MUSIC

Conductor in the Hot Spot: Zubin Mehta, the outgoing New York Philharmonic’s music director, canceled three appearances at Lincoln Center this week to be in Israel during the unfolding events in the Persian Gulf. An insert in the program given out at the Philharmonic explained that he went “as a gesture of solidarity with the members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and with people of Israel.” Mehta is the “Music Director for Life” of the Israel Philharmonic. In June, 1967, he flew to Israel when the Six-Day War broke out and conducted the Israel Philharmonic at army outposts and in cities. He is not scheduled to conduct during this trip and is expected to return to New York for a Thursday concert.