Seiji Ozawa
© AFP/File Yoshikazu TsunoTOKYO (AFP) - Opening the season of the Tokyo Opera Nomori, the company he created in 2005, Ozawa led the world premiere of a "Tannhauser" production co-produced with the Paris National Opera and directed by the Canadian Robert Carsen.
The 71-year-old, renowned for his vigour, appeared energetic and conducted for more than three hours Thursday evening, organisers said.
The Tokyo Opera Nomori will present "Tannhauser" in Tokyo and Yokosuka, a major military port city near the capital, until March 24. The production will head on to Paris in November for its European premiere.
Ozawa cancelled all of his engagements last year at the Vienna State Opera, where he is musical director, due to illness including fatigue and pneumonia.
He has since resumed working in Japan but under doctors' advice takes long stretches of rest.
Ozawa, who spent nearly three decades at the Boston Symphony Orchestra before moving to Vienna in 2002, has been at the forefront of Japan's passion for Western classical music.
He has created the Saito Kinen festival, which each summer brings leading names in classical music to Matsumoto in the Japanese Alps.
The Nomori is Japan's first local opera company, part of Ozawa's ambition to develop international-class musicians in Japan to put on original productions.
His illness forced him to stay away from the Nomori's second season.
©AFP