In addition to the concerts they are preparing with Zubin Mehta in honor of his 90th birthday, the Belgrade Philharmonic has a special musical – educational mission in Mumbai. One of the gifts for the great maestro will be a number that will be performed together with the orchestra by the students of the music school that operates within the Mehli Mehta Foundation, at the first concert on January 15 at the National Center for Performing Arts.

In addition to the two rehearsals a day he holds with the orchestra, Mehta is also present at the additional rehearsals that the musicians, led by concertmaster Misha Andruschenko, have with the young musicians in preparation for Bartok’s composition “Romanian Folk Dances”. Even in his 90th year, Mehta still has the energy for selfless sharing of knowledge, love and music. The Mehli Mehta Foundation, which hosts concerts and a music school, is named after Zubin’s father, who was a self-taught musician hungry for professional experience. In this way, Mehta celebrates his name by offering the opportunity for numerous generations to acquire knowledge about classical music and make it available to them.

“I think it’s a great idea that India has a foundation like this that also deals with education, because in general this country doesn’t have many musicians who deal with classical music. India is lucky to have such a great name like Zubin Mehta because not all countries have that. It’s very important that young people get the opportunity to work with good and experienced musicians and I hope that they will have great impressions from this concert that will inspire them for further work,” said concertmaster Misha Andrushchenko.

Thus, side by side with the Philharmonic players, the young students of the music school of the Mehli Mehta Foundation will have their first performance as part of a professional orchestra, which is scheduled for January 15. The “Romanian Folk Dances” will open the concert where the famous violinist Pinchas Zukerman will perform Mozart’s Concerto in A Major, while Mehta will conduct Beethoven’s Symphony “Eroica”.