Editing Zubin Mehta (section)

===1960s===

During 1960 and 1961, Mehta was asked to substitute for celebrated maestros throughout the world, receiving high critical acclaim for most of those concerts.<ref name=Time/> In 1960, he conducted a series for the [[Vienna Symphony]] and later that summer made his New York conducting debut leading the [[New York Philharmonic]].<ref name=Moritz/>

{{quote box|align=right|width=25em|bgcolor = MistyRose|quote=[Mehta] has the capacity to control every sound made by an orchestra, and he does this with the simplest of gestures, every one of which has an immediate and perceptible effect. He has a talent for conveying a mood of serenity, or of serene grandeur, to both orchestra and audiences that is rare indeed among the younger generation of conductors.|source= —Music critic [[Winthrop Sargeant]],<br>on Mehta's 1967 New York debut at [[Carnegie Hall]]<ref>{{cite magazine|author-link=Winthrop Sargeant |last=Sargeant |first= Winthrop |magazine= The New Yorker |volume=43 |issue=12 |date=13 May 1967 |title=Musical Events |page=164}}</ref>}}

In 1960, with the help of Charles Munch, Mehta became the chief conductor and Music Director of the [[Montreal Symphony Orchestra]], a post he held until 1967. By 1961, he had already conducted the [[Vienna Philharmonic|Vienna]], [[Berlin Philharmonic|Berlin]] and [[Israel Philharmonic Orchestra|Israel Philharmonic]] orchestras.<ref name=Mehta /> In 1962, he took the Montreal Symphony on a concert tour to Russia, Paris and Vienna. Mehta was most apprehensive about his concert in Vienna, which he said was considered the "capital of Western music". His single concert there received a 20-minute ovation, 14 curtain calls, and two encores.<ref>Graham, Harriet. ''[[Maclean's]]'', 4 July 1964{{full citation needed|date=November 2020}}</ref>

In 1961, he was named assistant conductor of the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]] (LAP), although the orchestra's music director designate, [[Georg Solti]], was not consulted on the appointment, and resigned in protest.<ref>{{Cite magazine| title=Buffie & the Baton | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872266,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204215340/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872266,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=4 February 2011 | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=14 April 1961 | access-date=8 November 2007}}</ref> The orchestra had been without a permanent conductor for four years when Mehta started directing it.<ref name=Moritz/>

Mehta was named Music Director of the orchestra and held the post from 1962 to 1978. When he began his first season with the orchestra in 1962, he was 26, the youngest person ever to hold that title.<ref name=Moritz/> As he had also conducted the Montreal Symphony during those early years, he became the first person to direct two North American symphony orchestras at the same time.<ref name=Moritz />

As the LAP's first conductor in four years, Mehta worked to polish its overall sound to something closer to the [[Vienna Philharmonic]]'s. He succeeded in making its sound warmer and richer by fostering competition among the musicians, shifting assignments, giving promotions and changing seating arrangements.<ref name=Time/> He also inspired the musicians; 21-year-old cellist [[Jacqueline du Pré]] said, "He provides a magic carpet for you to float on." Cellist Kurt Reher recalls Mehta's first rehearsal with the orchestra: "within two beats we were entranced. It seemed this young man had the ability, the musical knowledge of a man of 50 or 55."<ref name=Time/>

In 1965, after Mehta's debut with the [[Metropolitan Opera]]'s performance of ''[[Aida]]'', music critic [[Alan Rich]] wrote, "Mehta brought to the conducting of the score a kind of bedazzlement that has no peer in recent times ... It was a lunging, teeming, breathless performance that still had plenty of breath."<ref name=Moritz/> He subsequently conducted the Met in performances of ''Carmen'', ''Tosca'', and ''Turandot''.

For Montreal's [[Expo 67]], he conducted both the Montreal and the Los Angeles orchestras together for a performance of [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]'s ''[[Symphonie fantastique]]''.<ref name=Moritz /> Also that year, Mehta conducted the world premier of [[Marvin David Levy]]'s ''[[Mourning Becomes Electra]]''.<ref name=Moritz />

By May 1967, his schedule was becoming overcrowded and he resigned his Montreal post. That fall he took the 107-member Los Angeles Philharmonic on an eight-week tour, including engagements in Vienna, Paris, Athens, and Bombay.<ref name=Moritz/> By 1968, his popularity kept him busier than the year before, including 22 weeks of concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, three operas at the Met, television appearances in the U.S. and Italy, five recording sessions, and guest appearances at five festivals and with five orchestras.<ref name=Moritz/> ''Time'' magazine put him on its cover in January 1968.<ref name=Time>[https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19680119,00.html Zubin Mehta cover story], ''Time'', 19 January 1968</ref> In 1969 his schedule remained equally active.<ref name=Moritz/>

In 1970, Mehta performed with Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention on Zappa's "200 Motels" and Edgar Varese's Intergrales, at [[UCLA]]'s Pauley Pavilion basketball stadium with an audience of 12,000. There is no authorized recording, though some bootlegs exist.