Seiji Ozawa, a leader in the Dome

"The time academic often must agree to the calendar of great artists travelers," said Hugues Gall yesterday under the dome of the Institut de France. It will indeed be nearly ten years for the seat of Yehudi Menuhin at the Academy of Fine Arts was replaced.

Died March 12 1999, the famous violinist here thirteen years, as Associate member countries (like qu'Andrzej Wajda, Woody Allen or the Agha Khan ...). To maintain this tradition of excellence, the Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa that has officially succeeded yesterday in green scratched Cardin.

Indeed, this proud wand was born in 1930 elected since October 2001. But it is elusive, this Ozawa ... As Gall said in his speech reception since its debut in Boston led by Charles Munch, in the late 1950s, this young cat dancing "is a true locomotive! A student of Karajan and Bernstein, the chief chaperone orchestras of Toronto, San Francisco, and especially Boston, he will lead from 1973 to 2002. Father of an impressive discography (mainly at Philips and Deutsche Grammophon), this man, who appeared with his head hair, defends both the French repertoire that artists of his time. Hugues Gall has rightly stressed the genius with which Ozawa inflamed the establishment of Messiaen's monumental opera, Saint Francis of Assisi in 1983.

After listening very carefully about the fun of his friend Hughes, the Japanese leader took the floor. Under the eyes of assistance when mixed Roselyne Bachelot, Christine Albanel, Henri Dutilleux, or Alain Duault, Seiji Ozawa was launched in a speech in English, simultaneously (and very spiritually!) Translated by his friend Andr Massna. Under the hiccups of laughter from the assistance, the maestro spoke as the memory of Menuhin as its own memories, like his first stay in Paris when he was representative of the Japanese brand scooter Rabbit! Finally, after the maestro had concluded "I feel at home here," the young violinist Agata Scymczewska made a final tribute to Menuhin. Rare thing: two Bach were then played in the Dome, while the sun arose on the face moved by Henri Dutilleux.