{"id":125060,"date":"2026-06-11T13:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T17:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=125060"},"modified":"2026-06-11T16:43:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T20:43:48","slug":"interview-mervon-mehta-talks-17-years-koerner-hall-new-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2026\/06\/11\/interview-mervon-mehta-talks-17-years-koerner-hall-new-season\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Mervon Mehta Talks About His 17 Years At Koerner Hall \u2014 And The New Season"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mervon
Mervon Mehta, Executive Director, Performing Arts at The Royal Conservatory\u2019s Koerner Hall 2009 to 2026 (Photo courtesy of RCM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On June 4, Mervon Mehta and other RCM officials announced the lineup for the 2026-27 Royal Conservatory concert season in front of an invited crowd. The event was only partly to announce the rest of the RCM season of performances at Koerner Hall, including jazz, global, and other artists.<\/p>\n

The remainder was devoted to a tribute to Mehta, whose term in the role of Executive Director, Performing Arts at The Royal Conservatory\u2019s Koerner Hall ends with the 2025\/26 season later this month.<\/p>\n

The tribute included speakers like former board member Dr. David Goldblum, and former Governor General of Canada Adrienne Clarkson, along with performances by artists of KUN\u00c9 Global Orchestra<\/strong>, which Mehta himself founded back in 2016, with vocalist Maryem Tollar<\/strong>, mother and daughter powerhouse vocalists Jackie Richardson<\/strong> and Shakura S’Aida<\/strong>, Taylor Academy violinist Christie Cheung<\/strong>, and a stellar jazz trio of Robi Botos<\/strong>, Mike Downes<\/strong> and Mark Kelso<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Mehta was awarded an honorary fellowship from the RCM during the event. That award joins other accolades on Mehta\u2019s mantle, including the 2025 King Charles Coronation Medal.<\/p>\n

When he began his tenure in Toronto in 2009, Koerner Hall was not yet finished.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time we heard real music in the hall, we all looked at each other and said, \u2018Oh\u2026 this is pretty good. I think this is going to be OK.\u2019 Until that moment, we really didn\u2019t know,\u201d he recalls in a statement.<\/p>\n

Under his leadership as the inaugural Executive Director, Performing Arts, Koerner Hall has become a jewel of a venue not only for classical music, which makes up about half of its programming calendar, but also jazz, and a range of global and pop artists from a long list of genres.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the very beginning, we wanted Koerner Hall to be a place for everybody \u2014 a cultural hub for Toronto. We made it clear early on that this would not be a hall for just one kind of music or one kind of audience,\u201d Mervon said.<\/p>\n

During his time at Koerner, the hall has hosted or presented more than 1,500 concerts, and that includes 130 world premieres and 83 commissions by the RCM as part of the 21C Series.<\/p>\n

\"Mervon
Mervon Mehta during his acting days (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mervon Mehta<\/h2>\n

Mervon Mehta began his career as an actor, and he appeared in more than 100 theatrical productions. He trained with the late Sanford Meisner in New York, and performed in that city for several years as a member of the Neighborhood Group Theatre. He also took on roles in regional theatre, and on TV. After returning to Canada in 1987, notable appearances include the role of Laertes in Hamlet at the Persephone Theatre in Saskatoon, Marulus\/Messala in Julius Caesar at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, and Lucentio in The Taming of the Shrew at Skylight Theatre in Toronto, among others.<\/p>\n

At the Stratford Festival, selected roles include Paris in Richard Monet\u2019s Romeo and Juliet, Valentine in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and in Michael Langham’s critically acclaimed production of Timon of Athens. His reach as an actor went far beyond Shakespeare, and included Rodolpho in A View from the Bridge, Stanley in Brighton Beach Memoirs, Bernie in Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love, and Cuirette in Michel Tremblay’s Hosanna.<\/p>\n

TV roles include appearances on The Untouchables, Choices (with George C. Scott), and he appeared on several daytime soap operas.<\/p>\n

In 1993, he moved to Chicago, and performed in several productions there, including The Seagull (Treplev) at Touchstone Theatre, in Once in a Lifetime (Jerry) at the Court Theatre, and in The Cure at Troy (Neoptolemus) directed by the late Bernie Sahlins at Steppenwolf Theatre, along with regular roles at Chicago\u2019s Apple Tree Theatre.<\/p>\n

In 1994, his career took a turn from on stage to behind stage. He joined Chicago\u2019s Ravinia Festival as a programmer for the pop concert series In 1998, he became Director of Programming, and Director of Production in 2001. Ravinia hosted 120 concerts each summer, including 20 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.<\/p>\n

Mehta made the move to Philadelphia in 2002, and took on the role of Vice President of Programming and Education at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. There, he programmed a diverse range of artists from fado star Mariza to Ravi Shankar, and an international roster of orchestras from Berlin, Vienna, Boston, and New York, along with soloists like Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma and others. He also incorporated dance and jazz artists in the Kimmel Center lineup.<\/p>\n

