Sony Corp. Chairman Norio Ohga collapsed Wednesday night apparently due to a cerebral hemorrhage while conducting the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra at a music festival in Beijing, Sony said Thursday.
Ohga, 71, was briefly given medical treatment on the spot and then taken to the China-Japan Friendship Hospital for further care. The chairman was "tentatively diagnosed as having a light subarachnoid hemorrhage," Sony said.
The firm described the condition of Ohga, who is conscious and receiving treatment, as "stable." Officials with the company said he would not need surgery.
A noted amateur musician, he flew to Beijing on Sunday on a Sony aircraft he piloted himself.
Ohga, who is also board chairman of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, was scheduled to give two performances -- Wednesday and Thursday -- at the Beijing festival, which has been running since Oct. 15.
A graduate of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Ohga was an opera singer before he joined Sony in 1959. He was Sony president and chief operating officer from 1982 to 1989, president and chief executive officer from 1989 to 1995 and chairman since 1995.
He was to have returned to Tokyo to be decorated by the Emperor at a ceremony at the Imperial Palace on Thursday, but was absent due to his collapse. He was to receive the First Class Order of the Sacred Treasure.