‘Conductor Zubin Mehta: The baton is passed to youth’ announced the January 1968 cover feature of Time magazine, while one of the lines from the profile read thus: “On the podium, he possesses an innately theatrical flair, miming the emotions of the music, sculpturing the shape of a composition in the air with gracefully masculine gestures.”
He was 31 then and a debonair conductor of world-famous ensembles. Today at 78, he still remains the high-energy baton-wielder, who explores every nook and curve of a composition with intensity and clarity.
Any wonder then that Alexander Briger, founder and artistic director of the Australian World Orchestra (AWO), is excited about the group’s three-city India tour in October this year under Mehta’s stewardship?
A skilful conductor himself, Briger launched the AWO in 2010 to bring together Australia’s finest orchestral players from around the world and home under one musical umbrella. The soft-spoken and charming musician, who was in the city recently, along with the orchestra’s dynamic CEO Gabrielle Thompson, talked about how AWO with a 90-plus strong line-up keenly looks forward to its second major outing with the globally-celebrated Mehta.
The duo thinks it is definitely going to be a repeat of what they witnessed at the Arts Centre, Melbourne and the Sydney Opera House in 2013. After a heart-warming, standing ovation, Mehta hushed the delirious crowd and pointing to the orchestra behind him said: “Do you realise what you’ve got here?” After a loud “Yes” from the audience, the master-conductor added, “Don’t let it go.”
“And so we are here to prepare the stage in his home country for another inspiring experience for the artistes and audience,” says Briger. “It’s a great honour to be working with him again.”
Posing casually for pictures inside The Music Academy at 11 in the morning with the bright rays of the sun trying to squeeze in through the many doors, they look around the empty and silent hall and exclaim, “This is such a perfect place to make impassioned music.”
Mehta had performed at this venue exactly a decade ago (December 2005) for a tribute concert with the Bavarian State Orchestra for tsunami victims. For this Bombay-born citizen of the world, performing in India is like a homecoming.
“He often says, ‘in spirit I am an Israeli, my heart belongs to Los Angeles but the soul is in India’,” smiles Briger. “And, it would be wonderful to accompany him as he revisits his roots,” adds Thompson.
On or off stage, he has an aura about him that lends his music that special touch, points out Briger.
“He is a phenomenal personality with unusual warmth, who puts every member of his massive ensembles at ease and brings out the best in them. He has this rare orchestra-building skill,” continues Briger, his eyes lighting up with joy as he talks about Mehta even as Thompson nods in complete agreement.
“The grandeur of his conducting style lies in his commanding but far-from- imposing method and the way he invests romance into his repertory, giving a thrilling account of the masterpieces,” the two explain.
His love for a flawless pitch and his ability to push boundaries extends to cricket too. Obsessive about the game, his upcoming India tour includes the Toy Symphony that features a few cricketers such as Brett Lee, Matthew Hayden, Steve Waugh and Sunil Gavaskar. In fact, the itinerary, besides two concerts in Mumbai (October 25 and 26), one each in Chennai (October 28) and Delhi (October 30), includes master classes for Brett Lee’s Mewsic Foundation in Mumbai.
That should make for a perfect score.
