Japanese maestro Ozawa makes comeback after surgery

TOKYO — Acclaimed Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa made a brief comeback on Sunday after surgery and several months of treatment for esophagus cancer, according to concert organisers.The 75-year-old Vienna State Opera musical director, who was diagnosed with the illness in January, directed at the Saito Kinen Festival in the central Japanese city of Matsumoto, his first concert in about nine months.Ozawa, however, waved the baton only on the first movement of Tchaikovsky's serenade for strings for about seven minutes while resting on a stool set the podium before some 2,000 people."I'm sorry. I can't keep standing," Ozawa told the audience, explaining the reason for cutting short his performance. "I promise to make it next year."Ozawa has had a long career spanning the globe, spending nearly three decades at the Boston Symphony Orchestra before moving to Vienna in 2002.The maestro has suffered ailing health, also undergoing emergency surgery for a hernia last year.Ozawa cancelled a string of European appearances for December this year, but said a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York will go ahead as planned on December 14. Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

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