Octogenarian maestro Zubin Mehta is in Mumbai for the second consecutive year to conduct the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) at the NCPA, which will be held over two successive weekends. Although the global citizen considers Mumbai his home, he said when he looks out of the window of his room at the Trident, he only recognizes the Rajabai Tower, “although that undersea pass is an amazing addition”.
Article by Yogesh Pawar | Hindustan Times
Music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO), Zubin Mehta, at the rehearsals at NCPA, ahead of a performance over the weekend. (Raju Shinde/ Hindustan Times)
Speaking exclusively to Hindustan Times, taking time off between rehearsals, he recounted how it once took him three hours to drive from the Taj Mahal Hotel, Colaba, to Shanmukhananda Hall, where he was conducting a concert. “It was a Diwali night and loud crackers could be heard inside despite the special acoustic shell on stage to seat us all in. The musicians felt we were under attack,” he laughed. While he misses the “old Bombay” he said “one has to accept change and live with it, although I still have vivid memories of Campion, St Mary’s and St Xavier’s”.
In Mumbai, he is looking forward to meeting his friend Yusuf Hamied (chairman of Cipla) today when India’s Independence Day coincides with the Parsi New Year. “I recall growing up having the Navroze in September. But we Parsis don’t have leap years and over time have lost several days, bringing the New Year to August.”
Although his father Mehli Mehta founded the Bombay Symphony Orchestra, Mehta winces at the mention of western classical music carrying the label of being esoteric and niche. “My father introduced me to this language, and I don’t know what to make of these labels. Music is music. From the time I moved to Vienna at 18 to study conducting with the eminent teacher Hans Swarovsky this has been my world and I cannot fathom life without it,” he said.
Mehta was greatly influenced by his teacher Hans Swarowsky “who studied the art of conducting under Felix Weingartner and Richard Strauss, and musical theory under Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern; so that influence has stayed”.
Though he enjoys conducting both symphonies and operas, and though he has been through the Wagner repertoire, including his early opera of Rienzi he admitted he hasn’t conducted Parsifal, Wagner’s three-act opera. “Given my age I wonder if I’ll ever get around to it. Funny that a Parsi didn’t conduct the Parsifal, isn’t it?”
Explaining the line-up he will conduct, he said, “Renowned soprano soloist Chen Reiss, who has one of the most flawless Strauss voices, will be joining the SOI on August 17 and 18, when we present the entrancing music of Johann Strauss II. August 24 and 25 will feature Krassimira Stoyanova, one of the most sought-after sopranos today, performing Four Last Songs and Richard Strauss’s tone poems and operas, including the India premiere of Ein Heldenleben.”
He resisted drawing comparisons between conducting the SOI with conducting elsewhere. “It is culturally still in its infancy. Give it time and it will flourish.”
On his past collaboration with Pt Ravi Shankar in 1981, he said, “I feel privileged to have collaborated with Pt Ravi Shankar. He will always remain the greatest musician ever for me!” and added, “I remember travelling with him all across the world with Raga Mala – the Second Sitar Concerto. It felt mystical re-creating the magic of that collaboration with his exceptionally talented daughter Anoushka, in 2018, and Kashmiri musicians in 2013 as both artistes and the audiences had braved a lot of hostility to be there.” The performance with the Bavarian philharmonic at Srinagar’s Mughal Gardens had drawn the ire of many extremist and human rights groups.
Though Mehta lives in California, he divides his time between the world’s best ensembles—Vienna, Berlin, Israel and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras. He has honorary citizenship of both Florence and Tel Aviv but hasn’t let go of his Indian passport. “Why should I? Whether in Austria, Germany or now the US I’ve never thought of it.”
That however got him into some serious trouble recently. “I was returning to LA from a concert when the authorities found that my green card had expired. So I was hauled off to a crowded hall where people were falling over each other. Though it lasted only a few hours it left me miserable. Thankfully I was extricated and thanks to a senator’s help I have got a new green card for 10 years. Hopefully it will last me for good. I told them to throw it in my grave with me,” he chuckled.
Given his close ties with the country, he said, it “broke my heart to see what is unfolding in Gaza”. “I have conducted the Israel Philharmonic for so long and have very really close friends in the Jewish community. Not one of them supports what Benjamin Netanyahu is doing to Palestine,” he said.
(Zubin Mehta’s concerts in NCPA are on August 17, 18, 24 and 25)