Nuvi Mehta

Nuvi Mehta's "What's The Score?" pre-concert talks are given 45 minutes before every Jacobs Masterworks concert from the stage of Copley Symphony Hall.

Navroj (Nuvi) Mehta serves the San Diego Symphony as pre-concert lecturer, multi-media presenter and community outreach resource. Nuvi Mehta joined the Ventura Music Festival in 2004 as Artistic Director, and was formerly conductor for the International Russian Music Piano Competition, as well as Music Director of the Marquette Symphony Orchestra and the Nova Vista Symphony. Mr. Mehta has also been Assistant Conductor and Director of Outreach Programs with the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, and he served as apprentice conductor with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Nuvi Mehta has also hosted San Diego Symphony appearances on XLNC 104.9FM and KPBS 89.5FM.

As a violinist, Nuvi Mehta served as concertmaster with the New World Symphony in Miami and performed for several seasons with the San Diego Symphony. A graduate with honors of Indiana University (BA in Music) and Juilliard (MA in Music), he studied conducting with Charles Bruck and attended conducting seminars with Leonard Bernstein. Nuvi Mehta comes from a long musical tradition. His father, Dady Mehta, studied piano at the Vienna Academy. Simultaneously, Nuvi Mehta’s mother had begun her voice training and his father’s cousin, Zubin Mehta, was studying conducting. Nuvi Mehta’s brother, Bejun Mehta, is a countertenor who has sung with the Metropolitan Opera.

Describing a childhood surrounded by music, Mr. Mehta says: “My mother taught us to sing, and my father’s piano filled the house. To this day, some of my favorite piano music is that which my father played when I was under five years old.  When he played Prokofiev or Bartók, I would run from wherever I was in the neighborhood hoping to arrive in time for the final chords.  

While at Juilliard, Nuvi Mehta began studying conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller. “New York was a revelation. I heard Milstein and later had lessons with him. Zubin was a great support to me - taking me in, and giving me access to Philharmonic rehearsals and concerts.” Mr. Mehta’s principal violin teacher was Josef Gingold and he went on to study conducting with Charles Bruck. “I was fortunate to play concerts with Leonard Bernstein, as well, and to work with him. He was a big influence on me, too, as he was for so many.”