Ozawa to leave BSO in 2002
   Will become music director of Vienna State Opera
   By Richard Dyer, Globe Staff, 06/23/99

   Seiji Ozawa will relinquish his position as music director of the
   Boston Symphony Orchestra at the close of the 2001-02 Tanglewood
   season in order to assume the music directorship of the Vienna State
   Opera.  The formal announcement is expected this morning at a press
   conference by Austria's secretary of state for culture, Peter Whittmann,
   along with the director of the Vienna State Opera, Ioan Holender.

   Ozawa, 63, has served as music director of the BSO since 1973, the
   longest tenure of any conductor who has held the post.  News of his
   decision reached Symphony Hall late Monday, and it came as a surprise
   to even his closest associates.

   Ozawa is currently touring with the Vienna Philharmonic, which serves
   as the orchestra for the Vienna State Opera.  Last night he was
   conducting the Philharmonic in Bruckner's Second Symphony in Baden,
   Germany.  After the concert he said by telephone:  "After all the
   celebrations of my 25th anniversary in Boston, I knew that the time
   must one day come to make the decision to leave, but this was not a
   subject I could discuss with anyone but my wife.  I thought that
   either this September or a year from now I would need to make a
   decision and an announcement, and then Vienna came out with this very
   surprising offer.  I thought that once I left the Boston Symphony,
   I would keep only the Saito Kinen Orchestra and Festival in Japan,
   and guest conduct elsewhere.  I did not want to be a music director
   again, and would not leave the Boston Symphony for another orchestra.
   But before I die, I do want to conduct more operas.  I am in Boston
   for three more years and in Vienna for three years beyond that.  At
   my age six years of commitment represents a lot."

   Speaking with obvious emotion, Ozawa added:  "This was a very
   difficult decision.  With the musicians, the board, and the
   administration, I feel we have a dream team, and leaving now is not
   so easy.  I have spent my life with this orchestra, and after the
   next three years, I would love to do anything they want me to do.
   The next conductor must be free, and it will depend on what he wants.
   The decision in Vienna was very quick.  Monday was the meeting with
   the government, and after government meetings, it is not possible to
   keep a secret anymore.  This is a very emotional time because there
   are so many people in Boston who have done so much for me.  But I
   think the time to leave has come.  What I want is for the next three
   years to be the most glorious time both for me and the Boston Symphony."

   In a letter to members of the orchestra, Ozawa wrote, "For 25 years
   we have worked together as partners to make music.  We have traveled
   together over five continents and performed for millions of music
   lovers who we hope have appreciated our efforts.  As musicians, we
   have struggled, achieved, and often succeeded in our quest to do
   honor to our art.  My relationship with the great Boston Symphony
   Orchestra has been and continues to be the most rewarding artistic
   experience that a musician could ever hope to have."'

   'This was a very difficult decision for Seiji," said BSO managing
   director Mark Volpe.  "Boston Symphony has been his life; it was
   where he grew up musically.  Without the head start he got as a
   student at Tanglewood, he would not be who and what is today, but
   he feels this opportunity in Vienna is one that he cannot pass up."
   Ozawa has recently enjoyed great success in Vienna with productions
   of Verdi's "Ernani" and Tchaikovsky's "The Queen of Spades." He has
   also conducted opera in Salzburg, at La Scala, the Paris Opera, the
   Met, and in Japan; since 1980, he has made opera an almost annual
   part of the repertory of the BSO.  Dr.  Nicholas T.  Zervas, chairman
   of the BSO trustees, said, "Vienna's gain is certainly Boston's loss.
   The Boston Symphony has been blessed to have had Seiji as music
   director.  He is one of the world's greatest conductors an incomparable
   artist and sheer beauty to behold on the podium.  ...  I consider
   him one of the finest human beings I have ever known.  Most importantly,
   we look forward to his continued presence as a member of the BSO
   family soften as his schedule will permit.  There is no one like him.
   "Volpe added, "It is important to emphasize that Seiji Ozawa remains
   music director for three more years and four more summers at Tanglewood.
   One of the things we need to do is sit down with him, and figure out
   a continuing role for him in the life of the orchestra, especially
   at Tanglewood." Volpe said his first responsibility in the aftermath
   of Ozawa's announcement is to create a search committee from the
   various constituents of the orchestra board, musicians, and staff to
   come up in an orderly fashion with a successor.

   While Volpe made a general reference to Ozawa's recent "moments of
   difficulty" (his recent reorganization at Tanglewood resulted in
   protests and a few resignations), Volpe praised Ozawa's "remarkable
   music making.

   One of the great things about Seiji Ozawa is his capacity for growth.
   He is a very different musician today from what he was 17 years ago
   when I first heard him conduct.  There have been some growing pains,
   but I feel confident in saying the best is yet to come." This story
   ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 06/23/99.

   (c) Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.

Roger Hecht