Seiji: An Intimate Portrait of Seiji Ozawa
by By Russell, Lincoln, Russell, Lincoln (ILT), Russell, Lincoln (EDT), and Smedvig, Caroline (EDT)
Category: Music , Instruction & Study , Conducting

Seiji Ozawa's twenty-fifth anniversary with the Boston Symphony Orchestra this year makes him the longest-tenured music director in the distinguished orchestra's history. This collection of striking photographs and personal tributes celebrates the charisma and career of this remarkable musician by capturing Ozawa at work, at play, and in private. The photographer Lincoln Russell has spent twenty years photographing Ozawa and was allowed unusual, behind-the-scenes access to the conductor. His photographs feature many of the artists who have appeared with Ozawa, from Mstislav Rostropovich to Jessye Norman, but they perhaps best capture the man himself, an Ozawa that, until now, only BSO insiders have known -- quirky, complicated, and most of all joyful. Intermixed with these candid images are personal tributes from Ozawa's notable colleagues and friends, a group whose diversity indicates the true scope of his influence: Steven Spielberg, Yo-Yo Ma, James Taylor, Andre` Previn, and John Williams, among others. Born in Shenyang, China, in 1935, Seiji Ozawa began his association with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Center in 1960. He was appointed music director in 1973 at the age of thirty-eight. Under his leadership, the BSO has strengthened its international reputation and its commitment to new music. Maestro Ozawa has appeared regularly with the world's greatest orchestras -- most memorably, he led separate choruses on five continents simultaneously in Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" at the opening ceremonies of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan.