Music legends John Williams and Seiji Ozawa reunite at Matsumoto festival

It’s early September and I’m on a prepare certain for Matsumoto, a metropolis situated within the coronary heart of the mountainous Nagano Prefecture. I strike up a dialog with the lady sitting subsequent to me. “I’m a giant fan of John Williams,” she says as our chat progresses. “When the primary orchestral chord rang out within the ‘Star Wars’ opening scene, I used to be blown away as if I used to be thrown into house.”

The lady’s title is Keiko Katahira and it seems we’re each headed to the identical vacation spot: Kissei Bunka Corridor, to attend a live performance by the Saito Kinen Orchestra that includes an all-Williams program. The occasion is a part of the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Pageant, which ran from Aug. 19 to Sept. 6.

Along with the “Star Wars” soundtrack, the now 91-year-old American composer and conductor is the person chargeable for such iconic scores as these for the movies “Jaws,” “Schindler’s Checklist” and “Saving Personal Ryan.” A titan of orchestral music, Williams has acquired 5 Academy Awards (in addition to 53 nominations) and 25 Grammys. Keiko tells me she noticed the primary “Star Wars” movie as a junior highschool pupil in 1978 and might nonetheless keep in mind the sentiments of freedom and pleasure it evoked in her.