1967: ZUBIN MEHTA - THE MAESTRO AT HIS ALMA MATER

Zubin Mehta taking a stroll down memory lane with Rev. Rector of St. Mary's

 It was November 4, 1967 and it was a proud day for St. Mary's High School. ZUBIN MEHTA, the Toscanini of younger generation of conductors like Pierino Gamba and Lorin Maazel, visited his old school in the school uniform at that. Each was very proud of the other. After an intimate exchange of noble sentiments Zubin left the school and on that very evening gave the last of his three momentous concerts in Bombay. 

If the Koyna quake shook Bombay to its roots on December 11, the three concerts by Zubin Mehta in the proceeding month did very much the same thing. Its great son conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, had given Bombay its most thrilling cultural experience. Bombay was galvanised and to a man and the audience rose to give Zubin a staggering ovation.

Zubin Mehta greeting Rev. Rector of St. Mary's School

Zubin was born in Bombay on April 29, 1936 in a house where music flowed like wine and conversation was the gossip of the gods. His father Mehli, whose talent Zubin inherited, was a very great violinist literally up to his chin in music. His mother played the piano. To Zubin music naturally became not just a passion or a study but a way of life.

In October 1954, Zubin left Bombay, studied for 3 years in the Vienna Academy of Music, won the First Prize for the Conductors Competition in England and commuted as permanent Conductor of the Montreal Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He soon won international acclaim conducting, among other things, Verdi's "Aida" at the Met & Puccini's "Tosca" in Florence. 

In Bombay he played symphonies by Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Mahler and tone poems by Richard Strauss with such vigour and lyricism that it completely entranced the audience (which included the author of this article). The Liszt Piano Concerto with Andre Watts, a great American pianist, gave the author gooseflesh. He thought of the delicate tracery of a tree against a summer sky as Zubin picked out intimate details of winds, brass and string in Mahler's Symphony.

Only 31 years old, and Zubin has brought glory to his country in a field where competition is so stiff that only a rare talent can survive. Not only has he survived but is on the peak. Small wonder then that we take so much pride in his glory and joy in success.

- Excerpt from an article from the 1967 Magazine of St. Mary's School ICSE.

Note: Detailed biography of the Maestro: Zubin Mehta - Official Biography