Zarin Mehta (born 28 October 1938) is an Indian-Canadian arts executive who served as the president and executive director of the

New York Philharmonic Orchestra The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...

from 2000 to 2012, in addition to various positions in the performing arts industry.

Career

Mehta is a chartered accountant. During his career at the

public accounting An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

firm

Coopers & Lybrand PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along ...

(1962-1981) in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, he rose to partner. He was an accountant at Frederic B. Smart & Co., in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

(1957-1962).

Montreal Symphony Orchestra

Mehta was managing director of the

Montreal Symphony Orchestra The Montreal Symphony Orchestra () is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. History Several orchestras were precursor ensembles to the curren ...

from 1981 to 1990.

Ravinia Festival

Mehta was named executive director of the

Ravinia Festival Ravinia Festival is a primarily outdoor music venue in Highland Park, Illinois. It hosts a series of outdoor concerts and performances every summer from June to September in a wide variety of musical genres from classical to pop. The first orche ...

in 1990 and later became president and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. During his 10-year tenure he pioneered the

jazz festival This is a list of notable jazz festivals around the world. Historic jazz festivals Jazz festivals by country The following is an incomplete list of notable jazz festivals, including both current and defunct festivals of note. Africa Angol ...

within Ravinia and a world music series.

New York Philharmonic

Mehta was appointed New York Philharmonic executive director in September 2000 and received the additional role of president in June 2004. He was instrumental in securing the logistics for the

2008 New York Philharmonic visit to North Korea The New York Philharmonic concert in Pyongyang, North Korea, on February 26, 2008, was a significant event in North Korea–United States relations. The orchestra played in East Pyongyang Grand Theatre, with the entire concert broadcast on Korean ...

. On 27 September 2010 Mehta announced he would step down as president and chief executive of the New York Philharmonic when his contract expires after the 2011-2012 season, after having spent 12 years at the Philharmonic.

Sonoma State University

Mehta was named co-executive director of the Green Music Center at

Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Sonoma County, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Sonoma State offers 92 bachelor's degree programs, 19 master's de ...

in October 2013. Both artist

Lang Lang Lang Lang (; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with major orchestras around the world and appeared at many leading concert halls. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Phi ...

and benefactor Sandy Weill were instrumental in his appointment. President of the university,

Judy K. Sakaki Judy K. Sakaki (born c. 1953) is a former American academic administrator, who previously served as the seventh president of Sonoma State University (SSU). She spent most of her previous academic career as a student affairs administrator in the U ...

, announced in December 2016 that as part of a plan to restructure Green Music Center management, a single executive director will be hired to fulfill the duties of both Mehta and the interim co-executive director, Stan Nosek. Mehta's total pay and benefits during 2015 was $625,339.56. In 2015, Mehta was identified as the highest earning employee of the

California State University system The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a Public university, public university system in California, and the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest public university system in the United States ...

. Mehta retired from Sonoma State in 2017.

Personal

He is the brother of

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor :wikt:emeritus, emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father ...

and son of the late

Mehli Mehta Mehli Mehta (25 September 1908 – 19 October 2002) was an Indian conductor and violinist. Early life Mehta was born in Bombay, India to a Parsi family. His involvement in music stemmed from his birth. As a young violinist his main musical inf ...

, founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. He is married to

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

Carmen Lasky, who was previously married to his brother Zubin.

Sources

Center Stage.net

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehta, Zarin Parsi people from Mumbai Living people 1938 births Indian emigrants to the United States Indian emigrants to England Indian emigrants to Canada Canadian accountants Members of the Order of Canada American male musicians of Indian descent American musicians of Indian descent American people of Parsi descent Canadian people of Parsi descent Musicians from Mumbai Naturalized citizens of Canada Zubin Mehta