Opera Chic

Too Much Cool For One Stage: Ozawa's JapanNYC at Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall's JapanNYC festival kicked off on Tuesday in a city-wide celebration of Japanese culture that resumes in March & April 2011 to complete its 65 events. This week's launch (consisting of three concerts) commenced with Artistic Director Seiji Ozawa conducting the 26-year-old Saito Kinen Orchestra, which he co-founded with fellow conductor Kazuyoshi Akiyama to honor his late mentor Hideo Saito.

Tuesday's concert consisted of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (with soloist Mitsuko Uchida), Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, and the U.S. premiere of a Carnegie Hall commission, Atsuhiko Gondai’s Decathexis, both Ozawa and Tatsuya Shimono sharing in the conducting duties, earlier cited for health reasons.

Above the Maestro pauses for an adorable breath. Below, Uchida takes a bow (with Shimono on the far left and composer Atsuhiko Gondai rocking the red jacket).

Ozawa Back to the Podium

Reuters reports:

Japan's most famous orchestral conductor, Seiji Ozawa, returned briefly to the stage Sunday following a nine month battle with throat cancer. Ozawa arrived to open the Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto city, central Japan, to deafening applause, explaining that he was back as he took up the conductor's baton for Tchaikovsky's "Serenade for Strings" but with a bad back.

"Allow me to apologize to you today. I was taken care of by superb doctors so I can say I have graduated from being a cancer patient but there's one small snag -- my back, which had in the past given me trouble is bad again," Ozawa told concert-goers.

Honored to have you back, maestro.

Ozawa the King, Fleming the Princess, and Dutilleux, the ummm, Dutilleux

Seiji Ozawa -- that adorable gray mouse of a 73-year-old conductor -- is back in the Henri Dutilleux saddle. Tonight at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, he'll herald France's premiere of the Dutilleux song cycle, "Le Temps l'horloge" with Renee Fleming and Orchestre National de France.

The American premiere of Hank's work was in November 2007 with James Levine and the BSO, while only a month prior, Ozawa led the world premiere in Japan. The 9-minute song cycle, comprised of three songs and written expressly for Fleming, is based on French poems from Jean Tardieu & a WWII Nazi victim memorial inscription by Robert Desnos.

France is all about a bukkake of Ozawa-related stuff these days, so today Radio France is throwing an Ozawa-fête, where they'll devote the entire day of programming to the Japanese maestro.

The highlight is a live stream from Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, which will broadcast the 8:00 pm concert. In addition to Fleming and the Dutilleux song cycle, the program includes Ravel's Ma Mère and music selections from Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette. Ozawa conducts Orchestre National de France.

Le Figaro is carrying a story with Ozawa, who they've appropriated as ~King of French Music~. We're gonna go ahead and appoint Édith Piaf as the Queen and MC Solaar as the Prince...thanks in advance.

Jennifer Aniston's Opera Debut: Onegin In Vienna

Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin @ Vienna's State Opera (in the cast, Nadia Krasteva, Tamar Iveri, Simon Keenlyside) conducted by Seiji Ozawa and directed by Falk Richter, premieres on March 7 and marks the debut on the operatic stage of Jennifer Aniston (Opera Chic, once upon a time, had come out in favor of Team Aniston basically in a lesser-of-two-evils choice over the appalling Mlle Jolie).

La Jen appears on the cover of an old Russian GQ magazine, for reasons better left unsaid by Herr Doktor Richter.

Ozawa Out 5 Weeks With Back Injury; Andris Nelsons Steps Up To The Plate Podium

Ozawa out five weeks with a back injury; will be replaced by Andris Nelsons.

Get well soon Maestro!