It all began in 1961. Renowned conductor Eugene Ormandy had to cancel his performances with the IPO at short notice due to illness. Then, as in many fairytales in the world of music and theatre, a 25-year-old Indian conductor came to the rescue.
This marked the beginning of a long, creative love story between the IPO and Maestro Zubin Mehta, and this coming season we will be celebrating 50 years together.
The first concert conducted by Zubin Mehta on 23 May 1961, featured Kodaly's Dances of Galanta, Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements and Dvorak's Symphony no. 7. During these 50 years Maestro Mehta went on to become not only one of the major and most sought-after conductors in the world, in concert halls as well as opera houses, but a great friend of the IPO and the State of Israel. For this he was awarded, among others, a special prize by the Israel Prize committee in 1991; the Wolf Foundation Prize for Music in 1995-6, and Honorary Citizenship of the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo.
In 1960 Zubin Mehta was appointed Music Advisor of the IPO and in 1981 he was named Music Director for Life. As we said, it has been a 50-year long love affair and a good reason to celebrate!