Zubin Mehta

There are three orchestras in Munich, all world-quality, in a city of one million. Yet every hall is full.

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

One learns how to change gears within a concert repertoire.

I endeavor that all orchestras I conduct sound Central European.

If you can sing together, you can live together.

In truth, I became a conductor because deep down I wanted to conduct Brahms's four symphonies and Richard Strauss's tone poems.

We are so indebted to our ancestors, musically speaking, that they have left us 400 years of music.

I am always hearing from Israelis, 'Oh, CNN is anti-Israel,' or 'BBC is against us.' But no, they are reporting facts.

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.

Why does Israel always have to suffer for others to feel bad for it?

I am often critical of Israel's policies when in the country, but then feel defensive of them when overseas.

I love to conduct opera.

I have a few homes, and Los Angeles is certainly one of them.

I've never said, 'I live for art.'

My life is so full of sacrifices.

I feel that the critic and music director should have such a good relationship they can pick up the phone and call each other any time.

The New York Philharmonic is a tremendous opportunity, a great orchestra.

After conducting Wagner, Beethoven's triple concerto is like taking an Alka Seltzer.

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.

There was an opinion expressed in the newspapers that, after 20 years, maybe the Israel Philharmonic should consider asking me to leave. I thought they might have a point, so I asked my orchestra. They told me overwhelmingly that they wanted me to stay.

I'm a pucca Indian. Bombay is my home.

There are certainly talented instrumentalists coming from India. I see them performing all over the world.

I respect the Indian government for the fact that there are no settlements in Kashmir.

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

There is a school in Israel called Hand in Hand which I support. There Arab and Jewish students study together on a daily basis.

Even in music concerts in Mumbai and different parts of the world, seats are reserved for sponsors.

The 'New York Times' reviews of my work have been evenly divided - favourable and unfavourable.

Critics do their job, and I take their criticism seriously.

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

American musicians are very giving - they have the highest standard in the world - but they are also very demanding in their conditions.

The private sector is growing so incredibly in India, in every city you have industries for whom building a concert hall would be nothing financially. But they just don't do it.

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?

I'm a Persian Jew, and we don't speak Hebrew.

I have been to Kashmir many times, especially with my family, in the '70s.

Indian hotels are doing well globally because they understand hospitality.

Though there is such a rich tradition of culture and arts, I have never been invited to perform at a concert in South India.

My father was a trained accountant, a BCom from Sydenham College and a self-taught violinist. In the 1920s, when he was in his teens, he heard a great violinist, Jascha Heifetz, and he was so inspired listening to him that he bought himself a violin, and with a little help from an Italian teacher, he learned to play it.

I've known Pinchas Zukerman since he was a teenager.

I knew at university that medicine was just not for me. I saved many lives by not being a doctor!

All these people who scream about Kashmir being an armed camp are in fact responsible for keeping it that way.

I am an Indian, so I do yoga.

My family and relatives alone could fill Shanmukhananda Hall in Bombay.

I miss the standard of the New York Philharmonic's playing very much. It has certainly been a high point in my life.

I believe in music.

Israel gives the West Bank water twice a week! One way of promoting good would be not to ration water.

I wish that only three residents of Tel Aviv could see what conditions on the West Bank are like. Living in such proximity, most Israelis have no idea about the adversity on the West Bank.

As long as they keep building settlements, the world will be anti-Israeli.

I just want to play for Hindus and Muslims that sit together. That's all I want to do.

Let's try to count the number of Nobel prize-winners that have emerged from scientific centres of excellence like the Weizmann Institute and Haifa's technical university, the Technion. There has to be at least 25.

Israel is a piece of real estate that neither Jew or Arab will let go of; neither will leave these shores. And so they will have to learn to live together.