Grammy Award to Seiji Ozawa on Recording of Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges

Seiji Ozawa's Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges was awarded the best opera recording at the ceremony of the 8th Grammy Award, February 15. It's another landmark of the renown Japanese conductor now pushing 81 this September.

The recording was made live at a concert of the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto in 2013 at Matsumoto, Nagano.

Seiji Ozawa was born in Manchuria in 1935 is today one of the leading conductors alive, having served permanent conductor and music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 30 years and conducted the Berlin Philharmonic and other leading orchestras of the world. According to the recordings distributor Universal Music, Ozawa had been nominated for Grammy 8 times previously and this was his first awarded a Grammy.

The recording was made live of the entire performance of L'enfant et les sortilèges at the music festival at Matsumoto. Commenting on the festival's homepage, Ozawa said:

"This L'enfant et les sortilèges is a work made jointly by myself and my dear members of the Saito Kinen Orchestra and those great singers. Thanks to all of them, we had a great time rehearsing and performing the work.

"The recording is a culmination of Matsumoto's vitality as a music festival. I'm so proud to have created this recording - all of us together. I want to share the pleasure with my great companions."

The Boston Symphony Orchestra congratulated Osaza's feat in its official twitter and also commended in its homepage that Ozawa is one of the w greatest musical figures in the world of classical music.

Last December, Seiji Ozawa received the Kennedy Center Honors customarily awarded to those who have contributed to the arts and culture of America. Ozawa was the first Japanese to receive the award.