04/03/2020
Late Tehmina And Mehli Mehta.
Born in Poona, India, Tehmina Mehta began studying piano at the age of 9. At 19, she met her husband when she accompanied the violinist in a charity concert in Bombay.
They married eight years later, after Mehli Mehta worked in an income tax office until he could support her. Tehmina Mehta was the strength in the family.
Mehta had lived in Los Angeles since 1964, when her husband, violinist and conductor Mehli Mehta, became head of UCLA’s orchestra department. He taught at UCLA until 1976 and headed the American Youth Symphony, consisting of Southern California university students, from 1964 until 1998. He died in 2002.
The couple’s two sons both forged careers in music. Zubin Mehta, former music director of the Los Angeles and New York philharmonics, is music director for life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and general music director of the Bavarian State Opera. Zarin Mehta, whom his mother always joked “can’t even read music,” became an accountant and is the executive director of the New York Philharmonic.
Mehta is survived by her two sons, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren
