Zubin, Italian orchestra to perform in Mumbai

[1]

The man who heralded the stature of western classical music in India is back in Mumbai to present his latest concert. Zubin Mehta, a name to reckon with in the field of music has once again expressed his disappointment against the tax laws in the city. He has time and again expressed that classical music concerts need to be treated differently. “We cannot be put in the same bracket as that of rock, Bollywood and other popular genres of music. It’s unfair since we don’t make the kind of money that they do and we need to take care of a hundred musicians unlike the other concerts,” says Mehta while stressing the need to promote the culture of western classical music in the country. He is in the city to present two concerts along with the Orchestra of The Maggio Musicale, Fiorentino from Italy.
Mehta says that he has written to the chief minister of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan. “I am yet to receive a reply from him. Maybe he hasn’t had the time. But I hope he does something about the tax issues,” says Mehta. “It’s frustrating to not receive co-operation from the government when we do concerts from non-profit reasons,” he adds. The CM, who is known to be a western classical music aficionado will be attending Mehta’s concert on Thursday. “I’m happy that he is coming and he is most welcome. Hope he enjoys the show,” he says. “As far as training and nurturing Indian talent is concerned, Mehta says that funds are required to enhance the learning and growth. “Music is not some one day affair. It takes a generation for music to be nurtured,” he says. There are number of factors that need to be looked into while training budding young musicians in the country. “I am happy with the kind of progress that India has made and there is so much more to be explored. For that we require funds and we don’t have that in order to build a proper music school and train students,” says Mehta.