Zubin Mehta

Internationally acclaimed Indian-born conductor Zubin Mehta, who is known for his flamboyant and charismatic style, has been music director and conductor of many of the world's top symphonic orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic, where he was named music director for life in 1981. Lauded for his operatic performances, he conducted Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras in the Three Tenors concert with the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma at the Football World Cup Tournament in 1990. A recording of the concert won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance that year.

Born in Bombay, the maestro learned to play the violin and piano with his father Mehli Mehta, founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra, and began conducting in his teens. He graduated from the Vienna State Music Academy and after wins in international competitions he made his professional conducting debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic at the age of 21. In 1961 he became music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and in '65 he made his debut with the Metropolitan Orchestra in New York. He was named music director and principal conductor there in 1978 having become music director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in 1977. He has held similar positions with the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and the opera house of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia, Spain.

Over a very long career, Mehta has conducted memorable concerts in aid of the victims of the Balkan wars, combined members of the Bavarian State Orchestra with the Israel Philharmonic in a Holocaust memorial, toured India and China, and played at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. Opera Magazine in 2009 said his style "favours bold attack and voluptuous sonority... no matter what he conducts, he retains completely cool and poised control."