Zubin Mehta fans get set for some Mumbai magic

Zubin Mehta, the internationally acclaimed Los Angeles-based music conductor of Indian origin, will enthral his fans at a series of charity concerts in Mumbai this October. The October 7-12 concerts, organised by the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation (MMMF), are to raise money for a music school that the 72-year-old maestro is planning to start in Mumbai. While four concerts will be held at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, the mega-charity event will be held at the Brabourne Stadium Oct 11, said an MMMF spokesperson. A Parsi, Mehta was born in Mumbai but moved to Vienna at the age of 18 to learn Western classical music. The MMMF was founded in 1995 to promote Western classical music and in the memory of the late Mehli Mehta, Zubin Mehta's father. In the 1930s and 1940s, Mehli Mehta was the driving force behind the Bombay String Quartet, Bombay Symphony Orchestra and the Western classical music scenario in the city. Zubin Mehta has been associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony , New York Philharmonic and Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and is a lifelong music director with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He has collaborated with music legends around the world, including Indian sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar and his audiences have included the royalty, rulers and other international celebrities. India conferred one of its highest civilian honours, the Padma Vibhushan, on him in 2001 and later he received the Kennedy Centre Honours in 2006.