Born in 1935 in Shenyang, China, to Japanese parents, Seiji Ozawa started piano lessons at an early age. After graduating from Seijo Junior High School in Tokyo, he studied conducting under the late Hideo Saito at Toho School of Music, graduating with first prizes in composition and conducting. In 1959 he won first prize at the International Competition of Orchestra Conductors held in Besançon, France, and was invited to Tanglewood by Charles Münch, then Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a judge at the competition. In 1960 Ozawa won the Tanglewood Music Center's highest honour, the Koussevitzky Prize...