CELEBRATED Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa said Tuesday he would make a full comeback onstage in August with a series of 70-minute opera performances in the Japanese mountain city of Matsumoto.

    The 75-year-old maestro, who underwent surgery for oesophageal cancer last year and was treated for hernia surgery in January, said he would conduct the Saito Kinen Orchestra on Aug. 21, 23, 25 and 27.

    They will perform Bela Bartok’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” at the 20th Saito Kinen Festival, an annual classical music festival in Matsumoto.

    “I got pneumonia. I got a bad hernia. I had a lot of trouble. But now I am able to walk around and go anywhere I want,” Ozawa, a former principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera, told a news conference in Matsumoto.

    “I want to conduct more but I must restrain myself as I am told by my family and doctor to do so,” he said.

    Referring to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which devastated northeastern Japan, he said: “Japan is in a terrible situation now and there are many people who are suffering. I think music can perhaps help in some way.”

    Before his full comeback, he is also scheduled to offer lessons from June 24 at a Geneva-based music academy which he founded and perform a special concert in Geneva on July 3 and in Paris on July 6, Kyodo news agency reported.

    He will also conduct the Saito Kinen Orchestra in Beijing and Shanghai from Sept. 1 to 11.

    “I couldn’t be happier because I was born in China,” said Ozawa, who was born in the northeastern city of Mukden, now called Shenyang. “I want people to learn how wonderful the music festival can be and come to Matsumoto.”

    (SD-Agencies)