80-year-old conductor Seiji Ozawa performs strongly at annual music event

MATSUMOTO, Nagano -- World-renowned conductor Seiji Ozawa led an orchestra at the annual classic music event Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival on the night of Aug. 18, mesmerizing over 2,000 people in the audience.

The 80-year-old maestro won a Grammy Award in February. This year's summer music festival drew more attention than usual, and admission tickets were sold out. Ozawa led a powerful performance of Beethoven's symphony No. 7 at Kissei Bunka Hall in the city of Matsumoto.

Ozawa originally planned to conduct "L'Enfant et Les Sortileges" (The Child and the Spells), with which he won his first Grammy for best opera recording, on Sept. 6 and 9, but had to cancel out of consideration for his physical strength. He is scheduled to conduct the orchestra on Aug. 22 and 28.