der damalige Klavierstudent zwei Finger brach, wechselte Ozawa zu den Fächern Komposition und Dirigieren, die er 1958 abschloss. Er bekam ein Stipendium bei Herbert von Karajan. 1961 wurde er Assistenzdirigent von Leonard Bernstein für die New Yorker Philharmoniker. Ein Jahr später gab er selbständige Konzerte mit der San Francisco Symphony. Er wurde Musikdirektor u.a. beim Toronto Symphony Orchestra und beim Boston Symphony Orchestra und durchlebte eine Weltkarriere als Gastdirigent. 2002 wurde Ozawa Musikdirektor der Wiener Staatsoper. Von Ozawa gibt es rund 400 Einspielungen auf CD, vor allem mit dem Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Bild: Seiji Ozawa, 2015 - Foto: U.S. Departement of State, https://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos/23612670105/ - Public domain - Datei: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seiji_Ozawa_20151205.jpg?uselang=de

Seiji Ozawa, Japan’s trailblazing maestro, dies at 88

With a career that spanned decades, Ozawa’s legacy is certain to live on through the countless musicians he mentored, the cultural bridges he built and the enduring impact he had on the world of classical music.

(…)

A true ambassador of cultural exchange, Ozawa played a pivotal role in fostering connections between nations through music. Notably, he was invited by the Chinese government in 1978 to work with the China Central Symphony Orchestra (now China National Symphony Orchestra) for a week. A year later, he brought the Boston Symphony Orchestra on a historic visit to China, strengthening cultural ties between the two nations. He also took the San Francisco Symphony to Moscow in 1973 to perform with Mstislav Rostropovich.

Jessica Speed

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2024/02/09/music/seiji-ozawa-dies/

World-renowned Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa dies at 88

He studied under Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan and U.S. conductor Leonard Bernstein, which paved the way for him to become assistant conductor at the New York Philharmonic in 1961.

His international reputation was established by serving as the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 29 years through 2002, which, according to its website, is the longest in its history.

In 2002, he became the first Japanese to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Day concert. He was music director of the Vienna State Opera from 2002 to 2010, while receiving honorary membership to the Vienna Philharmonic.

Kyodo News

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/02/570a67eb091f-bulletin-japanese-conductor-seiji-ozawa-dies-at-88.html

Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa dies at 88

Ozawa, known for his work with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and other world-famous ensembles, suffered a series of health problems in recent years which forced him to cancel some of his concert and music festival appearances, Kyodo News reported.

Born in 1935 in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning province, Ozawa lived in China with his Japanese parents in childhood.

He later pursued formal training in music, studied under world-renowned conductors and served as the music director for prestigious orchestras such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera.

His music talent, long and illustrious career had earned him numerous international awards and honors.

(Xinhua)

https://english.news.cn/20240209/bd80c155e0c94589b4a1e655469f016e/c.html

A Tribute to Seiji Ozawa

With great sorrow, the Boston Symphony Orchestra announces the death of its beloved Music Director Laureate, Seiji Ozawa.

https://www.bso.org/stories/a-tribute-to-seiji-ozawa

Seiji Ozawa, famed conductor of Boston Symphony Orchestra, dead at 88

Boston was home base for Mr. Ozawa for the 29 seasons he served as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1973-2002), the longest tenure of any music director in the BSO’s history.

“For Seiji, music started with silence, a blank canvas,” said the cellist Yo-Yo Ma. “He would then paint and illustrate a whole universe in a way the world had not seen before, and rarely since. It’s difficult to be a pioneer and he did so with grace, serving as a source of hope and inspiration for me, especially as an Asian American artist. To collaborate with him was to exchange intuition and emotion at the deepest level. But most of all, I remember Seiji as a joyful, kind, caring human being.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/02/09/metro/seiji-ozawa-famed-conductor-of-boston-symphony-orchestra-dead-at-88/

Seiji Ozawa, a Captivating, Transformative Conductor, Dies at 88

Mr. Ozawa was the most prominent harbinger of a movement that has transformed the classical music world over the last half-century: a tremendous influx of East Asian musicians into the West, which has in turn helped spread the gospel of Western classical music to Korea, Japan and China.

For much of that time, a widespread prejudice even among knowledgeable critics held that although highly trained Asian musicians could develop consummate technical facility in Western music, they could never achieve a real understanding of its interpretive needs or a deep feeling for its emotional content. The irrepressible Mr. Ozawa surmounted this by dint of his outsize personality, thoroughgoing musicianship and sheer hard work.

James R. Oestreich

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/09/arts/music/seiji-ozawa-dead.html

Seiji Ozawa, groundbreaking Japanese conductor, dies at 88

Seiji Ozawa, the shaggy-haired, high-voltage Japanese maestro who served as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for almost 30 years and was among the first Asian conductors to win world renown leading a classical orchestra, died Feb. 6 at his home in Tokyo.

