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ZUBIN MEHTA

The global citizen

Kavita, New Delhi
Famous international music conductor, the 77-year-old Zubin Mehta, never loses creative form despite advancing years. His latest coup was a concert called "Ehsaas-e-Kashmir" (The feel of Kashmir) at the 400-year-old sprawling Shalimar Bagh in Srinagar, Kashmir, the politically troubled Indian state.
While Mehta has directed some of the world's best-known orchestras, this time around he wielded the baton for the large Bavarian State Orchestra. Western instruments such as cellos, violins, clarinets and horns hit just the right notes as Mehta led the orchestra through a repertoire that included the works of Beethoven, Hayden and Tchaikovsky.
The opening attraction was a Kashmiri-western instrumental fusion, "Haft e Rang", that had 1,500 select guests glued to their seats. While Abhay Sopori led a 15-member troupe with typically Kashmiri instruments, Mehta's orchestra members seemed completely at ease playing to the exotic strains of the sarangi, matka and rabaab.
The concert was telecast live in many European countries and India. But then again, Mehta has a deep connect with India. Not only has be brought the world's leading orchestras to many Indian cities, the Parsi conductor of western classical music was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1936. He received his early musical education from his father Mehli Mehta, a renowned concert violinist and founder-conductor of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra.
Leaving for Vienna in 1954 after short period of pre-medical studies in Bombay, Mehta entered the conducting programme under Hans Swarowsky at the Akademie fur Musik.
As recognition rapidly came his way, by 1961 he had conducted the prestigious Vienna, Berlin and Israel Philarmonic Orchestras. An important milestone which he has reached recently is 50 years of musical collaboration with the three ensembles.
Mehta has also been the guiding force
behind Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1981, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra awarded him the title of Music Director for life. Zubin Mehta has conducted over 3,000 concerts with this ensemble including tours spanning five continents. In 1978, he took over the post of Music Director of the New York Philharmonic kicking off a tenure of 13 years, the longest in the orchestra's history. Since 1985, he has been chief conductor of theTeatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence.
Mehta has made an imprint as opera conductor too. Starting with the historic production "Tosca" in Montreal in 1963 he, later conducted the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Scala Milan, and the opera houses of Chicago and Florence as well as at the Salzburg Festival. Between 1998 and 2006, he was Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. He is the President of the annual Festival del Mediterrani in Valencia.
No wonder multiple awards came his way. The list includes "Nikisch-Ring" bequeathed to him by Karl Bohm. He is an honorary citizen of both Florence and Tel Aviv and was made an honorary member of the Vienna State Opera in 1997, of the Bavarian State Opera in 2006 and of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien in 2007.
Though a truly global citizen and a permanent resident of the US, Mehta keeps his Indian citizenship. While in Delhi, he was conferred the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony by President Pranab Mukherjee. This follows the Indian government's prestigious Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awards. He received Kennedy Center Honors for his lifetime contributions to American culture.
It isn't just his brilliant musical career that drives Mehta. Now his mission is to support endeavours to discover and hone musical talents globally. Along with his brother Zarin, he is a co-chairman of the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation in Bombay where over 200 children train in western classical Music.