He is considered one of the greatest living orchestra conductors: Who is Zubin Mehta?
Born in Bombay in 1936, Zubin Mehta received his early musical education under the guidance of his father, the famous concert violinist Mehli Mehta, the founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. In 2019, he said goodbye to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, where he had been music director since 1969.
After studying medicine for a short time in Bombay, he went to Vienna in 1954 and began studying at the Vienna Music Academy Orchestral Conducting Program under the leadership of Hans Swarowsky.
Zubin Mehta, who won the Liverpool International Conducting Competition in 1958, was also deemed worthy of the Tanglewood Summer Academy award. Mehta, who has been conducting the Vienna, Berlin, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras since 1961, recently celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his musical collaboration with these three great orchestras.
Mehta, who served as music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra between 1961 and 1967, was also music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra between 1962 and 1978.
Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Mehta, who was appointed as music consultant to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in 1969, began working as music director of the same orchestra in 1977. Mehta, who was awarded the title of "Lifetime Music Director" by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in 1981, served as conductor in more than three thousand concerts with this extraordinary orchestra, including tours covering five continents. Mehta, who was appointed music director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1978, served as director of the same orchestra for 13 years, making it one of the longest tenures in the orchestra's history. Mehta has worked as chief conductor of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence since 1985.
Zubin Mehta, who started his career as an opera conductor with Tosca staged in Montreal in 1963, has since performed in many operas and festivals such as the New York Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Scala Milano, Chicago and Florence Operas and the Salzburg Festival. he is assigned. Mehta served as music director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich between 1998 and 2006. Mehta, who opened the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia in October 2006, has been the director of the Festival del Mediterrani in Valencia since then. Here, along with La Fura dels Baus, Mhta was the conductor of the Valencia Ring Cycle, which was met with great interest, in partnership with the Florence Opera, and other Ring Cycles directed by Mhta were completed at the Chicago Opera and the Bavarian State Opera.
Mehta, who has been deemed worthy of many awards and badges of honor to date, is among the awards he has received, including the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Ring of Honor "Nikisch-Ring", which he inherited from Karl Böhm. Mehta, an honorary citizen of both Florence and Tel Aviv, was declared an Honorary Member of the Vienna State Opera in 1997, the Bavarian State Opera in 2006, and the Vienna Society of Friends of Music (Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien) in 2007. Mehta was given the honorary award by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in 2001, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in 2004, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 2006, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and the Bavarian State Orchestra, with whom he performed in Srinagar, Kashmir in September 2013. He was deemed worthy of the title of "Orchestra Conductor".
Mehta, who received the "Praemium Imperiale" award given by the Imperial Family of Japan in October 2008, was awarded a star on Hollywood Boulevard in March 2011. Mehta, who was awarded the Commander's Cross Order of Merit by the Federal Republic of Germany in July 2012, was awarded the Tagore Cultural Harmony Award by the Government of India in September 2013, which was given to Ravi Shankar a year before.
Together with his sister Zarin Mehta, who continues to support the discovery and development of talented musicians all over the world, he co-chairs the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation, which provides Classical Western Music education to more than two hundred children in Mumbai.
In addition, the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv ensures that young Israelis of Arab origin living in the cities of Shwaram and Nazareth receive musical training from local instructors and members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, thus allowing young talents in Israel to improve themselves in cooperation with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.