It is certainly good to see Maestro Seiji Ozawa back at the podium again.
Japan's most celebrated conductor made a triumphant return to the Saito Kinen Festival last summer after having taken two years off due to bad health. He took a rest after that appearance, but resurfaced in January to perform with the Mito Chamber Orchestra.
In March, the maestro focused on the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy, which he founded in 2000 with the aim of nurturing young musicians through opera. Every year, students learn from Ozawa and other top professionals, later implementing what they learned in an operatic production. This year's opera was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro," which was performed at Yokosuka Arts Theater in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Aichi Prefectural Art Theater in Nagoya and Biwako Hall in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, before wrapping up at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan on March 26.