Conductor Seiji Ozawa was best known for his long tenure of 29 years as the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra -- one of the most durable in the history of the American orchestral scene. Ozawa was noted for his advocacy of contemporary music, even early in his career, when such a thing was rare among American orchestra conductors of top rank.

Ozawa was born in Mukden, in Japanese-occupied northeastern China (now Shenyang, China), on September 1, 1935. He started piano lessons at seven, and when the family returned to Japan in 1944, he got serious about lessons, studying the music of Bach intensively. With dreams of a career as a concert pianist, Ozawa enrolled at Tokyo's Toho Gakuen School of Music. His keyboard career came to an end, however, when he broke both his index fingers while playing rugby. A sympathetic teacher, Hideo Saito, took him to see a performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 ("Emperor"). Far from regretting his lost opportunity, Ozawa became fascinated by the role of the conductor, at the time a rare occupation among Japanese musicians. He conducted Japan's NHK Symphony Orchestra and Japan Philharmonic during his student years, and after finishing his studies in Tokyo, he headed for Europe with hopes of undertaking further studies. He had to support himself for a time as a motor scooter salesman, but when he saw a poster for the International Competition of Orchestra Conductors in Besançon, France, in 1959, he entered the contest and won. Even better, one of the judges was Boston Symphony conductor Charles Munch, who invited Ozawa to travel to Massachusetts for conducting classes at the Tanglewood Summer Festival. Ozawa walked away with the festival's Koussevitsky Prize, and with a scholarship to travel to Berlin for studies with arguably the most famous conductor of the day, Herbert von Karajan. During this sojourn, he also attracted the attention of New York Philharmonic conductor Leonard Bernstein, who gave Ozawa lessons and hired him as an assistant conductor for two seasons.

Ozawa served as the music director of Chicago's Ravinia Festival from 1964 to 1968. His first major orchestral post was as the music director of the Toronto Symphony from 1965 to 1969, where he championed and recorded works by Messiaen and Takemitsu that, at the time, were rarely heard on major symphony programs. His orientation toward contemporary music only grew after he became the principal conductor of the progressive San Francisco Symphony in 1970, taking the orchestra on a European tour and remaining in his post until 1977. After returning to Tanglewood as the artistic advisor in 1970, Ozawa was hired as the music director of the Boston Symphony in 1972. The move was a bold one on the orchestra's part; Japanese musicians were not well known in the U.S. at the time, and Ozawa was just 37. He also became the artistic director of the Tanglewood Festival.

As far back as his time in Japan, Ozawa sometimes showed a prickly personality that led him into conflict with musicians and colleagues. His tenure in Massachusetts continued this pattern as he attempted a major reorganization at Tanglewood that led to the resignation of several longtime instructors in the '90s. His tenure with the Boston Symphony was also controversial, especially during his later years with the group, but what is inarguable is that his leadership, which extended until 2002, was rarely excelled for sheer durability. That year he moved to the Vienna State Opera as the principal conductor, remaining there until 2010. He continued his association with Tanglewood. In 2013, Ozawa was sidelined for treatment of esophageal cancer, but he returned to a busy schedule of recordings and guest conducting slots.

Ozawa's recording catalog is vast, numbering more than 275 items as of the early 2020s. He made numerous recordings with the Boston Symphony for Deutsche Grammophon, RCA, Philips, and other labels. He favored contemporary music, not only by marquee names but also by lesser-known composers, and was an enthusiastic conductor of Mahler, Stravinsky, and French music, but his recorded performances range as far afield from these specialties as Gershwin. Ozawa has remained active on recordings into old age, releasing a recording of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 19, with pianist Martha Argerich on the Decca label in 2020 (in a live performance recorded several years earlier). On that recording, Ozawa led Japan's Mito Chamber Orchestra, which he had advised, supported, and often conducted since its formation in 1990. Ozawa's long list of awards includes the Kennedy Center Honors in 2015. Ozawa died in early February 2024 from heart failure. ~ James Manheim

The Saito Kinen Orchestra (Japanese: サイトウ・キネン・オーケストラ) is unique among the symphonic ensembles of the world: it forms annually, with a rotating membership, to memorialize the great Japanese teacher Hideo Saito. It was co-founded by conductor Seiji Ozawa, one of Saito's students.

Hideo Saito (1902-1974) was one of the first Japanese musicians to undergo extended training in the West, studying cello at the Leipzig Music Academy from 1922 to 1927. Returning to Japan, he served as principal cellist of the New Symphony Orchestra (now the NHK Symphony Orchestra) and became an extremely influential teacher in later years. He founded several music schools, including the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo in 1961. Saito led student ensembles from the school on international tours, doing much to implant the idea that Japanese ensembles would be competitive on the world classical music stage. Saito died in 1974, and to observe the tenth anniversary of his death, conductors Seiji Ozawa and Kazuyoshi Akiyama organized a memorial concert to mark the event, gathering students of Saito who were playing in orchestras around the world. The musicians played without pay. The concert was intended as a one-time event, but in 1987, Ozawa and Akiyama recalled that Saito had laid stress on taking Japanese musicians to perform in the homelands of European composers, and they organized a tour of European capitals. This tour was a success and was repeated in 1989 and 1991, with an appearance at the Salzburg Festival in 1990. In 1992, the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto was established in the city of Matsumoto, Japan; it is now called the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival. The Saito Kinen Orchestra has since performed there annually, adding new musicians, some of them Ozawa's students, each year. The festival also includes master classes. The orchestra also gives concerts in Tokyo and has continued to tour. In 2008, a panel from Britain's Gramophone magazine named the Saito Kinen Orchestra one of the top 20 orchestras in the world. The group has had various conductors, but Ozawa has remained the general director. For the first time in 28 years, the orchestra's appearances at the festival in Matsumoto were canceled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the festival's other events.

Despite its changing membership, the Saito Kinen Orchestra has consistently recorded critically acclaimed albums. The group has recorded for Sony, Philips, and mostly for Decca since 2000, where it's 2015 recording of Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges won a U.S. Grammy award. In 2016, the orchestra recorded Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 ("Pastoral") and Leonora Overture No. 3, Op. 72a for Philips. ~ James Manheim