Seiji Ozawa’s Triumph Is Decades-Long

Re “World-Class Welcome Home for Ozawa” (Sept. 7): Readers need to be informed of the facts, which Teresa Watanabe’s article does not do.

Watanabe conveys that Seiji Ozawa returned to Japan for the first time in 30 years. She also stresses that this is the first “world-class classical music festival” in Japan.

First, Ozawa has been music director and conductor of the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo since 1972. He has been a national hero for decades, which is why he has both the corporate support to start the Saito Kinen Orchestra and the admiration of the Empress of Japan. All this makes it inappropriate to refer to Ozawa’s return to Japan as that of a prodigal son.

Second, Japan has been the host of numerous international music festivals, dating to the 1950s--such as the Osaka International Festival of Music.

Additionally, if I were writing this article, I would remind readers that Matsumoto, Japan, is the home of Dr. Shin-ichi Suzuki, founder of the Suzuki Violin Method studied by thousands of American youngsters and that, among the participants of this inaugural festival, there appeared our magnificent Jessye Norman.

And Japan is not Ozawa’s “native country.” Accurately, he was born in China to Japanese parents.

MASATOSHI MITSUMOTO

Music Director

Concordia Orchestra Society

Los Angeles