Born in Bombay, Zubin Mehta grew up in a musical environment. His father, Mehli Mehta, founded the Bombay Symphony and was music director of the American Youth Symphony in Los Angeles. Mr. Mehta attended the Academy of Music in Vienna and seven years later had already conducted both the Vienna and Berlin philharmonics. He was music director of the Montreal Symphony from 1961 to 1967, Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1962 to 1978, and the New York Philharmonic from 1978 to 1991, the longest music director tenure in that orchestra's history. In 1969 he was appointed music adviser to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and was made music director in 1977; in 1981 he was awarded the title of Music Director for Life. Since 1985, he has been Chief Conductor of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Between 1998 and 2006 he was music director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Mr. Mehta first appeared under San Francisco Symphony auspices in 1968 as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; since then he has led the New York Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in performances at Davies Symphony Hall. He most recently appeared with the IPO under SFS auspices in 2015.

Mr. Mehta has been awarded honorary doctorates from the Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, and the Weizmann Institute in Israel. In 1991, he was awarded the Israel Prize and he was the recipient of the 1995-96 Wolf Foundation Prize for Music. He is honorary citizen of Florence and Tel Aviv and an honorary member of the Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, and the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Vienna. Mr. Mehta has been named an honorary conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and the Bavarian State Orchestra. In 2006 he was presented with the Artur Rubinstein Una vita nella musica at Teatro La Fenice in Venice and the Kennedy Center Honors.

Mr. Mehta received the Dan David Prize (2007), the Praemium Imperiale by the Japanese Imperial Family (2008), a Hollywood Star (2011), honorary doctorate by the Russian Academy of Art and the Presidential Medal of Distinction from Israeli President Shimon Peres (2012), and the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony by the President of India (2013). Mr. Mehta's autobiography The Score of My Life: Memories was published in Germany and Israel in 2006. Together with his brother Zarin he is co-chairman of the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation in Bombay, where more than 200 children are educated in Western Classical Music.

(October 2017)

The Israel Philharmonic is one of Israel’s oldest and most influential cultural institutions. Since 1936, it has dedicated itself to presenting the world’s greatest music to audiences in Israel and around the world. Founded by the Polish violinist Bronisław Huberman, the Israel Philharmonic represents the fulfillment of his dream “to unite the desire of the country for an orchestra with the desire of the Jewish musicians for a country.” Huberman persuaded first-chair musicians of Eastern European and German orchestras who had lost their jobs as a result of Nazism to immigrate to Palestine. In doing so, Huberman created an “orchestra of soloists,” which continues to act as a dynamic global community for musicians from across the world. Huberman invited Arturo Toscanini to conduct the opening concert, performed at the Levant Fair in Tel Aviv on December 26, 1936.

The Israel Philharmonic is Israel’s premier cultural ambassador and travels extensively throughout the world, particularly to countries where there is little or no Israeli representation. In December 2022, the Israel Philharmonic performed a historic concert in Abu Dhabi at the invitation of the Abu Dhabi Ministry of Culture, celebrating the Abraham Accords. Other historical visits include the orchestra’s first tour to Russia in April 1990 and the first tour to India in December 1960. The orchestra performs in the most important venues and festivals in Europe, the United States, South America, China, and Japan. The orchestra gives more than 100 performances each year in Israel, where concert series are presented in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa.

In 1969, Zubin Mehta was appointed music advisor to the IPO and in 1977 he became its music director. Mehta retired in October 2019 and the IPO named him music director emeritus. Lahav Shani became music director in the 2020–21 season.

The Israel Philharmonic’s 2025 US tour is underwritten by American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic and sponsored by Pfizer.

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