The major streets of Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, are lined with blue flags — a familiar sight during the monthlong Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival (formerly the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto).
At Matsumoto Station, a large banner shows conductor Nodoka Okisawa, 38, who was officially appointed in 2024 as the festival’s principal guest conductor, after the death of Seiji Ozawa, the maestro the festival is named after, in February of that year.
Okisawa, an award-winning conductor, won first prize at the Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting in 2018 and the Grand Prix at the International Competition of Orchestra Conductors in Besancon, France, the following year. Her upcoming debuts include appearances with the London Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
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