The Australian World Orchestra (AWO) which comes together once in every two years will be visiting India to perform two concerts conducted by Zubin Mehta on October 25 and 26, 2015 in Bombay. Founded by artistic director Alexander Briger, AWO, which draws its musicians from the Vienna Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestras, will be undertaking its first ever international tour this year, noted The Times of India (TOI) of August 23, 2015. They will also perform in Madras and New Delhi.
"We always wanted a conductor like Zubin to lead us. He has a wonderful sense of humor as we Australians do,” said Briger. "So well, we were all having lunch, (oboist) Nick (Deutsch), Zubin and I, and Zubin said the AWO should become the cultural ambassador of Australia. We said, you go to India a lot, don’t you? And he said why don’t you come over there? That’s how it began,” he revealed. Additionally, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the G20 summit in Brisbane in November 2014, he spoke to the Australian arts minister and they formed a cultural pact, Briger said, easing the way for funding and state sponsorship.
Zubin Mehta: Bombay bound
The AWO "started being formed in 2010, but it took a year-and-a-half to take off,” Briger noted. Its first performance was at the Sydney Opera House in August 2011, reported TOI.