Maestro Ozawa Back in Shape

Japan's renowned conductor Seiji Ozawa, 79, visited Kissei Cultural Hall August 26 and told reporters how bad he felt to have "caused inconveniences". Ozawa had had his waist bone broken amid the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival (OMF) in Matsumoto, Nagano.

He fell over August 1 and cancelled his opera performance slated later this month.

" I thought that was it when I had my waist bone broken in the bathroom, but lucky I still can walk now", said Ozawa. He said ten minutes would be as far as  he could walk but "I'm OK".

He celebrates his 80th birthday September 1 and conducts the celebration concert -  "just last part of it". Another concert slated September 6 he said he would "very much like to conduct".

A brilliant conductor of international repute and founder of the Matsumoto Music Festival, Ozawa has of late suffered from health disorders. In January 2010, he had to cancel all of his engagements for six months to undergo treatments for esophageal cancer. Pneumonia and back survey are among other health problems he has had thus far.

Health issues aside, Seiji Ozawa is as buoyant as ever. Last year, he conducted Berlioz' "Symphonie fantastique" to demonstrate his agility and this year he had the 23-year-old "Saito Kinen(Memorial) Orchestra" renamed to "Seiji Ozawa Matumoto Festival". 

"You feel kind of embarrassed when your name stands out this way", he admitted. This is not his first time, he said, referring to a hall in Tanglewood named after him. 

Leading musicians are coming to celebrate his 80th birthday concert on September 1. He is anxious to meet them to solicit,"in passing", their support to his Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival".

"I will be conducting a hard piece", he says, to show them I'm not that sick". He is scheduled to conduct Berlioz' opera "Béatrice et Bénédict ".