©Photo: Kaupo Kikkas

©Photo: Kaupo Kikkas

©Photo: Kaupo Kikkas

Paavo Järvi

Conductor

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“One rarely experiences such an immediate connection between orchestra and conductor, such an extraordinarily attentive presence on both sides so that with economical means an understanding of the most subtle shades is possible.”
(Wiener Zeitung)

Chief Conductor and Music Director: Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Chief Conductor: NHK Symphony Orchestra
Artistic Director: Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Artistic Director and Founder: Estonian Festival Orchestra
Artistic Advisor and Founder: Pärnu Music Festival and Järvi Academy
Artistic Advisor: Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Laureate: Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Music Director Laureate: Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

“One rarely experiences such an immediate connection between orchestra and conductor, such an extraordinarily attentive presence on both sides so that with economical means an understanding of the most subtle shades is possible.” (Wiener Zeitung)

Estonian Grammy Award-winning conductor Paavo Järvi is widely recognised as the musicians’ musician, enjoying close partnerships with the finest orchestras around the world. He serves as Chief Conductor of the Tonhalle Orchester-Zürich and the NHK Symphony Orchestra, as the long-standing Artistic Director of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and of the Estonian Festival Orchestra, which he founded in 2011. He is also Conductor Laureate of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Music Director Laureate of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Advisor of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.

In September 2021 Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle Orchester-Zürich celebrate their first season in the newly refurbished Grosse Tonhalle with a special concert featuring Mahler Symphony No.3. In his third season as Music Director of Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Paavo Järvi focuses on Bruckner and begins recording the composer’s symphonies as well as works by John Adams. This autumn Alpha Classics releases the complete box set of Tchaikovsky Symphonies, completing the cycle which was their first major recording project together in Zürich.

Paavo Järvi returns to Japan in the Autumn of 2021 for his final season as Chief Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo. He completes his seven-year tenure with performances and a recording of Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, returning to the composer which brought his collaboration with the Tokyo musicians international critical acclaim.

As Artistic Director of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen since 2004, Paavo Järvi has focused on in-depth projects of composers including Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms. During the 2021/22 season Paavo Järvi and DKAM continue with their latest project – Haydn’s London Symphonies – which they take on tour, perform in residency in Vienna and record for release in 2022.

Each season concludes with a week of performances and conducting master-classes at the Pärnu Music Festival in Estonia, which Paavo Järvi founded in 2011 together with his father, Neeme Järvi. The success of both the Festival and its resident ensemble – the Estonian Festival Orchestra – has led to a string of high profile invitations including recent performances at the BBC Proms, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and a tour of Japan.

In addition to his permanent positions, Järvi is much in demand as a guest conductor, regularly appearing with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Concertgebouworkest, London Philharmonia Orchestra, Münchner Philharmoniker and the Orchestre de Paris, where he served as Music Director from 2010 to 2016. This season Järvi returns to perform with all of these orchestras as well as with National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic.

In 2019 Paavo Järvi was named Conductor of the Year by Germany’s Opus Klassik and received the 2019 Rheingau Music Prize for his artistic achievements with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in the German orchestral and cultural landscape. Other prizes and honours include a Grammy Award for his recording of Sibelius’ Cantatas with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Artist of the Year by both Gramophone (UK) and Diapason (France) in 2015 and Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture for his contribution to music in France. In 2015 he was presented with the Sibelius Medal in recognition of his work in bringing the Finnish composer’s music to a wider public and in 2012 was awarded the Hindemith Prize for Art and Humanity. As a dedicated supporter of Estonian culture, Paavo Järvi was awarded the Order of the White Star by the President of Estonia in 2013.

Born in Tallinn, Estonia, Paavo Järvi studied Percussion and Conducting at the Tallinn School of Music. In 1980, he moved to the USA where he continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music and at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute with Leonard Bernstein.

Gallery

Paavo Järvi - Shostakovich: Symphony No.5 (excerpt) with NHK Symphony Orchestra © NHK

Paavo Järvi - Mahler: Symphony No.1 (excerpt) with NHK Symphony Orchestra © NHK

Paavo Järvi - Strauss: Ein Heldenleben (excerpt) with NHK Symphony Orchestra © NHK

Paavo Järvi - Shostakovich: Symphony No.5 (excerpt) - Opening of Philharmonie de Paris © Philharmonie de Paris & Orchestre de Pa

Paavo Järvi conducts Berliner Philharmoniker © source: www.digitalconcerthall.com

Paavo Järvi - Beethoven: Symphony 7 (excerpt) © Sony Music

Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra Shostakovich Symphony No. 6 live from the 2016 Pärnu Festival © Pärnu Music Festival

“You can’t have too much Dvořák in a single evening, at least not when the works in question operate at the highest level of volatility and melodic abundance like last night’s overture, concerto and symphony. “Febrile centrists” might look like an oxymoron, but that just about sums up conductor Paavo Järvi and cellist Gautier Capuçon: superlative techniques, feet firmly planted only so that the music can fly, moving dexterously through the turbulence but never pushing too hard. With the Philharmonia burning for both, this was an incandescent event.”

(theartsdesk, David Nice, February 2018)

“Dmitri Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony of 1939 ended the great evening: Paavo Järvi did not disappoint the audience’s expectations for precision and a sensual sound. On the contrary — he gave the event remarkable depth, summed up the developments in nowhere declining suspense. An exciting, but also highly, demanding concert evening for listeners and musicians alike!”

(Kronen Zeitung, Florian Krenstetter, January 2018)

“The fourth symphony by Johannes Brahms, premiered in 1885 and a concentrated summit of the the romantic symphony, became a real event: rarely have I heard such gentle chastity in the soft-sounding woodwind chorales of the “Andante moderato”, so much harsh attack in the basses or in the tutti and a melody in the high strings, which sounds so emphatic again and again.”

(Süddeutsche Zeitung, Klaus Kalchschmid, December 2017)

“Järvi captured Sibelius* unique and powerful sense of time. On top, the music flowed and expanded, it looked out at the changing world around it. Underneath, the internal foundation rotated on its axis, meditating on memories and imagination. This was deeply evocative and true to Sibelius’ art”

(New York Classical Review, George Grella, October 2017)

“The rich program of the Pärnu Music Festival reflects the human concept that the conductor Paavo Järvi embodies as its guiding spirit … Under his unpretentious, collegial, always professional direction, the ensemble is thus imbued with the spirit of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra – and is already of an amazing standard.”

(Die Presse,Walter Weidringer, August 2017)

“The NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo surprise with a blazing virtuosity in Shostakovich. Chief conductor Paavo Järvi smuggles the Japanese into the top league … The strings created an ardour that connoisseurs usually ascribe to the Vienna Philharmonic. From Berlin came the bluster with which the violas probed. Moreover, in the lion’s mouth [of the Concertgebouw] the Japanese musicians produced an Amsterdam trump card …”

(Der Volkskrant, Guido van Oorschot, March 2017)

“At the close of Friday night’s Mostly Mozart concert in Geffen Hall, Paavo Järvi and the Festival Orchestra brought down the house with Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony — and how many times do you get to say that of anyone these days? … And let’s not waste words about the performance: it was magnificent in virtually every way. Järvi is musical down to his toes, and watching him work is almost as much fun as hearing the result.”

(Christopher Johnson, Huffington Post, August 2016)