Born in Bombay in 1936, Zubin Mehta received his early musical education from his father, Mehli Mehta, an esteemed violinist and founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. After a short period of preparatory studies in medicine, in 1954 he went to Vienna where he attended Hans Swarowsky’s conducting courses at the Akademie für Musik. In 1958 he won the Liverpool International Conducting Competition and the Tanglewood Summer Academy Award; since 1961 he has been called to conduct the Wiener and the Berliner Philarmoniker and the Israel Philharmonic, orchestras with which he boasts over 50 years of collaboration. Music Director of the Montreal Symphony (1961-1967) and of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1962-1978), he was nominated, in 1977, as 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 he 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 was appointed Principal Conductor of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, of which he is currently Honorary Director for life.

Zubin Mehta encourages the discovery and promotion of new musical talents all over 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-Mehta Music School in Tel Aviv gives young musicians the opportunity to grow, 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.