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Death of Seiji Ozawa: an illustrious career that began in Besançon

By 22 February 2024February 3rd, 2025No Comments

Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa died on 6 February at the age of 88. In 1959, at just 24 years old, he won First Prize at the Besançon International Competition. It was the start of a remarkable international career.

Seiji Ozawa – The 9th Competition for Young Conductors – 1959

A great figure in classical music, Seiji Ozawa launched his career by winning the Besançon Competition for Young Conductors in 1959, quickly becoming the competition’s most emblematic winner.

After travelling for more than 60 days by cargo ship, he arrived in France on his moped to take part in the Young Conductors’ Competition. He recounted the rest of his story to France Musique in 2008.

‘I was very lucky in 1959, I arrived in France in the spring and it was almost too late to register for the Competition. During the Competition, I met Charles Münch [conductor] and Eugène Bigot [conductor and President of the Competition between 1958 and 1964]. Eugène Bigot was an excellent teacher of orchestral conducting; he was known as ‘Mr Metronome’ because of his maniacal accuracy. I studied with Eugène Bigot and then Charles Münch invited me to come to the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer session in 1960. At the end of the session, I won the Koussevitzky scholarship, which enabled me to become Mr Bernstein’s assistant at the New York Philharmonic and I was invited to take part in the [Herbert von Karajan] Karajan Competition to become his pupil. I owe it all to Besançon!’

Seiji Ozawa was the first Asian conductor to make a name for himself throughout the world, leading major orchestras such as the Boston and Chicago orchestras and the Vienna Philharmonic.

His brilliant success has given the Besançon Competition a very high profile throughout the world, and particularly in Asia, inspiring many young artists hoping to follow in his footsteps.

In recent days, the number of testimonies from conductors and musicians around the world has multiplied, reminding us of the immense conductor he was and the role model he embodied for several generations of young conductors, such as Maestro Yutaka Sado (President of the jury of the 58th Besançon Competition):

‘Without him, I would never have wanted to be a conductor. I was lucky enough to receive his advice and have some wonderful experiences with him […] Of course, I remember his many excellent performances. But what I miss most is his personality: his unpretentious humour, his dynamism, his kindness, his fairness and his good humour.’

Seiji Ozawa and the Besançon Festival

Seiji Ozawa, Besançon Music Festival © DR

Six years after his triumph, Seiji Ozawa – then Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra – returned to Besançon for the opening concert of the 18th Festival and 15th Competition (1965). He conducted the Orchestre Philarmonique de l’ORTF with a program mixing Mozart, Martinon and Berlioz (Symphony Fantastic).

Seiji Ozawa returned the following year (1966) to close the Festival and the Competition with an equally exceptional program: Mozart (Symphony in G major), Messiaen (Seven Haïkaï), Debussy (Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune) and Stravinsky (The Firebird). We still have two INA recordings of this performance, which you can discover at the bottom of the page.

The Maestro opened the 32nd Festival (1979) conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Palais des Sports in Besançon (program: Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony; Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony).

In 2007, at the peak of his career, Seiji Ozawa chose to return to Besançon to celebrate the Festival’s 60th anniversary and the 50th Young Conductors’ Competition. In a special nod to the Festival, he performed Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony with the Orchestre national de France in a memorable closing concert at Micropolis before a captivated audience. On this occasion, the Mayor of Besançon, Jean-Louis Fousseret, awarded him the title of honorary citizen of Besançon.

Seiji Ozawa, Music Festival – 2007 © Yves Petit

Seiji Ozawa’s career is one of dazzling brilliance

Born of Japanese parents, he was born on 1 September 1935 in China. But it was at the Toho School of Music in Tokyo that he was introduced to the music of the Occident. His first master, Hideo Saito, taught him the essential technical foundations that would later enable him to travel to Europe and the United States, where the tradition and repertoire of Western music were firmly established.

In 1959, he won First Prize in the Besançon Conducting Competition. From then on, he took off. Charles Münch invited him to conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. Seiji Ozawa was then taught by Herbert von Karajan in Berlin, before furthering his training with Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein, whom the student described as a ‘genius’, took him on tour with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to Japan.

During his American years, Seiji Ozawa was musical director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1965 to 1969, before being appointed conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra from 1970 to 1976. He also served as Principal Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he made his mark until 2001.

Now back in Europe, where he was Music Director of the Vienna Opera from 2002 to 2010, Seiji Ozawa continues to cultivate his ties with Japan.

Seiji Ozawa is the founder of several academies, including the Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy Okushiga and the Ongaku-Juku Academy in Japan, as well as the Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland in Geneva.

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