CRI听力:Maestro Zubin Mehta Wishes for Peace at 80th Birthday

Born on April 29th, 1936 in Bombay, India, Zubin Mehta's life has been intertwined with music since birth.

"It's my whole life. I can't remember the time when I was not a musician, or a music lover. My father was a great musician. I heard music in my home before I was born, so I've grown up with this language called music. And music is love for me that what keeps me going too. I don't feel 80 at all."

Mehta has been with the Israel Philharmonic for the last five decades.

He's now the Orchestra's Music Director for Life, and has made Israel his second home.

Despite the decades of conflict in the region, Mehta says he believes music can have a calming effect.

"Two years ago when the rockets were falling from Gaza, we gave concerts every night, and the public came every night. When the siren went off, we stopped a little bit, and then we continued. That's the force of music, and of the strength of the people."

And he wishes the younger generation of Israel and Palestine can start to make peace.

"Today communication is so easy. Let's challenge the young people to take it upon themselves to speak to each other on the Internet. And today there are university students everywhere, that have the power to change."

Mehta has also been working on his own accord to try to bridge the cultural gaps between Jews and Arabs, establishing a music education program for Israeli-Arabs in 2009.

"I have friends in Ramallah, some musicians also. And we have about 150 young Arab students in the north of Israel who study in a foundation that I've started, where our musicians go once a month to see and to supervise their education. My dream is that one day an Israeli Arab will play in the orchestra."

Mehta's decades of experience is also something that draws people to him, despite the lingering conflict in which the music is played.

Canadian Amanda Forsyth is among those who are performing as part of a concert series to celebrate Mehta's 80th birthday.

"Every time I play with Maestro Mehta, that's just a dream come true. He has some kind of musical telepathy with the soloist that it's so comforted. So I don't have to think as much, I can just play the way I would love to play. Plus, when you look in his eyes you are inspired."

And those who have worked with Zubin Mehta for a long time say he is easy to work with.

Micha Haran is the former principal cellist in the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

"The most complicated parts musically become very simple with him. He's open. He allows for many ideas to take place. He's admirable for what he did, and he never lost his authority."

Zubin Mehta, since his debut as a conductor in Vienna in 1958, has performed with orchestras around the world.

For CRI, I'm Qizhi.