Though he is only 31, Mehta managed the formidable feat of adapting to Western culture, then precociously stormed the most daunting redoubts of European music. He became one of the youngest men ever to conduct both the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras. He electrified the August Salzburg Festival with stirring performances of Stravinsky and Brahms. At 24, he was named conductor of the Montreal Symphony, and a year later won the same post with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, thus becoming not only the youngest conductor of a leading U.S. orchestra , but also the only man ever to direct two major orchestras in North America at once. In fact, he conducted the two groups simultaneously at Expo 67; he led them in a massed performance of Berlioz' Symphonic Fantastique.