Forbes India created a graphic charting conductor Zubin Mehta’s career in music.
In Sunday’s (8/20) Hindustan Times (Mumbai, India), Bhanuj Kappal writes, “Members of the Symphony Orchestra of India are holding final rehearsals inside the grand Tata Theatre at the National Centre for the Performing Arts ironing out the kinks before they kick off their 17th season on Saturday…. The seasoned ushers, usually blasé about celebrities, are swept up in sudden excitement … Zubin Mehta, 87 … is in Mumbai headlining two sold-out shows conducting the Symphony Orchestra of India. After the first show on Saturday night, Mehta’s baton was auctioned to raise funds for the education of underprivileged children…. This is the first time Mehta is conducting an Indian orchestra, a milestone that he’s rather excited about…. He has been rehearsing with the SOI all week, fine-tuning … Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Franz Schubert’s Eighth Symphony and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1…. ‘It is a really very fine orchestra that can be compared with a lot of good ensembles all over the world.’ ” Mehta served lengthy tenures as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and Israel Philharmonic. “For Mehta, the most important achievements of his career have involved using his talents to help heal social and political divides.”
