Zubin Mehta returns to Carnegie Hall with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) this fall, following a recent announcement that he will be retiring from his post as Music Director of the IPO in 2019 after 50 years in the position. Three back-to-back concerts in Carnegie Hall‘s Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage celebrate his legacy and his extraordinary achievements as the Orchestra’s Music Director for Life.
The following program, on Wednesday, November 8 at 8:00 p.m., features a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Japanese mezzo-soprano Mihoko Fujimura along withMasterVoices, directed by Ted Sperling. The Manhattan Girls Chorus (directed by Michelle Oesterle) – which made its Carnegie Hall debut with Mr. Mehta and the IPO in 2012 – will also join the program. A pre-concert talk will be held in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at 7:00 p.m. with Ara Guzelimian, Provost and Dean of The Juilliard School. Carnegie Hall members are also invited to attend an open working rehearsal prior to this performance on Wednesday, November 8 at 10:00 a.m.
As part of the seventh annual Carnegie Hall Live broadcast and digital series, the November 8performance will be broadcast live on WQXR 105.9 FM in New York and streamed online at wqxr.org and carnegiehall.org/wqxr. Produced by WQXR and Carnegie Hall, and hosted by WQXR’s Jeff Spurgeon, select Carnegie Hall Live broadcasts throughout the season feature live web chats, including Twitter commentary from the broadcast team backstage and in the control room, connecting national and international fans to the music and to each other.
Violinist Gil Shaham joins Mr. Mehta and the IPO for the final Carnegie Hall performance on Thursday, November 9 at 8:00 p.m., performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35. The concert also includes Weber’s Overture to Oberon and Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D. 944, “Great.”
These three performances conclude a seven-city North American tour with Mr. Mehta and the IPO, which kicks off with a benefit gala at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday, October 25 at 7:00 p.m., hosted by the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic. The October 25 gala, which will be streamed live on medici.tv, features an all-Mozart program including his Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, Symphony No. 36 in C Major, K. 425, “Linz,” and Sinfonia concertante in E-flat Major, K. 364, featuring violinist Itzhak Perlman and violist Pinchas Zukerman as guest soloists. The orchestra then travels to Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, West Palm Beach, and Miami before returning to New York for its three November performances at Carnegie Hall.
About The Artists
Zubin Mehta was born in 1936 in Bombay and received his first musical education under his father, Mehli Mehta, who was a noted concert violinist and the founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. After a short period of pre-medical studies in Bombay, he left for Vienna in 1954 where he eventually entered the conducting program under Hans Swarowsky at the Akademie für Musik. Zubin Mehta won the Liverpool International Conducting Competition in 1958 and was also a prize winner of the summer academy at Tanglewood. By 1961, he had already conducted the Vienna, Berlin, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras and he has recently celebrated 50 years of musical collaboration with all three ensembles.
In 1969, he was appointed Music Advisor to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and was made Music Director of that Orchestra in 1977. In 1981, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra awarded him the title of Music Director for Life. Zubin Mehta has conducted over 3,000 concerts with this extraordinary ensemble, including tours spanning five continents. Zubin Mehta will end his tenure with the IPO 50 years after his debut, in October 2019.
In 1978, the maestro took over the post as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, commencing a tenure that lasted 13 years, the longest in the orchestra’s history. Since 1985, he has been Chief Conductor of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence.