Each August, the city of Matsumoto in the Japanese Alps is transformed. Its streets are festooned in blue and gold, and music spills from concert halls, parks and community centres. At the heart of it all is the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival, a creation of the late conductor that has outlived him, carrying his vision into the future.
Founded in 1992, the festival was Ozawa’s answer to the question of what music could mean to a community. He envisioned Matsumoto not as a remote provincial town, but as a utopia where world-class music could flourish alongside local traditions in the natural landscape, and where audiences of all ages and backgrounds could share in its power.
The centerpiece remains the Saito Kinen Orchestra, an ensemble formed in honor of Ozawa’s teacher, Hideo Saito, and now regarded as one of the finest orchestras in the world. Alongside it, the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy continues to train the next generation, sustaining a cycle of mentorship that was central to his life.
One year after Ozawa’s death in 2024, the festival shows no signs of fading. On the contrary, its 2025 edition has been framed as a celebration rather than a commemoration, with concerts selling out and audiences traveling from across Japan to this mountain city. “Keep the flag flying” has become a mantra among musicians and organizers, who speak of Ozawa not in the past tense, but as a presence still felt in every rehearsal and performance.
This year’s festival coincides with what would have been Ozawa’s 90th birthday on September 1, designated as the Seiji Ozawa Day by the municipality of Matsumoto. To mark the occasion, Christoph Eschenbach leads SKO in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 Resurrection — a work less about mourning than about transcendence, affirming the belief that Ozawa’s spirit endures.
In Matsumoto, the maestro’s dream is tangible: a community united by music, where the impossible feels within reach. Ozawa may be gone, but his vision — of music as both sanctuary and celebration — remains immortal.
This is an English programme without subtitle.Filmed in August in Matsumoto of Japan.
