Acclaimed Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa, stricken last year with esophageal cancer, is set to perform a comeback concert in August with a series of opera performances in Japan.

The 75-year-old maestro, who also underwent back surgery early this year, says he will conduct Japan's Saito Kinen orchestra in late August for four performances at a classical music festival in Matsumoto. He also plans to perform special concerts in Geneva, Paris, Beijing and Shanghai in the coming months.

Ozawa's long international career includes three decades as director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, before becoming conductor of the Vienna State Opera in 2003.

Ozawa said this week he hopes his music can help ease the suffering in his homeland spawned by the massive earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands and devastated Japan's northeastern coast in March.