Illness and death
On January 7, 2010, Ozawa announced that he was canceling all engagements for six months in order to undergo treatments for esophageal cancer.[32] The doctor with Ozawa at the time of the announcement said it was detected at an early stage.[41][42] Ozawa's other health problems included pneumonia[32] and lower back problems requiring surgery in 2011.[32][43] Following his cancer diagnosis, Ozawa and the novelist Haruki Murakami embarked on a series of six conversations about classical music that form the basis for the book Absolutely on Music.[1][44]
His last concert took place on November 22, 2022, with the Saito Kinen Orchestra where he conducted, in a wheelchair, Beethoven's 'Egmont' Overture, which was broadcast live to Koichi Wakata, an astronaut onboard the International Space Station.[1][45]
Ozawa died of heart failure at his home in Tokyo, on February 6, 2024, at the age of 88.