Alongside his other endeavours, Mervon has become a sought after narrator at classical music concerts, and has taken on this role for a variety of ensembles, including with his father Zubin Mehta performing such works as Beethoven\u2019s Egmont (Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, National Arts Center Orchestra and the Hall\u00e9 Orchestra in Manchester, England), and works such as Leonard Bernstein\u2019s Kaddish Symphony (Houston Symphony, Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, Munich Philharmonic, Maggio Musicale in Florence, Hungarian National Orchestra in Budapest); Walton\u2019s Henry V (Lisbon); and Schoenberg\u2019s Verkl\u00e4rte Nacht (Chicago Symphony), among others.<\/p>\n

LV caught up with Mehta to talk about his time at Koerner Hall, and what may lie ahead.<\/p>\n

\"Mervon
Mervon Mehta, Executive Director, Performing Arts at The Royal Conservatory\u2019s Koerner Hall 2009 to 2026 (Photo courtesy of RCM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mervon Mehta: The Interview<\/h2>\n

The timing of his stepping down from the role he\u2019s held since 2009 boils down to a number of factors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a lot of things, all leading to the point where it was just kind of the right time,\u201d he says. \u201cI spent 17 years here, plus I spent eight in Chicago and eight in Phildadelphia, doing a similar volume […] of concerts a year. It takes its toll.\u201d<\/p>\n

His son is a recent graduate from university, and Mervon says he\u2019s looking forward to traveling with him. \u201cThat was a big impetus,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a matter of principle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk a lot in the cultural worlds where the next leader is coming from,\u201d Mehta says, \u201cand we’re not doing the job of training the next group. And one of the reasons is that the older generation isn’t getting out of the way. It’s not healthy for the industry,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cKoerner Hall, it’s time for a new voice. I never want to get stale. Seventeen years as an artistic director is a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he points out, in Australia, for example, festivals change their Artistic Directors every three years by mandate, to avoid the kind of staleness he describes.<\/p>\n

Also, he has other projects in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have other things that I want to do that don’t involve 60 to 70 hours a week behind a desk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next Steps<\/h3>\n

Will he make a return to the stage as an actor?<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m hoping to,\u201d Mehta says. \u201cWe’ll see. I hooked up again with my old agent from 30 years ago, and he’s game. \u201c<\/p>\n

Mervon notes that he has a second agent who\u2019s looking into more gigs involving narration with orchestras and other ensembles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been doing that off and on as a kind of side hustle, but I haven’t really been doing that a lot recently,\u201d he says. \u201cI would be very happy to do that.\u201d As he points out, it involves travel to various locations for a short period of time of rehearsals and performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever wants to hire me. We’ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mervon
Mervon Mehta, Executive Director, Performing Arts at The Royal Conservatory\u2019s Koerner Hall 2009 to 2026 (Photo courtesy of RCM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Looking Back<\/h3>\n

Does he have any regrets from his time at Koerner Hall \u2014 anything he\u2019d do differently in retrospect?<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean there are certain things that we tried and didn’t work, so in hindsight we shouldn’t have done them,\u201d he acknowledges. He puts some less than satisfactory projects down to elements like marketing failures, or misjudging ticket pricing, for which Mehta takes responsibility.<\/p>\n

In other cases, not having a sellout crowd is simply part of the package.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of our mandate is young emerging Canadian artists, who aren’t necessarily going to sell out on their [first try],\u201d he points out.<\/p>\n

Other times, it\u2019s simply the something that couldn\u2019t be foreseen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been a few shows that looked good on paper and didn’t quite work,\u201d Mehta says. \u201cWe’ve done a lot of things that we put together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of those initiatives, like the yearly Sondheim musicals, have sold well. Others, like The Journal of H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Berr<\/a>, were exemplary works, but difficult sells.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn’t terribly well sold, but it was an extraordinary work. [It was] a very difficult piece about the Holocaust,\u201d he says, noting that the dark subject matter \u2014 about a young musician in Paris who was pursuing her career when she was rounded up by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp \u2014 was probably hard for audiences to stomach.<\/p>\n

The timing was also unfortunate. \u201cInteresting to do a Holocaust piece while the genocide is going on in Gaza. A lot of people didn’t want to spend some time in that world,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was fantastic but it was a tough sell,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut regrets on doing it? No.\u201d<\/p>\n

Likewise, he points to the international orchestra series, which has brought ensembles like The Philadelphia Orchestra<\/strong> and Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin<\/strong>, Ricardo Muti<\/strong> and The Chicago Symphony Orchestra<\/strong>, and the Budapest Festival Orchestra<\/a><\/strong> with Iv\u00e1n Fischer<\/strong> to Koerner Hall in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of them made any money, but [it was a fantastic experience],\u201d he says. \u201cWe came close a few time, and missed it a few times,\u201d Mervon continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo regrets on bringing that calibre of artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with performances, he notes that artists like Iv\u00e1n Fischer spent time holding masterclasses with Glenn Gould School students. They\u2019d work through a whole symphony, or portions of various pieces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat kind of education for two hours for our students, to be led by a master conductor, is priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other projects, like the formation of KUN\u00c9 Global Orchestra<\/strong>, simply can\u2019t be thought of in terms of money and financial gain. KUN\u00c9 was formed with a whisper of funding from government sources. He points out that the ensemble, which now operates separately from the RCM, is still going strong after a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve all become very good friends.\u201d<\/p>\n