Tim Page

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/02/09/seiji-ozawa-conductor-bso-boston-dead-obituary/

Muere Seiji Ozawa, el director de orquesta japonés más occidental, a los 88 años

El maestro vivía retirado desde 2010 por el tratamiento de un cáncer de esófago. Su última aparición sobre un escenario sucedió en 2022, dirigiendo la obertura ‘Egmont’ de Beethoven

Pablo L. Rodriguez

https://elpais.com/cultura/2024-02-09/muere-seiji-ozawa-el-director-de-orquesta-japones-mas-occidental-a-los-88-anos.html

La scomparsa di Seiji Ozawa

Fisico minuto e chioma molto caratteristica, Seiji Ozawa aveva un gesto estremamente espressivo e movimenti danzanti quando saliva sul podio. Nel novembre 2022, in condizioni fisiche già molto precarie, Seiji Ozawa era tornato sul podio su sedia a rotelle per dirigere la “sua” Saito Kinen Orchestra nell’Ouverture dell’Egmont di Beethoven per una trasmissione dal vivo dalla Stazione Spaziale Internazionale per la prima volta nella storia. Uno sforzo estremo per lui, già molto malato, che voleva essere una testimonianza di fratellanza attraverso la musica per tutte le popolazioni del pianeta.

Stefano Nardelli

https://www.giornaledellamusica.it/news/la-scomparsa-di-seiji-ozawa

Le réputé chef d'orchestre japonais Seiji Ozawa est mort à l'âge de 88 ans

Le célèbre chef d'orchestre japonais Seiji Ozawa, qui a conduit les orchestres les plus réputés du monde, est mort chez lui à Tokyo, ont annoncé vendredi des médias japonais. (…)

Attaché à ses racines nippones, il avait fondé, en 1984, l'Orchestre International Saito Kinen avant de créer, en 1992, un festival qui prendra 22 ans plus tard son nom et deviendra le grand rendez-vous annuel des interprètes japonais.

agences/olhor

https://www.rts.ch/info/culture/musiques/2024/article/le-repute-chef-d-orchestre-japonais-seiji-ozawa-est-mort-a-l-age-de-88-ans-28397193.html

Japanischer Stardirigent Seiji Ozawa 88-jährig gestorben

Ozawa war von 2002 bis 2010 Musikdirektor der Wiener Staatsoper und arbeitete in allen wichtigen Opernhäusern der Welt. Er gilt als einer der ersten Asiaten, der im Klassik-Bereich im Westen große Anerkennung fand.

APA

https://www.diepresse.com/18081833/japanischer-stardirigent-seiji-ozawa-88-jaehrig-gestorben

Japanischer Dirigent von Weltrang

Auch wenn Ozawa fraglos zur Elite jener glamourösen Jetset-Dirigenten gehörte, die den Mainstream perfekt zu bedienen wissen, darf man nicht vergessen, dass er überdies ein Anwalt der zeitgenössischen Musik war. Die Liste der von ihm uraufgeführten Werke ist lang. Sie reicht von Cage, Xenakis, Ligeti bis zu Henze und Ozawas Landsmann Tōru Takemitsu. Für immer jedoch wird Ozawas Name mit Olivier Messiaens epochalem Opern-Oratorium "Saint François d'Assise" verbunden bleiben, das er 1983 in Paris überwältigend aus der Taufe gehoben hat.

Fridemann Leipold

https://www.br-klassik.de/aktuell/news-kritik/nachruf-japanischer-dirigent-seiji-ozawa-gestorben-100.html

Immer auch Rocker

Seiji Ozawa war ein neugieriger Klangmagier. Er konnte alles und dirigierte überall.

Ozawa konnte europäische Musik verzaubern, ohne sie esoterisch oder impressionistisch verrinnen zu lassen. Jeder Klang bei ihm birgt ein Lebensgeheimnis, das er, ohne je zu eifern, formulierte.

Reinhard J. Brembeck

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/seiji-ozawa-nachruf-1.6346943?reduced=true

Er war ein Meister dreier Kontinente

Vielseitig, eruptiv und von tänzerischer Energie am Pult des Dirigenten: Er vereinte die Ekstatik Leonard Bernsteins mit dem Perfektionismus Herbert von Karajans.

Gerhard R. Koch

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/buehne-und-konzert/zum-tod-des-dirigenten-seiji-ozawa-samurai-und-rumpelstilzchen-19509120.html

Die Berliner Philharmoniker verlieren einen Freund

(Er) begegnete (…) allen Werken mit demselben Respekt und derselben Höflichkeit wie den Musikern, mit denen er seine feingeistigen Interpretationen realisierte. Bei den Berliner Philharmonikern pflegte er schon vor Konzertbeginn die Hände aller Instrumentalisten zu schütteln, die er vom Dirigentenpult aus erreichen konnte.

Frederik Hanssen

https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/dirigent-seiji-ozawa-gestorben-die-berliner-philharmoniker-verlieren-einen-freund-11189557.html

Er diente sieben Jahre, um selbst ein Diener der Musik zu werden

Temperament am Pult, Genauigkeit in der Probenarbeit, Freundlichkeit und Bescheidenheit im Umgang zeichneten den Japaner aus, der es aus bescheidenen Anfängen auf die ersten Bühnen der Musikwelt schaffte.

Julia Spinola

https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/nachruf-der-dirigent-seiji-ozawa-ist-gestorben-ld.1489016?reduced=true

Videos:

Young Performers: Seiji Ozawa 小澤征爾 / Ozawa · Bernstein レナード・バーンスタイン · New York Philharmonic, 1962

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CGYWYp7T9w

Seiji Ozawa conducts Berlioz's "The Damnation of Faust" in 1973

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6agMsvKLRGo

Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 (Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0pCTiclkm4

Beethoven: “Egmont” Overture / Ozawa · Berliner Philharmoniker, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AoU-IHVf2c

Classic Talk: Seiji Ozawa