Complex sentence: He spent the last years of his life giving master classes in the United States, Europe and Japan: he was an inspiring teacher, preferring to work on phrasing and the mood of a song rather than French diction.
Split into simpler sentences: He spent the last years of his life giving master classes in the United States, Europe and Japan. He was an inspiring teacher, preferring to work on phrasing and the mood of a song rather than French diction.