Zubin Mehta

My temples are only in India. When I am in India, I go to the religious ceremonies.

It seems always to have been difficult to have been a New York Philharmonic conductor because of the nature of New York. We are in direct competition with the great orchestras in the world who come to play in our hall or in Carnegie, and we are constantly compared. I think that 's a good thing.

One learns how to change gears within a concert repertoire.

It's hard to find an emblem of cultural, national pride that burns as bright as Israel's success in classical music.

In Bombay, we have a fine concert hall. I think it is high time we built venues in Delhi and Calcutta, not only for western music, but also Indian music. It doesn't matter which party is in power; don't you think the capital of India should have a concert hall?

Most Arab Israelis speak Hebrew, but not the other way around. It's about time that changed.

As soon as, say, Saddam Hussein started bombing Israel with Scuds, everyone was like, 'Poor Israel.' But when Israel retaliates - and most of the time they then win - people turn against them.

I sometimes feel it is to my disadvantage that I have not conducted the Cleveland Orchestra or the Boston or Chicago symphonies, but then I have had to sacrifice something in order to have enough time with my orchestras.

I think conductors do spend too little time with their orchestras.

New York for a long time was a kind of conductor's graveyard.

I'm really not a party person. I'm in the business of working with 100 people every day, so I don't revel in meeting a roomful of people in my leisure time.

I love the creativity of New York, but I don't enjoy the city - I don't like living here.