Discord denied

Press, 7 April 1987, Page 10

Discord denied

NZPA-Reuter Tel Aviv The renowned conductor, Zubin Mehta, has denied the accusation of a demoted viola player in the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra that he terrorises musicians, “Haaretz” newspaper has reported.

“As to the claim that I plot or inflict terror on the musicians, making them afraid to speak — a musical director who frightens an orchestra cannot make music with it,” Mehta told “Haaretz” in a telephone interview from his Los Angeles home.

Aryeh Yisraeli, aged 60, a viola player who was demoted recently as section conductor, accused

Mehta in the Tel Aviv Labour Court of breaking the spirit of the orchestra and causing heart attacks in some musicians.

Yisraeli, who had been with the orchestra since the age of 17, is asking the court to restore him to the section conductor’s job or pay him $463,000 severance money.

Mehta, aged 50, conductor of the Israel Philharmonic for 25 years and of the New York Philharmonic since 1978, said Yisraeli was removed as section conductor because the quality of playing, power of concentration and his ability to guide the section had lessened in recent years.