An unsigned Monday (8/2) article by the AFP news service reports, “Acclaimed Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa plans a comeback concert next month, declaring he has started his ‘second life’ after surgery for esophagus cancer and seven months of treatment. The 74-year-old Vienna State Opera musical director, who was diagnosed with the illness in January, held a practice session with young musicians in the central Japanese city of Matsumoto on Sunday, his office said. ‘I feel like I’m dreaming because I can conduct again now,’ he told a news conference in the town, where he is scheduled to perform at the Saito Kinen Festival on September 5, his first concert in over half a year. Ozawa said he was wearing a new concert suit because he had lost 15 kilogrammes (33 pounds) due to his illness.…Ozawa has had a long career spanning the globe, spending nearly three decades at the Boston Symphony Orchestra before moving to Vienna in 2002.… Ozawa cancelled a string of European appearances for December this year, but said a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York will go ahead as planned on December 14.”
Posted August 3, 2010
