Zubin Mehta

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

I feel growing up in Mumbai is an advantage, as we grow up speaking so many languages that when we go abroad, it becomes easier to learn new languages.

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.

I am often critical of Israel's policies when in the country, but then feel defensive of them when overseas.

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.

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

As long as they keep building settlements, the world will be anti-Israeli.

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.

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.

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.

In Chicago, they die for their teams.

Even in music concerts in Mumbai and different parts of the world, seats are reserved for sponsors.