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Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703584804576144190115205406.html
The Maestro's Israel Bonds
(Wall Street Journal) David Mermelstein - The Bombay-born, Vienna-trained conductor Zubin Mehta, 74, was appointed music adviser of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in 1969. He was named its first music director in 1977, and since 1981 he has held the title of music director for life. Their latest tour together, which heralds the orchestra's 75th anniversary in December, begins Saturday in Naples, Fla., and concludes at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles on March 1. "When I started, it was an orchestra of the Hapsburg monarchy," he said. "There were Viennese, Poles, Hungarians, Czechs and some German Jews, but basically all Yiddish speakers. Then the sabras (Jews born in Israel) started coming in. And now, since the emigration from the Soviet Union, it's become a Russian orchestra, but one continuing with the Central European sound."