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“A Tribute to Director Seiji Ozawa: Celebration of Seiji’s Life” from Sep. 1st on YouTube

On Aug. 17th, as a special event of the 2024 Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival, "A Tribute to Director Seiji Ozawa—Celebration of Seiji's Life," was held receiving a tremendous response. We are pleased to announce that the live recording of this event will be released for free on Seiji Ozawa's official YouTube channel on Sep. 1st, which marks his 89th birthday.

The "Celebration of Seiji's Life" was organized to express gratitude to the Maestro, who dedicated over 30 years to the development of "Matsumoto—City of Music," as a Director of the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival (OMF). The Saito Kinen Orchestra(SKO), under the baton of OMF's principal guest conductor Nodoka Okisawa, presented Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus." Additionally, J.S. Bach's "Air" and Mozart's Divertimento K. 136, 2nd movement were performed without a conductor, evoking a moment that felt as if Maestro Ozawa himself were on the podium, creating the music together.

A specially edited video was also screened, revisiting precious moments shared with the Maestro. The event was hosted by Yumiko Udo, who met Maestro Ozawa during the Nagano Olympics and has maintained a close friendship with him ever since. The event concluded with a speech by Yumiko Udo and gratitude remarks from Seira Ozawa, SKO Representative and daughter of Seiji Ozawa.

This event welcomed one-thousand citizens of Matsumoto City and Nagano Prefecture as special guests, and public viewings were also held at two designated venues in Matsumoto.
Through the free release on YouTube, we hope that people not only in Japan but around the world will have the opportunity to share in Ozawa's belief that "people around the world are connected at the roots" and celebrate his remarkable life together.

Seiji Ozawa’s official YouTube channel