Ozawa Takes A Break

Conductor Seiji Ozawa curtailed his performance load last week at the JapanNYC music festival, which the 75-year-old maestro had a hand in creating and developing.

The festival, which takes place at 23 venues in New York City but is centered at Carnegie Hall, comprises 65 concerts and exhibitions about the arts and culture of Japan.

Though Ozawa was declared cancer-free following surgery last year to remove part of his esophagus, his recovery involved a long period of rest that aggravated his chronic back problems, making it difficult for him to remain standing for more than 20 minutes at a time.

The centerpiece of the festival was to be Ozawa’s performances with the Saito Kinen Orchestra, a group he formed expressly for another festival that takes place at the end of every summer in Matsumoto, Japan, in honor of his late mentor, Hideo Saito.

Ozawa will conduct the second halves of certain scheduled programs during the festival and will be replaced by Tatsuya Shimono for the first half.

Shimono is a conductor for the Yomiuri Symphony who also stepped in for Ozawa at this year’s Saito Kinen Festival.
JapanNYC runs through December and will continue in the spring.