Prominent conductor Seiji Ozawa has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and will cancel all concert engagements from January through June while he undergoes medical treatment, his office said Thursday.
Ozawa, 74, was diagnosed during a regular medical checkup late last year and will have an operation to remove the early-stage cancer, the office said.
Ozawa studied at Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo and has won various awards and conducted orchestras around the world. He served as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1965 to 1970 and the San Francisco Symphony from 1969 to 1976. He was appointed music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1973 and became the first Japanese to serve as music director of the Vienna State Opera, in 2002.
He studied under conductors Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) and Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990).
Back in Japan, Ozawa launched the Seiji Ozawa Ongaku-juku orchestra in 2000 as part of efforts to develop young Japanese musicians through opera concerts.
He has also served as the music director of the annual Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, since 1992, which commemorates cellist and conductor Hideo Saito (1902-1974), Ozawa's music teacher in Japan.
Ozawa's term at the Vienna State Opera is due to expire later this year.