Zubin Mehta Quotes

I miss the standard of the New York Philharmonic's playing very much. It has certainly been a high point in my life.

The 'New York Times' reviews of my work have been evenly divided - favourable and unfavourable.

It seems always to have been difficult to have been a New York Philharmonic conductor because of the nature of New York. We are in direct competition with the great orchestras in the world who come to play in our hall or in Carnegie, and we are constantly compared. I think that 's a good thing.

If North American musicians would only know how uncomfortable life is for European musicians.

There are three orchestras in Munich, all world-quality, in a city of one million. Yet every hall is full.

I'm really not a party person. I'm in the business of working with 100 people every day, so I don't revel in meeting a roomful of people in my leisure time.

I think conductors do spend too little time with their orchestras.

I'm very much tied to the state of Israel, but I am against their policy of settlements in Palestine.

There is a school in Israel called Hand in Hand which I support. There Arab and Jewish students study together on a daily basis.

New York is really the place to be; to go to New York, you're going to the center of the world, the lion's den.

In this art form, in any art form, generalities are useless.

My tastes are Viennese.

Israel is a piece of real estate that neither Jew or Arab will let go of; neither will leave these shores. And so they will have to learn to live together.

I believe in music.

I endeavor that all orchestras I conduct sound Central European.

My family and relatives alone could fill Shanmukhananda Hall in Bombay.

Critics do their job, and I take their criticism seriously.

One learns how to change gears within a concert repertoire.

Essentially, the [New York] Philharmonic is just like any other orchestra-they all have the spirit of kids, and if you scratch away a little of the fatigue and cynicism, out comes a 17-year-old music student again, full of wonder, exuberance and a tremendous love of music.

Open rehearsals reach people who might not otherwise hear the Philharmonic - people on fixed incomes, people who can't move easily at night, students.

Let's try to count the number of Nobel prize-winners that have emerged from scientific centres of excellence like the Weizmann Institute and Haifa's technical university, the Technion. There has to be at least 25.

We are so indebted to our ancestors, musically speaking, that they have left us 400 years of music.

I respect the Indian government for the fact that there are no settlements in Kashmir.

There are people who think I am Israeli. That's rubbish.

I love the creativity of New York, but I don't enjoy the city - I don't like living here.

I love to conduct opera.

It's hard to find an emblem of cultural, national pride that burns as bright as Israel's success in classical music.

I knew at university that medicine was just not for me. I saved many lives by not being a doctor!

I'm a pucca Indian. Bombay is my home.

I have been to Kashmir many times, especially with my family, in the '70s.

My parents had chosen the medical profession for me. I even studied a few semesters at St Xavier's College, but at the back of my mind, I always wanted to be a musician like my father.

I have a few homes, and Los Angeles is certainly one of them.

My life is so full of sacrifices.

Wagner's philosophy had absolutely nothing to do with Bruckner. Bruckner hadn't written a single word against Jews. Wagner's book on the Jews was one of the most infamous books of the 19th century.

Most Arab Israelis speak Hebrew, but not the other way around. It's about time that changed.

I love rap because it talks about pain that comes authentically from the ghetto. It moves me.

I always look at the work of fashion designers as if they were art.

Just imagine, the thousands and thousands of concerts that take place every single day, all over the world. And the positive effect that they would have on the people listening. Now imagine a world without this. This void ... it is unthinkable.

Go to the young conductors who are not making it, and you will hear how we shouldn't push ourselves or sell ourselves, how they don't have the right connections and the right opportunities. Well, you can be sure they've had the opportunities.

I sometimes feel it is to my disadvantage that I have not conducted the Cleveland Orchestra or the Boston or Chicago symphonies, but then I have had to sacrifice something in order to have enough time with my orchestras.

The New York Philharmonic is a tremendous opportunity, a great orchestra.

If you can sing together, you can live together.

I wish that only three residents of Tel Aviv could see what conditions on the West Bank are like. Living in such proximity, most Israelis have no idea about the adversity on the West Bank.

There are certainly talented instrumentalists coming from India. I see them performing all over the world.

I'm a Persian Jew, and we don't speak Hebrew.

I have had bullets flying at concerts, but I don't want to talk about that.

I'm hopeful that Israelis can go to Ramallah whenever they want and see how the people are living.

An American orchestra doesn't want to play more than it has to. I respectfully disagree with that attitude.

The private sector is growing so incredibly in India, in every city you have industries for whom building a concert hall would be nothing financially. But they just don't do it.

Some musical directors have more chutzpah. They pick up the phone and talk people into giving. I prefer to call and say 'thank you' after the money has been contributed.

I am jealous of all those people who live on the shore of Dal Lake.

Why does Israel always have to suffer for others to feel bad for it?

Israel gives the West Bank water twice a week! One way of promoting good would be not to ration water.

As soon as, say, Saddam Hussein started bombing Israel with Scuds, everyone was like, 'Poor Israel.' But when Israel retaliates - and most of the time they then win - people turn against them.

There was an opinion expressed in the newspapers that, after 20 years, maybe the Israel Philharmonic should consider asking me to leave. I thought they might have a point, so I asked my orchestra. They told me overwhelmingly that they wanted me to stay.

Ori Kam is an outstanding violist who has already played as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra twice, much to our delight and satisfaction, and has availed himself with distinction.

I've never said, 'I live for art.'

A woman's life in the orchestra is not as long as a man's; she is just not as good at 60 as a man is at 60.

American musicians are very giving - they have the highest standard in the world - but they are also very demanding in their conditions.