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Acclaimed Japanese Conductor Seiji Ozawa Dies at Age 88

Former Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Seiji Ozawa conducts the orchestra during a rehearsal of Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique," at Symphony Hall, in Boston, on Nov. 26, 2008. (AP)
Former Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Seiji Ozawa conducts the orchestra during a rehearsal of Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique," at Symphony Hall, in Boston, on Nov. 26, 2008. (AP)
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Acclaimed Japanese Conductor Seiji Ozawa Dies at Age 88

Former Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Seiji Ozawa conducts the orchestra during a rehearsal of Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique," at Symphony Hall, in Boston, on Nov. 26, 2008. (AP)
Former Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Seiji Ozawa conducts the orchestra during a rehearsal of Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique," at Symphony Hall, in Boston, on Nov. 26, 2008. (AP)

World-renowned conductor Seiji Ozawa has died of heart failure at his home in Tokyo, his management office said Friday. He was 88.

The acclaimed Japanese maestro led the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1973 to 2002, longer than any other conductor in the orchestra’s 128-year history. From 2002 to 2010, he was music director of the Vienna State Opera.

Ozawa exerted enormous influence over the BSO during his tenure. His celebrity attracted famous performers like Yo-Yo Ma. He won two Emmys for television work with the orchestra.

When Ozawa conducted the Boston orchestra in 2006 for the first time since he left four years before, he received a hero’s welcome with a nearly six-minute ovation.

Ozawa was also the artistic director and founder of the Saito Kinen Festival, Japan’s music and opera festival.

Ozawa died on Tuesday at his Tokyo home, according to his management office, Veroza Japan. His funeral was attended only by close relatives as his family wished to have a quiet farewell, his office said.

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Entertainment

Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Aya Nakamura: Set for Olympics Opening Ceremony?

Lady Gaga said she was recording a new album. Tolga Akmen / AFP/File
Lady Gaga said she was recording a new album. Tolga Akmen / AFP/File
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Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Aya Nakamura: Set for Olympics Opening Ceremony?

Lady Gaga said she was recording a new album. Tolga Akmen / AFP/File
Lady Gaga said she was recording a new album. Tolga Akmen / AFP/File

World-famous stars are in line to perform at Friday's opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, which will take place along the Seine river.
The exact line-up is a tightly guarded secret, but here are three performers strongly rumored to be appearing:
Lady Gaga
One of the world's biggest-selling artists, pop queen Lady Gaga -- real name Stefani Germanotta -- brings extravagant showmanship and costumes to the stage, along with her infectious electropop beats.
She won an Oscar for "Shallow", a song she co-wrote for the 2018 film remake "A Star is Born".
In that film she sang the classic "La Vie en rose" by French legend Edith Piaf -- whose songs are expected to feature in the Olympics extravaganza.
Lady Gaga was seen arriving at a hotel in the French capital days ahead of the opening bash.
Her anticipated Olympic turn comes during a busy year for the Oscar-winning US songwriter, 38.
Earlier this month she announced she was back in the studio at work on a new album.
She also appears as love-interest Harley Quinn in the new "Joker" movie, screening at the Venice Film Festival that starts in late August.
"Music is one of the most powerful things the world has to offer," she said prior to her electrifying 2017 Super Bowl halftime show performance.
"No matter what race or religion or nationality or sexual orientation or gender that you are, it has the power to unite us."
Celine Dion
Canadian superstar singer Dion is set to return to the spotlight after her fight against a rare illness was laid bare in a recent documentary.
She has been posing for selfies with fans around Paris since the start of the week.
Sources have indicated she may sing Piaf's stirring love anthem "Hymne A l'Amour" at the ceremony.
If she performs it will be the 56-year-old Dion's second time at the Games, after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Last month she vowed she would fight her way back from the debilitating rare neurological condition that has kept her off stage.
Dion first disclosed in December 2022 that she had been diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disorder.
But she told US network NBC in June: "I'm going to go back onstage, even if I have to crawl. Even if I have to talk with my hands, I will. I will."
She has sold more than 250 million albums during a career spanning decades, and picked up two Grammys for her rendition of "My Heart Will Go On", the hit song from the 1997 epic "Titanic".
Aya Nakamura
Franco-Malian R&B superstar Aya Nakamura, 29, is the most listened to French-speaking singer in the world, with seven billion streams online.
She is known for hits such as "Djadja", which has close to a billion streams on YouTube alone, and "Pookie".
She faced down a wave of abuse from right-wing activists over her mooted Olympics appearance.
The backlash came after media reports suggested she had discussed performing a song by Piaf at a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron.
Neither party confirmed the claim but Macron publicly backed the singer for the Olympics ceremony.
Far-right politicians and conservatives have accused her of "vulgarity" and disrespecting the French language in her lyrics.
Born Aya Danioko in the Malian capital Bamako in 1995 into a family of traditional musicians, she moved with her parents to the Paris suburbs as a child.
She told AFP in an interview in 2020 her music was about "feelings of love in all their aspects".
"I have made my own musical universe and that is what I am most proud of. I make the music I like, even if people try to pigeon-hole me."