Over 7,000 Children Attend Concert Dedicated to Seiji Ozawa; Performance Closes 2024 Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival, The First Since Ozawa’s Death

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:17 JST, September 14, 2024

MATSUMOTO, Nagano — More than 7,000 children attended the Concert for Children, the final program of a month-long festival dedicated to late maestro Seiji Ozawa, in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.

Sixth-grade elementary school students in the prefecture were invited to the concert on Sept. 4 at Kissei Bunka Hall in the city, which closed the 2024 Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival (OMF).

The annual international music festival, whose performances are all dedicated to founder and director Ozawa, attracted a wide audience from within and outside the prefecture, who came to pay their respects to the achievements and personality of the late maestro.

The Concert for Children was held from Sept. 2 to Sept. 4. On the final day, the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Orchestra performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, with American Carl St. Clair as conductor. The concert ended with a song sung by all the children present in unison.

“It was so cool how the conductor and the orchestra were in perfect sync. I want to go to a concert again,” said an 11-year-old elementary school student after the concert.

This year’s OMF was the first since Ozawa passed away in February. During the month-long event, a total of 13,500 people attended paid shows and appreciated top-class performances by musicians such as the Saito Kinen Orchestra.

According to the OMF’s executive committee, next year’s festival will be held from Aug. 10 to Sept. 9, 2025. Nodoka Okisawa will continue to serve as the principal guest conductor and will conduct Benjamin Britten’s opera “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”