Feb 07, 2026
3 min read
Zubin Mehta celebrates his 90th birthday with Ibermúsica on a unique tour in Madrid, Barcelona and Oviedo, highlighting his legacy in orchestral conducting.
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Zubin Mehta commemorated his 90th birthday by touring Spain with the West East Divan Orchestra, a group that includes musicians from Israel, Palestine and various Arab countries.
In this series of five concerts, which will be held from February 14 to 19, 2026 in Madrid, Barcelona and Oviedo, violinist Maria Duenas will be the guest soloist performing Bruch's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, accompanied by compositions by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Schubert.
The Indian maestro, a key figure in international orchestral conducting and a regular collaborator of the Israel and Vienna Philharmonics, has maintained a historic collaboration with Ibermúsica since 1976.
Along with Mehta, Maria Duenas cements her place on the main stage following the recognition of her recordings with Deutsche Grammophon, while the West-East Divan Orchestra continues its work as ambassadors of cultural understanding through music.
Published in TLM
The famous master is returning to our country to give five concerts under the leadership of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.Here, violinist María Dueñas will appear as a guest soloist in Bruch's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra concert tour, and works by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Schubert will complement the two programs commemorating Zubin Mehta's birthday.
The legendary Zubin Mamet is returning to our country for a five-concert tour to celebrate his 90th birthday.In this dedication, he will lead the West-East Divan Orchestra, which brings together musicians from Israel, Palestine and various Arab countries, to perform Symphony No.4 by Tchaikovsky, opera III Leonora and symphony no.8 N. Beethoven.No.9 "La Grande" by Schubert, Bruch's Concerto for Concerto and Orchestra, with Maria Duenas of Granada as soloist.
The songs will be held in the middle of the 14th and 19th at the Madrid Fíth in Barcem;BLEMALL BUELL.
Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 February |National Music Hall
ticket
Tickets for the events on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th at the National Music Hall are sold out. Although seats can still be accessed through season tickets for this round.
Zubin Mehta's close relationship with Ibermúsica began in 1976 with a concert in Spain at the Los Angeles Philharmonic.Since then he has toured our country conducting the New York Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Wiener Philharmoniker, Münchner Philharmoniker, London Symphony and Bayerische Staatsorchester, among others.
Maria Dunas performed at Ibermúsica in 2019 and will be her third appearance after returning in 2025. The West-East Divan marks the orchestra's second visit to Madrid following its debut in 2015 under the direction of co-founder Daniel Barenboim.
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta was born in Bombay in 1936 and received his early musical training from his father, the violinist Mehli Mehta.After leaving medicine, he studied conducting at the Vienna Academy of Music with Hans Swarovski.
He won the Liverpool International Competition, was honored at Tanglewood and by 1961 was conducting the Vienna, Berlin and Israel Philharmonic (IPO).He was music director of the Montreal Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and, from 1978 to 1991, the New York Philharmonic, the longest tenure in the orchestra's history.
From 1985 to 2017 he directed the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and after five decades at the helm of the Israel Philharmonic, he was named its director emeritus.
He made his opera debut in 1963 with Tosca in Montreal and has since appeared at the Metropolitan in New York, the Wiener Staatsoper, Covent Garden, La Scala, Chicago, Florence and the Salzburg Festival.
From 1998 to 2006 he was general music director of the Bavarian State Opera.In 2006 he opened the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, where he directed the Mediterranean Festival until 2014 and staged the famous cycle “The Ring of the Nibelung” with La Fura dels Baus, as well as productions in Chicago and Munich.
His life was marked by many accolades.He was the bailiff of the Nikisch ring left by Karl Böhm, an honorary citizen of Florence and Tel Aviv.
He was appointed an honorary member of the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera and the Vienna Society of Friends of Music.
He has held honorary conducting titles with the Vienna, Munich and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Bayerische Staatsorchester, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Teatro di San Carlo and the Berlin Philharmonie.
In 2019, he was named the CEO of the IPO in Los Angeles.In 2022, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino established a concert hall named after him.
He received the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony (2013) and an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (2022).
Committed to nurturing young musicians, he and his brother founded the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation in Bombay and supports the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music as well as educational projects for young Israeli Arabs.
About Maria Dueñas
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Spanish violinist María Dueñas engages the audience with a tonal palette of incredible richness, immeasurable richness and a reading that combines artistic maturity with bold expression.
Exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2022, he debuted with Beethoven and Beyond (2023), the album that earned him "Opus Klassik" as Young Artist of the Year in 2024.
In February 2025, he published his second work on the label, dedicated to the legendary 24 Caprices of Paganini and other works inspired by the composer.This recording saw him win the Young Artist of the Year award and the Instrumentalist of the Year award in 2025 at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards.
Como solista, se ha presentado con formaciones como la Staatskapelle Berlin, la Münchner Philharmoniker, San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Sinfónica NHK y Orchestre de Paris, bajo batutas como Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Daniel Harding, Kent Nagano, Christian Thielemann y Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
He also maintains close collaborations with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, with whom he premiered Gabriela Ortiz's "Alter de Cuerda" from the album "Revolution," which won three Grammy Awards in 2025.
The celebration season, Mary Duinas with Cleveds Orcheds, blends to Japan and Deutschens Bremenonie Bremen, and the gig at the Festival of the Stepwood and Admsons and Nelsons.The assembly implemented the Aleexaner's Pianian pianist in Berlin, New York, and Salzburg festival of Salzburg and Edins.
His 2025/26 commitments include a return to the Philadelphia Orchestra with Nezt-Séguin, a European tour with Pappano and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and a Nobel Prize concert conducted by Semyon Bychkov.
He will also make his debuts with the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Karina Kanellakis and the New York Philharmonic under Manfred Honeckin.Celebrating Subin Mehta's 90th birthday in 2026 with concerts in Madrid and Barcelona with the West-East Divan Orchestra is a milestone in his career.
He plays the Nicolò Gagliano violin (c. 17?4), on loan from the Archiv Stiftung Musikleben.He did the same with the violin "ex-Székely, Michelangelo" by Antonio Stradivari, from 1718.
About the West-Eastern Dewan Orchestra
The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which brings together musicians from Israel, Palestine and various Arab countries, as well as Turkey and Iran, was founded in 1999 by Daniel Barenboim and the Palestinian intellectual Edward W. Said.Its motto is "equal in music" and the vision of peaceful coexistence between cultures is its founding principle.In extensive work phases, the orchestra prepares its programs, which it then presents on international tours.
The Milan's Philharmonic, the Musikverein of Vienna, The Scala of Milan, Pleyel Pleyel of Paris, Carnegie Hall of New York, the Conservatory of Moscow.
He performs regularly at the BBC Proms in London, the Waldbühne in Berlin and the Salzburg Festival.
In 2022 he performed Smetana's "Ma power" in Paris, Brussels, Luxembourg, Munich and Milan;at the Prague Spring festival;and at the Lucerne Festival.
Numerous CDs and DVDs, as well as Paul Smackzny’s documentary Knowledge is the Beginning, attest to the orchestra’s work, and in 2016 the orchestra was appointed United Nations Ambassador for Cultural Understanding.
Western-Eastern Divan Orchestra, together with Barenboim-Said Academy, are also affiliated with officially recognized public universities in the field of music and humanities.
