SRINAGAR: The stage is set for internationally-renowned conductor Zubin Mehta’s maiden performance here today as authorities have beefed up the security around 17th century Shalimar Garden .
Mehta arrived here Friday evening, along with his wife, for conducting the Munich-based Bavarian State Orchestra at Ehsaas-e-Kashmir (Feel of Kashmir), organised by German Embassy in New Delhi. The 80-strong contingent of the Orchestra arrived a few hours ahead of their conductor. Bavarian State Orchestra is one of the oldest in Germany and its origins can be traced to 1523.
As Mehta said Friday Kashmir chose me, the authorities in Srinagar were working at breakneck speed to make the concert a grand success.
Hoping to spread the message of love and peace through music, Mehta told reporters in New Delhi after receiving the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony: I didnt choose Kashmir, it chose me.
I hope to have the blessings of the people as music is the only language I know and hope to spread the message of peace with this performance.
Mehta is scheduled to play the composition of Ludwig van Beethoven, the 18th century composer considered as crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music.
He will also play compositions of Franz Joseph Haydn, the Austrian composer who is often called the “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet”, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the 19th Century Russian composer whose works included symphonies, concertos, operas, ballets, and chamber music.
The 90-minute concert that will be telecast live in 104 countries will start 5pm.
Pak Envoy, Ambanis, Wadia Among Invitees
Diplomats, corporate magnates, film stars, law makers, civil servants and politicians are on the list of 1,500 invitees to Saturday’s Zubin Mehta show.
The list of invitees is a virtual who’s who of movers and shakers.
Union ministers, ambassadors of European countries, Pakistan high commissioner Salman Bashir, industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani, actors Amitabh Bachchan and Shabana Azmi, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, state government ministers, legislators, top bureaucrats and military officers and select journalists are among those invited to the concert.
Also on the list are Bombay Dyeing chairman Nusli Wadia and union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor and his spouse Sunanda. The Ehsas-e-Kashmir” (Feel of Kashmir) concert is being jointly organised by the German embassy and the ‘Incredible India’ campaign of the union tourism ministry, with assistance from the state tourism department.
Two high-end five-star hotels in Srinagar, Hotel Lalit Palace and Taj Vivanta, have been booked for invitees from outside the city attending the concert.
Zubin Mehta and over 100 other members of the Bavarian State Orchestra are staying at Taj Vivanta while other invitees would be staying at Hotel Lalit Palace.
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