MUSIC

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra music director Zubin Mehta said Wednesday he is intervening in the case of a Soviet woman who has for 14 years been denied permission to emigrate to Israel. Mehta said he met Elena Keiss-Kuna of Leningrad during a recent tour of the Soviet Union with his other orchestra, the New York Philharmonic. Keiss-Kuna’s sister, Anna Rosnovsky, emigrated to Israel 14 years ago and is a violinist in the Israel Philharmonic. Soviet authorities have denied Keiss-Kuna an exit visa because her job as a chemical engineer gave her access to state secrets. But Mehta dismissed these claims, saying: “When I spoke to Soviet officials, I told them the only state secret this woman knows is the recipe for borscht.”