Poco Sostenuto Vivace from Beethoven's symphony no. 7 in A major op. conducted by Zubin Mehta in Delhi.
Zubin Mehta is an Indian Parsi conductor of Western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Main Conductor for Valencia's opera house. Zubin Mehta is also the chief conductor of Florence, Italy's Maggio Musicale festival.
In 1958, Mehta made his conducting debut in Vienna. The same year he won the International Conducting Competition in Liverpool and was appointed assistant conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Mehta soon rose to the rank of chief conductor when he was made Music Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in 1960, a post he held until 1967. In 1961, he was named assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; however, the orchestra's music director designate, Georg Solti, was not consulted on the appointment, and subsequently resigned in protest; soon after, Mehta himself was named Music Director of the orchestra, and held the post from 1962 to 1978.
In 1978 Mehta became the Music Director and Principal Conductor of the New York Philharmonic and remained there until his resignation in 1991, becoming the longest holder of the post.
The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) appointed Mehta its Music Advisor in 1969, Music Director in 1977, and made him its Music Director for Life in 1981.
Since 1985, Mehta has been chief conductor of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence. Additionally, from 1998 until 2006, Mehta was Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. The Munich Philharmonic named him its Honorary Conductor. Since 2005, Mehta has been the main conductor (together with Lorin Maazel) of the Palau de les Arts, the new opera house of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia, Spain.
Mehta conducted the Vienna New Year's Concert in 1990, 1995, 1998, 2007 and 2015. He has also made a recording of Indian instrumentalist Ravi Shankar's Sit