A sculpture honoring the OMF Eternal Director Seiji Ozawa unveiled on the grounds at Tanglewood on July 28!
A sculpture honoring the OMF Eternal Director Seiji Ozawa, who served as the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s music director for 29 years, was unveiled on the grounds at Tanglewood in a private event on July 28.
©Hilary Scott, courtesy of the Boston Symphony
The Ozawa sculpture is the fourth one made by an American artist Penelope Jencks. It was commissioned and generously funded by a composer and Boston Pops Music Director Laureate John Williams and his wife Samantha. The Ozawa sculpture joins Jencks’ earlier busts of Aaron Copland (dedicated in 2011), Leonard Bernstein (2014), and Serge Koussevitzky (2019). It sited on a newly landscaped plaza overlooking Ozawa Hall with an expansive lawn and the Berkshire hills as a serene backdrop.
The event began inside Ozawa Hall with remarks by BSO President and CEO Chad Smith, following a music session by a violinist Keila Wakao who chose in tribute to Ozawa: the Largo from Bach’s Sonata No. 3 in C for solo violin and two works for violin and piano accompanied by Taiwanese pianist Yun Janice Lu: Torū Takemitsu’s Distance de fée and Williams’ own Theme from Sabrina.
The event was attended by a small audience of family and friends including Williams and his daughter Jenny, and Saito Kinen Orchestra (SKO) Representative Seira Ozawa with her son Masaki. They were joined by world renowned artists Yo-Yo Ma, James Taylor, and Emanuel Ax, as well as a BSO assistant principal oboe Keisuke Wakao who is one of the 39 current BSO players who joined the orchestra under Ozawa’s leadership, including several other BSO players.
©Hilary Scott, courtesy of the Boston Symphony
At the conclusion of the musical program, guests gathered outside around the still-shrouded sculpture for the brief remarks by ex-BSO press director who worked closely with Seiji Ozawa and John Williams Caroline (Kim) Taylor and Seira Ozawa. SKO Representative Seira Ozawa then gave a speech recalling the 29 summers she spent at Tanglewood, starting as an infant. She concluded her speech with the following remarks:
I cannot express how happy my Dad was when John came to our summer festival, Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival in 2023, when John made music with Dad’s family like, Saito Kinen Orchestra. John, thank you so much for your love and friendship with Dad. I will never forget this purity of love, respect and friendship between human beings, that you and Dad generously share with everyone. This monument is not only for Dad, it is a “form” of the goodness in human being that we can see and touch, and it lives here forever. I love you, John, like I love Dad. Thank you so much.
Finally, along with Jencks and Taylor, Seira removed the cloth covering the sculpture as Williams and other guest looked on and applauded.
©Hilary Scott, courtesy of the Boston Symphony
For the official report made by the BSO Press office, and official program of the event, please see here.
For official media material, please contact OMF press at pr@ozawa-festival.com.
For any further information and additional comments on the event, please contact BSO press office directly.
Contact details can be found at: https://www.bso.org/press.