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"The
SAITO KINEN ORCHESTRA is my invaluable treasure, entrusted to
me by the late Mr. Saito. It is no exaggeration to say that Mr.Saito
made me what I am by sowing the seeds of western music in the
Japanese soil and nurturing their growth. I am quite sure that
all the members of the orchestra feel the same way and this concerted
thought of each member makes up the Saito Kinen Orchestra. We
thought that it was our mission to pass the will of our special
mentor to future generations, in our own way. So, it was decided
that we would hold the music festival in Japan, and that is how
the SAITO KINEN FESTIVAL MATSUMOTO came into being." That
was Seiji Ozawa's greeting in the first program in 1992.
In September of 1992, the Saito Kinen Festival was born in the
beautiful natural surroundings of Japan Alps Matsumoto, with Seiji
Ozawa and the Saito Kinen Orchestra as the formal nucleus and
the orchestra's concerts and operas serving as twin pillars.
The SAITO KINEN ORCHESTRA was founded in September of 1984, when
Hideo Saito's former students came from around the world to organize
a special concert series to commemorate the 10th anniversary of
Hideo Saito's death. After this series of concerts, the Saito
Kinen Orchestra received invitations from around the world, and
as a result of these tours it was acclaimed as being of the highest
caliber.
Based on the reaction in Europe, the birth place of western classical
music, there developed a dream until now unimaginable --"Japanese
people one day transmitting western music back to its European
homeland."
An annual summer festival was a natural out growth of this unique
creation, to be known as the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto. |
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