“Music lovers came out Saturday night to bid an emotional farewell to Maestro Zubin Mehta on the completion of his impressive 50-year tenure as musical director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra,” writes Hannah Harnest in Monday’s (7/15) Times of Israel (Jerusalem). “The grassy expanse of the Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv was filled with an enormous crowd of young and old, who rose almost simultaneously as the now frail, but still charismatic maestro took the stage, opening with the orchestra’s moving rendition of Israel’s national anthem, ‘Hatikvah.’ … The 83-year-old Mehta … has shaped and influenced the development of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra as its director for life…. His debut with the IPO [was] in 1961. Mehta successively became the IPO’s musical advisor in 1969, musical conductor in 1977 and director for life in 1981…. For his farewell he invited a stellar cast of internationally acclaimed singers, who are also currently on tour with the maestro with performances of Verdi’s Requiem at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, and the Charles Bronfman Auditorium in Tel Aviv. On Saturday night … the celebration finished with an impressive display of fireworks over the skies of Tel Aviv.”
Posted July 16, 2019
