HIS FINAL BOW
Conductor Zubin Mehta, 83, bid farewell to the stage in October. A few weeks after his final performance as the music director of the Israel Philharmonic, he spoke to us about music and its future
Q. Western classical music in India remains a very niche area unlike in other Asian countries. You remarked on the number of young concert-goers in Japan recently. Do you have an opinion on why it is so in India?
In Bombay, the situation is different from the rest of India. The Mehli Mehta Music Foundation (MMMF) does excellent work educating young people. There is also the extensive programme at the NCPA. In fact, they just celebrated their 50th birthday. Madras is full of cultural events, but not from the West.
Q. Earlier this year, you conducted Peshkar, the tabla concerto by Zakir Hussain in Italy. You have also conducted concertos by other Indian musicians. Do you see more concertos for Indian instruments in the future? It was Ravi Shankar who really educated me. He was the first one to perform with me and wrote his second concerto for the New York Philharmonic. We performed it in New York, London, Paris and India. Zakir Hussain’s tabla concerto was a huge success in Florence. It was a great pleasure for me to work with him.
Q. What do you like doing when you are not making music?
I do not have too much time for any hobbies. I like to spend time with my grandchildren if I can but they are geographically so separated. They live in Toronto and Montreal.
I am in Los Angeles and I travel a lot, as you know.
Q. For most concert-goers, western classical music remains confined to the 19th century. Does classical music need to look at 19th century concepts of tonality to attract more listeners?
Today’s composers are quite free in their choice. Most composers in the late 20th century have given up writing tonal music. But they are also very valid and they compose with great imagination.