IT IS not, at first sight, a marriage made in heaven. The conductor is a Parsee Indian, brought up in Bombay, trained in Vienna and living in Los Angeles.
The orchestra is a band of refugees who maintain a pocket of the ultimate in Western culture in the middle of in a war zone. And yet Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra have a relationship that is stronger than many a marriage. He first performed with the orchestra in 1961, when another conductor cancelled at short notice. He was appointed its music adviser in 1969, music director in 1977, and in 1981 Mehta accepted the title of music director for life.
It is a unique position in a business where contracts rarely run for more than five years.
In the world of classical music, successful conductors are the prima donnas of the orchestral world, able to name their price and their terms.
And Mehta is a leading light of this elite cohort: he is “honorary conductor” of a host of mighty orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera. He conducted the first Three Tenors concerts with Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo on the eve of the 1990 World Cup of soccer. He even has a character from the The Muppet Show, Zubin Beckmesser, named after him.
The boy from Bombay began his starry career on a high and went up from there. He cut his conducting teeth on the Liverpool Philharmonic, progressed to the Montreal Symphony and then the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the astonishingly young age of 24, and succeeded Leonard Bernstein 15 years later at the New York Philharmonic’s helm, where he was to stay until 1991. His talent and youthful charm was a refreshing change from the dour and god-like authority of conducting legends the likes of Furtwangler, Beecham and Karajan. He called orchestral musicians by their first names, he cracked jokes and made mistakes, and he reinvigorated orchestras and audiences with his turbo-charged performances.
Read the rest of this entry »
Bookmark this entry:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
World-renowned music conductor Zubin Mehta will hold a charity concert at the Brabourne stadium in October.
The Mehli Mehta Foundation, founded in 1995 in memory of Zubin’s father, confirmed that he is slated to hold a series of concerts in the city, one of which would be held at the CCI grounds. According to a spokeswoman, “These concerts will be for charity to raise money as Zubin Mehta is planning to open a music school in the city. We cannot say anything more than that as yet.”
The Mehli Mehta Foundation is dedicated to fostering a greater knowledge, understanding and appreciation of western classical music in Mumbai. The CCI confirmed a Zubin Mehta concert is to be held on the grounds. “It would be an immense honour to have Zubin here,” is all CCI’s CEO K Rajpal said. Read the rest of this entry »
Bookmark this entry:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Mrs Kanga: musician with a message
As the World Music Day was marked around the globe on June 21, it was rather disappointing to note that a vibrant city such as Karachi failed to organise a decent event for its local audience to remind them about the impact of music on one’s everyday life and spiritual health. While some organisers hold the law and order situation in the city responsible for being unable to promote musical events – that are now attended by a handful of audience only – local musicians feel the changing trends in education (where music lessons are no more considered an important part of the curriculum) are equally responsible.
Mrs K. Kanga, one of the few well-known pianists in Karachi, when interviewed by The News said she feels the ratio of youngsters attending musical performances, when compared to the adult audience, has decreased over the years because of their lack of interest in music. “The schools are responsible for discouraging this trend,” she complains. “The increasing pressure of studies at home and at school makes it difficult for students to spend time on extra-curricular activities that are equally important for a child’s development.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Bookmark this entry:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
As a tribute to Pandit Firoz Dastur, artistes Shrikant Deshpande, Girish Sanzgiri and Srinivas Joshi are organising a concert
Having passed away on May 9, Pandit Firoz Dastur, the doyen of the Kirana Gharana and a disciple of Sawai Gandharv, leaves behind a legacy that is hard to equal. Having commanded a singing career of six decades, Dastur’s music touched many souls and moved several hearts.
As gratitude for his teaching and a celebration of his luminosity, Shrikant Deshpande, one of Dastur’s disciples along with disciple Girish Sanzgiri and Srinivas Joshi, son of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, will be organising a tribute to Pandit Firoz Dastur on Saturday, May 17 at Pudumjee Hall, Maratha Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, Tilak Road between 6pm and 8pm. Organised by Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal, which also organises the Sawai Gandharv Sangeet Mahotsav, the event being open to the public, will see 15-minute performances by each of the artistes followed by an eulogy to Dastur.
Read the rest of this entry »
Bookmark this entry:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
By Vir Sanghvi in The Mint.
I know a lot of people are going to treat this as blasphemy so I better just come out and say this. I saw a DVD of a concert by Queen with Paul Rodgers on vocals and you know what? I didn’t really miss Freddie a whole lot. Of course, it wasn’t the same without the Mercury factor. The camp element was missing. So was the over-the-top nature of the classic Queen concert. As an Indian, I always felt a certain horrified fascination at watching a Parsi boy prance around on stage looking like a gay weightlifter in a Cusrow Baug gymnasium.
But apart from that, the concert was fine. Rodgers is one of rock’s great vocalists and while he can’t go quite as high as Freddie, he makes Queen sound like a rock band, rather than an opera queen’s little dalliance with rough trade.
It’s a funny thing about Queen, but I always felt that there were at least two bands struggling to get out from under Freddie’s leotard. My first exposure to the group came with the early hits, Seven Seas of Rhye and then, the song that broke them in the UK: Killer Queen. But, while both were full of Freddie-style whimsy (“She keeps the Moët et Chandon in a pretty cabinet/ let them eat cake, she says/ just like Marie Antoinette”), there were also harder-edged songs. Now I’m Here began like Arnold Layne, turned into full-fledged rock and even ended with a snatch of Chuck Berry’s Little Queenie.
Read the rest of this entry »
Bookmark this entry:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
