Zubin Mehta fans, get set for some Mumbai magic

Mumbai, July 18 (IANS) Zubin Mehta, the internationally acclaimed Los Angeles-based music conductor of Indian origin, will enthral his fans at a series of charity concerts here in October.

The Oct 7-12 concerts, to be held under the auspices of 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, an MMMF spokesperson told IANS.

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 foster the memory of the late Mehli Mehta, Zubin Mehta's father. In the 1930s and 1940s, Mehli Mehta was the motivating factor 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 and New York Philharmonic, 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.