Seiji Ozawa

Improved Essays
Seiji Ozawa is a Japanese conductor, known for his work with the San Francisco Symphony and Boston Symphony, and his advocacy for modern composers. At the age of 15, Ozawa sprained his finger in a rugby game, unable to continue studying the piano; he shifted his musical focus from piano performance to conducting. Over the course of his lifetime, Ozawa has received international acclaim and many awards from a number of institutions. Ozawa also holds a number of honorary doctorate degrees from schools around the globe. A familiar face in American classical music, Seiji Ozawa has influenced many, through passionate conducting with technical brilliance and “a sense of ferocity” (Midgette) that captured the viewer. Seiji Ozawa was born on September …show more content…
Instead, Ozawa conducted the NHK Symphony Orchestra’s rival, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1964, Ozawa was appointed as the first music director of the Ravinia Festival, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and was there until 1968, serving as the festival’s principal conductor in 1969. He served as Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1965 to 1969. After Toronto, Ozawa led the San Francisco Symphony from 1970 to 1977, leading the symphony in its first commercial recordings in a decade, in 1972, with music inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The San Francisco orchestra took a European tour, including a Paris concert, led by Ozawa in 1973. However, Ozawa left the San Francisco Orchestra after a dispute with a players committee over the issue of granting tenure to two young musicians selected by Ozawa. He was the resident conductor for the Singapore Philharmonic Orchestra from 1977 to 1979, and ended up returning to San Francisco as a guest conductor in 1978 for a concert featuring music from Tchaikovsky’s ballet, Swan Lake. Ozawa is also the first and only Japanese conductor to have been Music Director of the Vienna State Opera, directing from

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Symphony is a multi-movement instrumental work for an orchestra originating from the Italian Sinfonia, which was an instrumental prelude to large-scale vocal works such as opera and oratorio. Sinfonia comprises of 3 movements written at the tempo sequence of fast- slow fast. According to Dr. Nolan Gasser, the new trend of adopting opera sinfonia for concert use emerged in the 1720s and 30s and soon, composers such as Giovanni Battista Sammartini and Johann Stamitz began composing symphonies as an independent work. Three symphonies from Johann Stamitz, Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven will be used in this paper to compare four elements –movement structure, length of the first movement, instrumentation and the compositional techniques used…

    • 259 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is one of the most praised composers of Russia and perhaps of all time. During his life, Tchaikovsky created many notable works. He created ballets such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and most famously The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky also was responsible for Operas like Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades. Tchaikovsky even wrote the Coronation March for Tsar Alexander III.…

    • 1007 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jose Kusugak

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In 2008, the Canadian government created the Indian residential schools truth and reconciliation commission which started its work to achieve an official order of reviewing the history of Canada’s Indian residential schools. The Canadian residential school system is, a system created for aboriginal people in Canada, to achieve the best chance for success by learning the English language and more importantly assimilating to Canadian culture therefore, passing it down to their children in hopes of native traditions to diminish. The Canadian government assumed that native children would have a higher chance of succeeding if they spoke English or French and adapted to mainstream Canadian society therefore, the Canadian government created this…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On Sunday, June 21st, I went to see the Dallas Symphony Orchestra perform “The Music of John Williams and Hollywood’s Great Composers” at Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco. The concert was held in the church’s worship room at 6:30pm. This was a great place for the DSO to perform because the audience and the orchestra were very close and, in a way, felt more personal. The show included fourteen pieces: “Overture to Captain Blood by Korngold, ‘Tara’ – A Short Poem for Orchestra from Gone with the Wind by Steiner, arr.…

    • 877 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Conducted by Maestro James Brooks-Bruzzese, the symphony orchestra began their tribute with the song La Gaza Ladra Overture. This operatic melodrama first premiered in May 1817 at Milan’s La Scala. The eloquently executed overture…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Chenghis Khan

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The rise of the Mongols was absolutely dependent on Chenghis Khan. Chenghis Khan was a unique and intelligent leader. The movie started with Chenghis Khan choosing his bride with his dad, but later his dad was poisoned by another clan. Chenghis Khan didn’t give up on himself from his dad’s death; instead he swore to revenge for his dad. After his father’s death, Chenghis Khan’s clan fall and people rebelled, Chenghis Khan’s tried to escape, but he was captured over and over again no matter how many times he ran.…

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Beethoven Musical Museum

    • 1348 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Despite it originally being seen as a necessity by some, the abstraction of the musical museum is shown, in some ways, to negatively impact the musical world. While a new culture surrounding the concert halls has emerged, having the audience crave serious art, new composers like Brahms struggle to find a style that can win over the audience and square up in quality to the greatest of previous composers, like Beethoven. Others like Cage state that music must change, and the museum does not aid in that process. There are valid arguments for and against the musical museum, but despite one’s views, the museum has made an effect in the culture of concert halls as well as on the composers.…

    • 1348 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Genji Classical Hero

    • 2111 Words
    • 9 Pages

    In music, a form of art, Genji exhibited his phenomenal skills by playing the lute ata court affair. SIgnificantly, music in the Japanese court was important to many celebrations and affairs making Genji’s…

    • 2111 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is one of his most eminent symphonies. The Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, A polish orchestra that was founded in 1901, played out Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major in the 2011 Tchaikovsky Competition. The competition was held in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia (CITATION).…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I attended the American Landscapes performed by Oklahoma State University Symphony Orchestra and Dr. Thomas Dickey conducted the orchestra. The concert was held at the Serentean Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. At the concert, I was an amateur, listener to this type of music. I had never witnessed a live performance of this musical style before. I would consider myself to be a passive listener.…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Pictures are worth a thousand words, but classical music is worth far more than that. From medieval to baroque to romantic, classical music has been used to eloquently articulate emotions in a way in which words do not suffice. Emotions can be generalized as jovial or lugubrious, stern or radiant, but classical music mixes all them. Modern 20th century composer Dmitri Shostakovich composed a range of musical works, ranging from operas to symphonies. However, one work often overlooked are his pieces for string quartets.…

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Curtis Chamber Orchestra, played Violin Concerto No.1, No.3, and No 5. All three musical pieces consisted of unique characteristics, but I must say my favorite and the most memorable one is, Concerto No.1 in B-flat major, K. 207 with Hsuan- Hao Hsu on the violin. The downbeat, instantly caught the audience’s attention, bringing focus to the tempo and to its upbeat and joyful theme. It has a very charming and soothing sound to it, that creates more excitement, leaving the audience wanting more.…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    This was the world 's first collaborative online orchestra. This extraordinary event took place at Carnegie Hall on April 15, 2009. The orchestra is made of 96 musicians and amateur musicians from 30+ countries and territories on six continents. There was also 26 different instruments included in the orchestra. The music that was played came from mozart, Debussy, and many others.…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The orchestra performed very well and helped with accurately describing the emotions of the actors throughout the show. They even incorporated some of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s music in the show, which really helped with setting the mood of the plot. I will be discussing the…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On Thursday, September 29th at 7:30pm I attended the LU Symphony Orchestra Concert in Towns Auditorium. Prior to the concert beginning, I noticed a wide variety of instruments on the stage. There were some instruments that I did not know the name of but for the most part, I knew a large majority of the string, woodwind and brass instruments presented. The last time that I went to a symphony was when I was in elementary school, so attending an orchestral concert in college was a much different experience. I was fascinated by the diversity of instruments.…

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays