WEBVTT - Zarin Mehta 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.720 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.560 For the past twelve years, Zarin Made has run what 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:14.920 is arguably the finest orchestra in the country, the New 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:19.680 York Philharmonic. Zarin retired as the president and executive director 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:22.200 of the Philharmonic at the end of this past season. 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:26.799 He leaves behind Alan Gilbert the orchestra's musical director, a 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:31.160 position that Zarin's older brother, Zubin held for thirteen years. 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:35.600 Zarin Made is famous for his intellect, his passion for 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.080 the music, and his insights and ideas about how to 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:43.479 sustain a world class orchestra. It's hard to imagine someone 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:48.400 better suited for that job. How would you describe your job? 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.839 Getting paid for something I love to do? How's that? 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:55.640 I get that impression? You know? Somebody said to me, 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:58.000 you'll retire, Aren't you glad you won't have to do 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:02.120 union negotiations anyways? It I love doing them. Yeah, it's 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:06.280 a game. It's fun. Zaron's love for New York City 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:10.360 is contagious. He experiences more of his adopted city in 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:15.880 a weekend than most natives do in a lifetime. Saturday, 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:18.679 I went to the opera Saturday night. We had a concert. 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:22.280 Sunday afternoon. I went to another concert because one of 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:24.959 the people who comes to conduct us was conducting his orchestra, 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:28.440 and it was just very relaxing to go and do 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:32.160 all those things. You know, I don't understand colleagues of 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:35.399 mine who go maybe once a week to the concert, 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:38.760 and I don't understand. I assume you go to the 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.600 movies a lot. I watched movies a lot of don't 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.399 necessary that the same thing. Yeah, I went to the 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:48.520 movies yesterday morning, which is suddenly I've never done. I 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:50.000 think I go to the symphony more than you go 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:52.600 to the movies. No, I used to go to the 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.560 movies two or three times a week. You know. Sometimes 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:57.920 my wife and I go on a Saturday afternoon and 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:01.160 go to the concert afterwards. We love going to the 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.520 movies and to the theater. We're out all the time. 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:11.520 He's talking about his wife of forty six years, Carmen Made, 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:15.440 a former opera singer who is as invested in classical 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:18.800 music and the arts as is Zaren. I've been teaching 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:23.360 singing for fifty four years. For any singing teacher that's 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:26.480 out there, it does take about fifty four years to 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:30.079 figure out how exactly to do it, how to turn 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:36.600 each new voice into its best, how to attack that 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:41.280 instrument or encourage that instrument, because everyone is so different. 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.640 But the main thing is to attack it from music 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:48.600 instead of only from the voice. So to an extent, 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:53.160 when you are instructing and when you are coaching, or 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:55.960 whatever word you want to use, I would say, I 0:02:56.000 --> 0:03:00.960 teach you teach singing, and I'm obsessed with singing, And 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:02.600 I joke about it because if I could sing, I'd 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:04.440 have a completely different life. In my heart, I think 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:06.160 I have the heart of a singer, but I have 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:09.160 the vocal cords of a crossing guard or something. I mean, 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:14.200 excuse me, interrupt you. You have the vocal chords of 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:18.280 an actor. Carmen Madea is precise and doesn't hold back 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.400 on her opinions, and over the last few years, she 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:25.239 and Zarin have welcomed me to their classical music world. 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.080 I've been listening to classical music since my twenties, when 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:32.480 I discovered it while driving around Los Angeles looking for work. 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:35.800 Through meeting Zaren, I've been able to live out my 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:39.320 dream of being part of an orchestra, not as a musician, 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:42.920 but by hosting the Philharmonic's radio broadcast on DEBT q 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:47.680 x R and by serving on the Philharmonic's board of directors. Zarin, 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:52.320 an accountant by trade, grew up in nineteen forties Bombay 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:56.200 before it became the booming city of Mumbai. Back then, 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:58.640 or at least in Zarin made his memory, it was 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.760 more like a colonial fish village. For me. It was 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:06.200 a lovely upbringing. We bicycle to school for forty five 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:09.800 minutes to get to our school. We played cricket every weekend, 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:13.640 and many fields that actually still exist. When your father 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:16.120 was a musician, My father was a musician. Should we 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:20.960 grew up in a completely absorbing musical and was a 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:24.840 professional magician. Oh yeah, yeah. He was a violinist and 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:28.280 a conductor, and he had started the Bombay Symphony, he 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:34.160 started the Bombay String Quartet. Was his father classically. But 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:36.440 this is one of the craziest things, Alec. I mean, 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.240 you think back to when he started studying the violin. 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:44.520 He was born in nine eight in the twenties, there 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.960 were no recordings, there was no radio. How did this 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:53.560 man get this bug to study Western classical music in India? 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.479 And we still don't know, and he doesn't know when 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.480 we asked him. He actually went to school, did a 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:03.000 commis agree and statured working for the Income Tax Department 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:08.240 trained him on the violin Uh an Italian musician who 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:13.040 had ended up in Bombay by ship from Genoa and 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:18.279 the you know, he gave private lessons and my father 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:20.919 studied with him. What year did he found the Symphony 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:23.719 in Bombay? In thirty nine? And there have been none 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:27.240 prior of him and my brother and I grew up 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:31.120 listening to sectional rehearsals of the Bombay Symphony in our 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.760 living room, chamber music concerts. I mean, I know chamber 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:39.480 music intimately only because we listened to it over and 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.640 over and over again. Your brother has said, I want 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.039 to bead this quote. There was little room for you 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:48.479 to practice as a kid between him and your father. 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:51.880 Did you had you wanted to play? No? I really never. 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:54.120 I thought I was enough to listen to it, and 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:56.599 I didn't feel any urge to want to learn anything. 0:05:56.640 --> 0:05:59.760 He didn't know, and I was perfectly happy doing that 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:04.320 and going to school and listening to music, putting on 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:06.560 records all the time. There's all seventy eight yet to 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.360 get up every four minutes to flip the record and 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:13.599 change it, and that was wonderful. Your your brother. When 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:15.240 did he know that he wanted to go on that? 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:19.640 He probably knew all the time, because I think the 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:23.400 calling was there and he really wanted to be a conductor. 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:28.400 Then he left India to study composition in Vienna with 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:30.640 an eye to go into the conducting school. In a 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.159 year after he was in Vienna, he got into conducting 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:37.279 school and started having He was eighteen at the time. 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.479 And my father continued working that way, and then he 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:45.800 left India, came to England, worked in an orchestra, the 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:49.839 Hally Orchestra, a great orchestra with Sir John Barbarolli, who 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.719 was a music director of New York in the fourties. 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:58.080 Then he came to Philadelphia and slowly both super and 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:03.800 I gravitated to the United States. And when I've finished 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:07.920 my accounting qualification in London, that came to New York 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:11.760 to get a job. I was told that I would 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:14.400 be drafted and sent back to England as a g I. 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:18.040 So that's when I gravitated up to Canada in nineteen 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:20.680 sixty two. I was a bachelor. I thought this is 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:25.480 a nice place. And that's how my life started in 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:29.520 North America. Your father lived until one he died in 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:34.080 two thousand and two. No, he was ninety four. He 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.240 was ninety four, so obviously he had lived to see 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:42.320 both of you. Was mesmerized. Yeah, I mean he was, 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:44.680 especially with my brother, because you know, he lived through 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:52.360 vicariously having grown up around musicians and your father. But 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:55.240 I guess more notably your brother, who being a conductor 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:59.560 in the modern age, those guys certainly have a presence. 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.720 Shell say, did that help you? But the work you 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:06.160 were doing and dealing with the orchestras and solo wests, 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:13.040 and I suppose the way it helped ah when I 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:17.200 was working as an accountant in Montreal and I was 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:20.000 on the board of the Montreal Symphony, the way you 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.920 are on the board of the New York Philharmonic. Of course, 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:26.840 when musicians came to perform to conduct, I got to 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:29.160 know them in the New Zubin so we kind of 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:33.240 became friends and we'd see each other and we could communicate. 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:36.160 And it's a small world. Yeah, it's a small world. 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:38.280 So I got to know a lot of people that way. 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:40.719 So of course that helped me in when I did 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:44.920 decide to go into this professional running an orchestra full time. 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:47.800 In I knew a lot of people. You went to 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:50.040 Canada in sixty two sixty two, so I went as 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.040 an account I was on the board of the symphony, 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:55.280 and so from that it became my job at the 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:59.040 symphony was like all other board members, you know, governance 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:02.640 and raising money. Right. And then when we needed an 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:07.200 executive director and couldn't find anybody, a few colleagues of 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:09.120 mine and I decided that maybe I should do it, 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:12.520 take a leave of absence and train somebody to run 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.600 the orchestra. And in the end I got the bug 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.960 and I said, I like this. Zarin remained at the 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:22.959 helm of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for nine years. Charles 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:27.560 Detis was music director. Carmen made it remembers their collaboration. 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.280 They made an exceptional team. What do you attribute that 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:33.839 to that period there in Montreal. Well, first of all, 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:36.800 everything was working in the right way. The mayor that 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:40.920 was then in Montreal was very supportive. Charlie was at 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:45.240 the height of his career and he brought to Montreal 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:50.560 a very strong discipline to that orchestra. Charlie, as we 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:56.720 call him, has a great ear and a great refined ear, 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:02.200 that sort of balance of color and in tune playing, 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:06.920 and he created for that orchestra a way of making 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:10.959 sure that everything was harmonious and at the same time, 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:15.719 the money the business was in a good place, so 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.559 they could do many things, and recording was a great 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:23.079 part of that. And they worked together to bring music 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:25.840 to the parks, music to the school. And what about 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:28.679 the orchestra itself. These people who are in these administrative 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:32.080 positions of the music director themselves, they're handling this body 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:36.000 of all these individuals. Not all orchestras are bodies of 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:38.600 people who are easy to handle. I guess it's safe 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:42.280 to say that Underta and Zaren you had a happy 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:44.160 group of people. They were happy. We had a happy 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:48.479 group of people because I think it's always been Zaren's 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:53.720 feeling and his devotion to the fact that the musicians 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:58.559 have all studied for many years and then they joined 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:02.359 a group of people and they have to become underneath 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.920 the battle of whoever the conductor is. That means that 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:08.520 you have to make sure that your musicians are happy, 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:13.560 make sure that everything that goes on in their lives, 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:18.760 from money to traveling experiences, et cetera. From their unions. 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:23.920 All of that is working well, and your respect for them, 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:28.360 your respect for the musicians, and and Charlie's expertise, and 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:32.520 he was so adamant that they make a great sound. 0:11:42.920 --> 0:12:01.600 M M. What was the musical world, the classical musical 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:07.040 world like back then as compared to now. I think 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.960 it wasn't that different. You know, people always think back 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:14.199 and say the good old days. I think more people 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:16.520 go to consists today than they did in those days. 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:22.360 As the result of what I think in the last 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:25.680 ten years, I would say the Internet is enormous. Technology 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:28.720 has helped absolutely instead of saying it's the reverse. I 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.720 think it's always helped expanded the audience. You know. It's 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:35.360 like in sports, when they started televising all these baseball 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:38.200 games and hockey games, the basketball games, it brought more 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:40.719 people to the stadiums because they got used to see 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:43.880 what was going on. It's so competitive here in New 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:47.320 York for that ticket holders dollar. How do you think 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.160 the city has behaved and the state has behaved in 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:53.520 terms of supporting the arts. Have They've been a good 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:58.880 partner for you. Look in the United States, one does 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:01.400 not look to the date for support of the arts 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.640 as compared to well as compared to Europe, and we're 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:09.520 in Europe are the most generous. Every opera house and 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:14.760 orchestra in Europe, I'm not talking England proper. Europe is 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:20.440 supported entirely, entirely by the state. So Las Cala or 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.240 Munich or Berlin. What do you think the budget of 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:28.200 the Berlin for harmonicas similar to yours? Probably not as high. 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:32.920 The payods are different and they don't have to pay 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:36.400 anything separate for health care and pension, which is such 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:38.960 a huge cost to all of us in every business. 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.440 So yeah, the budgets will be different, but it's all 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:47.280 covered by the Senate in Berlin. New concert hall complex 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.079 as being built in Paris. It's being paid for by 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:53.240 the by the city of Paris and the federal government, 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:56.680 and it's going to be huge. I went to see 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:58.880 it when I was a couple of months ago. I 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:02.679 think it's going to be three or four hundred million euros, 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:06.960 which for European terms is a huge amount of money, 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:09.800 and it's going to be very beautiful. Genuel is designing 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:13.560 it and it will open in two thousand and fourteen. 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:17.360 They've invited us to go and play. Then fifteen, what's 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:21.000 something you think the city could do. Let's confine ourselves 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:23.640 to this institution. What could they have done that you 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:27.160 had expected that they would do, or something you'd like 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:32.480 to see them do. Let's go back to the basic thing, 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:36.280 not just here, but everywhere that I would have liked 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:42.400 more support for the arts generally from the leaders of 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:48.520 our community, and that starts with the presidents, to the senators, 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:52.640 to the governors. They do not go to the opera, 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:56.080 they do not go to concerts. When we played in 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:59.840 Berlin last year, Angel America bought her own tickets in 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.520 came to hear our concert, and she came in the 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:07.280 intermission to see Allan and Tomahimson was the And I 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:11.040 think that shows the people of that city in the country, 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:16.800 the importance of the arts. We don't have that anywhere. 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:20.160 I think it would be a great boom for the 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:22.160 city of New York if there was a summer home, 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:26.320 not just for the orchestra, but you know, the orchestra 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:29.120 might do in a three or four month period, twenty 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:31.800 five concerts. You got all those other days that you 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:35.800 could have jazz and pop, and you know, so why 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:38.640 isn't the city behind the whole idea of doing something, 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:44.160 of leading the charge to have a performance space in 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:46.520 the city of New York. That's what I mean is 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:51.960 lacking from the elected officials. So there's summer Home is 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:53.960 something that we need to do. We need to redo 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:57.800 this avery Offisher Hall. People keep saying this for acoustical reasons, 0:15:57.800 --> 0:15:59.840 and I keep saying, no, it's fifty years old. At 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:03.880 me is redoing. You don't believe that every Fisher is 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:07.400 as compromised acoustically, and some people mentioned at all. So listen, 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:14.480 we play concerts on tour all over the world. I'm 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:16.360 not going to give you numbers because I haven't worked 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:19.960 it out, but I can tell you that there's maybe 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.400 half a dozen holes that I think are better the 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:27.640 Nabory Fisher. Most of the holes that we playing are 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:31.720 really not that great. What is it in your mind? 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:35.800 Because people struggle with this question. Acoustics for symphonic music 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:38.920 is something that you assume it's important because people never 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:41.400 shut up about it. Is it a science? Is that 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.640 a team of technicians coming in? Look? Is it luck? 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:47.880 I think the problem with every Fisher Hall is Carnegie 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:52.640 Hall is eight blocks south of US. Okay, the press 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.960 keep referring to it as acoustically challenged. If I can 0:16:56.000 --> 0:17:01.480 show you the reviews of this hole in nineteen seventy 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:04.359 six when it reopened, from the New York Times and 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:06.600 all the newspaper because there were more than one newspaper 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.280 close period of time, it closer about a year and 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:13.199 a half for what for renovations that that was a 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:17.520 real acoustical redo. From the time it opened, people largely 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:19.800 believe that it didn't address some of the problems. They thought, 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:23.840 this is the greatest hall in the world. What do 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.160 you think, for example, about what is considered a more 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.000 modern hall in your new construction in l A. How 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:31.560 do you think the Disney Hall sounds. I think it 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:34.400 looks beautiful. I don't think it sounds as good as 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:38.520 it looks, but it's a perfectly acceptable hall. What's one 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:40.360 that's been built recently that you think that they got 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:45.040 to write acoustically? If you can name one in the 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:47.600 I would say in the last twenty twenty five years. 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:51.399 I like the hall in Frankfurt. There's a couple of 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:54.480 halls in Japan that are wonderful, the Chimo in Philadelphia. 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:58.439 The Climb is not that great, It's okay, we just 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:01.400 played there. It's improved also because they have all kinds 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:05.120 of adjustable things. That's about it that I could think. 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:08.120 I'm told the new hall in St. Petersburg is wonderful, 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:10.480 and in London and in London when was the last 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:12.679 time they run of that hall? But they did the 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:17.000 Festival Hall about five hours six years ago. Major improvement. 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:20.240 They spent I'm told a hundred and fifty million pounds 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:24.160 something like that. Yeah, none of these things are cheap. 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:26.240 And then you have to be out of the hall 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:28.439 for a long time, you know. That's sort of the 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:32.200 problems we have. And my success lab is where will 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:35.520 they go? And now we have certain ideas of how 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:40.560 to split the orchestra play in different halls. There's there's 0:18:40.600 --> 0:19:23.679 ways to travel around the Burrows and play. We'll be 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:25.960 back in a minute with more of my conversation with 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:29.159 Zaron maid to whose wife Carmen, has some thoughts on 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:32.719 why his tenure at the New York Philharmonic was so successful. 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:39.720 I think his idea for the orchestra has never really 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:45.200 been a vehicle for himself, and I think people see 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:49.760 that if you work with him closely, you'll see that. Also, 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:53.840 he's an Indian, so he's good at business. He's good 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:57.760 at numbers. He has an accountant after all. He has 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:02.240 a great memory. So he's a type that gets respect 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:06.520 for not having to check all the time what last 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:10.199 year's season was. He hasn't in his brain when he 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:13.400 makes a season up and you ask him, he doesn't 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.520 have to check anywhere. It's in his head. He has 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:20.160 a good background, not as a musician himself, but with 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:24.119 his family, and he's always been interested in music, and 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:27.240 as a young student in England went all the time 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:31.000 to place and so on. So he has integrity. He 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:35.280 has integrity. He's trustworthy. Absolutely, he's trustworthy when you just 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:37.000 just when you meet him, when you spend five minutes 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:38.520 with him. By the time you're done, you say, this 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.120 guy's a gentleman and his trustworthy. But he also has 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:45.959 some kind of presence if you use that correctly. I 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:48.920 think you have to command respect and try to get 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:52.359 things done, and get things done. More about zaren Nada's 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:59.679 work with the New York Philharmonic. In a minute, this 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:04.560 is like Baldwin and you're listening to here's the thing. Now, 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:07.680 what's changed here in the time of your benner when 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:12.880 you came here was in what was the philharmonic um 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:18.160 because the Philharmonic has unique concerns compared to other Yeah, 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:21.240 I think salaries are higher, correct, No, the salaries are 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:25.320 competitive with the major orchestras Chicago, Boston, even though the 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:27.840 cost of living is higher. Yeah, that's unfortunately one of 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:30.439 the things that the musicians you have to cope with. 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:36.040 I think the changes that have taken place have been 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:39.639 more in the way we've taken the orchestra out of 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:45.399 every Fisher Hall, much bigger, better programmed parks concerts, so 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:48.359 we're getting a lot of good people. The attendance in 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:52.879 the parks has gone up enormously. Our use of the 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:57.359 Internet and the media has changed enormously. We're not making 0:21:57.400 --> 0:22:01.639 recordings anymore, but we are, you know, taking out our 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:04.920 broadcasts and downloading live and so on. Why aren't you 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:09.520 making recordings anymore? Nobody's making recordings. No one's buying You 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:11.439 can get it free on the internet. You can, you know, 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:15.480 go on the iTunes and get any piece you want 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:19.760 from eighteen different sources. Are you selling your material on 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:24.399 the internet giving it for free? Give me for free? Um? 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:28.720 The the fact that our radio broadcast and now international 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:32.240 is a huge change that you know, you can hear 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:35.240 a New York followed by concert in Moscow or in Adelaide. 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:40.000 I think that never happened before. So technologies, technology is 0:22:40.160 --> 0:22:42.640 you know, we've taken hold of it, and I think 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:48.320 that's important. We just did our first television show that 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:51.520 we did in house. We brought the people and we 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:54.639 directed it, and we did a concert from here for 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:58.080 Chinese New Year's I'm told it was watched by a 0:22:58.119 --> 0:23:03.160 hundred million people. That's extraordinary that a classical music show 0:23:03.240 --> 0:23:05.280 was watched by a hundred million people. How have you 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:07.719 changed during the time you've been here? How have I changed? 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:10.400 Have you enjoyed being in New York? Yeah? I loved it, 0:23:11.320 --> 0:23:13.439 loved it. You're going back to Chicago, going back to 0:23:13.520 --> 0:23:16.400 Chicago Cheople to live there, and my family is there, 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:19.840 my daughter, But otherwise we would stay here. My wife 0:23:19.920 --> 0:23:22.560 is not very happy about leaving New York. She's happy 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:25.600 to go for the reasons I just said, but we're 0:23:25.600 --> 0:23:27.640 both unhappy to leave here. If you had enough money, 0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:30.480 i'd keep appeared that they're here. Sure are you gonna 0:23:30.640 --> 0:23:33.280 basically retire when you're there? Are you gonna still look 0:23:33.320 --> 0:23:38.480 I'm I'm not my father, as I said, work till 0:23:38.520 --> 0:23:40.879 he was ninety two. My grandfather worked till he was 0:23:40.960 --> 0:23:42.760 ninety two. I don't know if I worked till I'm 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:44.919 ninety two. And it's not because of that, But I 0:23:45.000 --> 0:23:47.720 just don't feel like I can sit at home and 0:23:47.760 --> 0:23:49.680 do nothing or go and play golf. I'm not that 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:53.960 type when you're home now. First of all, I wanted 0:23:53.960 --> 0:23:57.800 to mention you enjoy going to the concert hall. Uh. 0:23:58.440 --> 0:24:00.359 In the time I've known, you're never more happy and 0:24:00.359 --> 0:24:02.840 never more relaxed than when the music is playing. And 0:24:02.880 --> 0:24:06.960 you still have a high degree of appreciation and real 0:24:07.080 --> 0:24:11.320 love of concert music, which I find is not mutual 0:24:11.400 --> 0:24:14.960 exclusive from but interesting considering your wife, who's very, very critical. 0:24:15.680 --> 0:24:19.440 I always know what's what in the concert world, dilettante 0:24:19.480 --> 0:24:22.520 that I am, this pianist, this conductor. By looking at 0:24:22.600 --> 0:24:25.159 Carmen Menta's response, you don't want to go to the 0:24:25.160 --> 0:24:28.720 opera with her, they don't. She's even more vocal, she's 0:24:28.720 --> 0:24:31.400 even more harsh in her judgments because she's an opera file. 0:24:32.760 --> 0:24:37.120 But she's a singer, so you know that comes naturally 0:24:37.160 --> 0:24:38.840 to her. But when the two of your home. Do 0:24:38.880 --> 0:24:43.960 you listen to music? Sometimes? You know, we basically we 0:24:44.040 --> 0:24:46.920 don't put our background music. First of all, I listened 0:24:46.920 --> 0:24:50.280 to music that I really want to hear, and often 0:24:50.560 --> 0:24:53.720 on a Saturday afternoon or something out here, I'm reading 0:24:53.720 --> 0:24:56.399 the paper and the dead and Carmen's got we have 0:24:56.400 --> 0:24:59.359 a little player in the bedroom and she's off listening 0:24:59.400 --> 0:25:04.320 to Bach that's her go to. Yeah, she just you know, 0:25:04.480 --> 0:25:20.240 and I agree with her. Listening to music has been 0:25:20.760 --> 0:25:24.520 so much a part of my life and absorbing it. 0:25:25.440 --> 0:25:30.280 And I must say, when anything goes wrong with my life, 0:25:30.359 --> 0:25:33.400 or with my thoughts or with my family, I think 0:25:33.440 --> 0:25:37.720 it is the constant help to have a musical phrase, 0:25:38.560 --> 0:25:42.320 the line of a poem. In my mind. That means 0:25:42.840 --> 0:25:47.919 music has fed the internal life. So it's fine and 0:25:47.960 --> 0:25:53.600 you're never lonely. Sometimes I just put the paper down 0:25:54.160 --> 0:25:58.159