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From a childhood immersed in music to a career defined by excellence, Zubin Mehta has been conducting a million dreams for over 60 years. The maestro talks about his early life, the importance of discipline, his deep connection with India, and association with NCPA.

- MALIKA HALDER

There is an indefatigable and irrepressible spirit in Zubin Mehta. The octogenarian orchestrator have defined the world of Western classical music for more than six decades. Born in 1936 into a household suffused with Western classical music, he moved to Vienna when he was barely an adult to train as a conductor, and soon found himself commanding some of the greatest orchestras in the world. His is a story of passion, precision, and an unyielding dedication to music.

But ask Mehta about it, and he would wholeheartedly attribute his success to the guidance and influence of his father, Mehli Mehta a violinist and the founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra-and his teachers. Mehta acknowledges that his foundation in music was laid at home, where rigorous training and an irrefutable commitment to excellence were the norms. In many ways, his journey is as much a tribute to his own talent as it is to the legacy of his father."I heard music in my home every day from about eight in the morning," he recalls.

Mehta says he was "destined to be a musician"-a realisation that dawned on him during his college days.

At the Vienna Academy of Music, Mehta studied under Hans Swarowsky, a legendary teacher who instilled in him a deep understanding of orchestral scores. "He was a very strict teacher," Mehta recalls. "He taught us formal analysis of scores from Handel to Bach to Beethoven." Swarowsky's rigorous training gave Mehta the foundation he needed to navigate and master the vast landscape of Western classical music.