Zubin Mehta Awarded Tagore Award by Indian Government

Zubin Mehta, an Indian-Parsi conductor of western classical music, will be felicitated with Tagore Award for cultural harmony.

A four-member jury led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and comprising Chief Justice of India, Justice Altamas Kabir, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj and Gopalkrishna Gandhi unanimously selected Mehta to be the second recipient of the Tagore Award, 2013 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cultural harmony, a statement from the Culture Ministry said.

The annual award was instituted by government of India during the commemoration of 150th birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.

The first Tagore Award was conferred on sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar in 2012.

The award carries an amount of Rs one crore, a citation in a scroll, a plaque as well as an exquisite traditional handicraft or handloom item.

Mehta was born into a Parsi family in Mumbai, the son of Mehli and Tehmina Mehta.

His father was a violinist and founding conductor of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra.