Zubin Mehta on departure from Ancona Airport

On July 20th, Zubin Mehta will leave for Malaga (Spain) from Ancona airport after conducting the Orchestra and Choir of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino at the Sferisterio in Macerata.  At 12.00 on 20 July 2022 a Boeing B737-800 of the new Italian airline Aeroitalia will transport the maestro and his orchestra from Ancona to Spain. “It is a great pride for Ancona International Airport to welcome Maestro Mehta and his orchestra at Ancona Airport” – comments Ing. Carmine Bassetti CEO of the airport management company.

“We are pleased to bring to Malaga Maestro Mehta and his orchestra, a pride and a merit for a new Airline – Aeroitalia ”, commented Prof. Intrieri, CEO Aeroitalia Srl.

The maestro, born in Bombay in 1936, received his first musical education from his father, Mehli Mehta, a popular violinist and founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. After a short period of preparatory medical studies, in 1954 he went to Vienna where he attended Hans Swarowsky’s conducting courses  at the Akademie für Musik. Music Director of the Montreal Symphony (1961-1967) and of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1962-1978), he was appointed, in 1977, Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic, of which he became, since 1981, Music Director for life: in October 2019 he left the leadership after more than 50 years and was appointed Director Emeritus.

In 1978 and for 13 years, the longest period in the history of the orchestra, Zubin Mehta became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, while from 1985 to 2017 he assumed the position of Principal Conductor of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra, of which he is currently Honorary Conductor for life. He made his debut in the lyrical field with Tosca in Montreal in 1963 and since then he has collaborated with the major opera houses and festivals in the world, including the Metropolitan in New York, the Wienerstaatsoper, the Covent Garden in London, la Scala in Milan, the Chicago Opera, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Salzburg Festival. Between 1998 and 2006 he was Music Director of the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. In October 2006 he inaugurated the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in  Valencia and was President of the Festival del Mediterrani: in the Spanish city and in Florence he conducted, among other things, a memorable Der Ring des Nibelungen with the Fura del Baus, followed by other new productions of the Wagnerian cycle at the Chicago Opera and at the Bayerische Staatsoper.

Zubin Mehta encourages the discovery and promotion of new musical talents around the world: together with his brother Zarin, he is co-president of the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation in Bombay, thanks to which more than 200 children are educated in Western classical music; similarly the Buchmann music school -Mehta in Tel Aviv gives the opportunity to grow to young musicians, in close relationship with the Israel Philharmonic, as a new project for teaching young Arab-Israelis in the cities of Shwaram and Nazareth with local teachers and members of the Israel Philharmonic. Recently he has conducted numerous symphonic concerts and operas in Florence including Verdi’s Otello, Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Puccini’s Tosca in concerto form and Verdi’s La forza del destino.