Zubin Mehta: I could have been a doctor
OrchestrasHe’s having a great time in hometown Mumbai with the Symphony Orchestra of India.
‘ Growing up in a Parsi household, your parents choose your profession so I might have played with the thermometer as a child, so my mother must have said that he has to be a doctor (laughs). I completed two semesters at St Xavier’s College and I realised this wasn’t for me. I spoke to my father who agreed and later I went to Vienna to study. ‘
Western classical music is still a niche in India. Do you feel that the audience has evolved?
In Bombay, I am certain they have. Maybe we will call it the Mumbai Orchestra one day. I hope cities like Chennai, Delhi, and even Kolkata which used to have an orchestra earlier also evolve with time. I remember my father used to visit Kolkata and play there. There used to be an orchestra in Hyderabad also. The Nizam had an orchestra that played once a year on his birthday but he paid those musicians for 12 months (laughs). Those were different times but they were really good as they had a conductor from Germany who used to train them. I believe things will change for good.
More here.
If his Three Tenors business initiative made no dent there, what will? But come to think of it, it hasn’t anywhere else either. In any case, used to be that every international crisis was followed by a Zubin Mehta benefit concert(s). Where is the one for Ukraine? (Unless it is that we don’t want to upset or trigger Russian kingmakers).
The aspersion that somehow Zubin Mehta is the puppet of Russian oligarchs is as absurd as it is deeply insulting.
It is well known that not only did maestro Mehta donate a million euros to the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, he gives all his conducting fees with the Belgrade Philharmonic back to the orchestra.
AL seems to be not only very mean-spirited, but ignorant of the facts as well.
Are there any Indians in this orchestra or is it all foreigners?
The mention of Parsifal is interesting. Perhaps it is an older conductor’s opera. I remember playing it at Covent Garden in the late seventies with Solti. He said that he used to think Parsifal was a boring opera but he had come to revise his opinion in later life.
I always enjoyed playing for Mehta. A wonderful conductor, musician and man. Happy memories for me.