Paavo Jarvi High Res - credit Kaupo Kikkas_4

Paavo Jarvi High Res - credit Kaupo Kikkas_3

Paavo Järvi

Conductor

Home
Reviews
Estonian Festival Orchestra
Features
Discography

“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: NHK Symphony Orchestra
Artistic Director: Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Chief Conductor and Music Director: Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
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

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, and Artistic Director of Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Estonian Festival Orchestra, of which he is also Founder. He is Conductor Laureate of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Music Director Laureate of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Advisor of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.

In October 2019, Järvi officially begins his tenure as Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, following a season as conductor designate. With a focus on his Nordic roots, he opens the season with Sibelius’ Kullervo and invites Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür as Creative Chair. Throughout the year Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich also perform and record the complete cycle of Tchaikovsky symphonies, for release in 2021.

Paavo Järvi opens his fifth season as Chief Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra with Beethoven’s Fidelio and brings the orchestra back to Europe for their second major tour together, in programmes featuring Takemitsu, Schumann, Beethoven and Bruckner, with performances in Tallinn, London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Cologne, Dortmund, Brussels and Amsterdam.

Celebrating 15 years as Artistic Director of Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, he returns to the repertoire that first made their collaboration famous, with a full cycle of Beethoven symphonies in Frankfurt in April 2020. They also continue their exploration of Brahms and embark on a new composer focus – Haydn’s ‘London’ symphonies.

Having started out as resident summer ensemble at the annual Pärnu Music Festival, which was also founded by Järvi, the Estonian Festival Orchestra has stormed the international music scene, making debuts throughout Europe and Japan. In 2019/20, Alpha Classics releases their second album, dedicated to the music of Erkki-Sven Tüür, in celebration of the composer’s 60^th birthday and of the Festival’s 10^th anniversary.

In addition to his permanent positions, Järvi is in demand as a guest conductor, appearing regularly with the Berliner Philharmoniker, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Münchner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden and Leipzig Gewandhaus. Highlights of his guest engagements include the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Wiener Philharmoniker and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester. This season, he returns to the Orchestre de Paris, Luxembourg Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra.

Paavo Järvi’s upcoming projects include his first recording with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, featuring orchestral music by Messiaen, to be released on Alpha Classics in October, coinciding with his inauguration as Music Director. Two new recordings featuring Mahler and Wagner with the NHK Symphony Orchestra will be released internationally on the RCA Red Seal Label to accompany their European tour in February 2020. Alpha Classics will also release the Estonian Festival Orchestra’s second recording, celebrating Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür with live recordings of works performed at the Pärnu Music Festival.

Paavo Jarvi 1 - Credit Kaupo Kikkas — Paavo Järvi

Recent recording projects include the third recording in the Brahms Symphony series with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the complete Sibelius Symphony Cycle, which Järvi recorded with the Orchestre de Paris. He was honoured with the Sibelius Medal for this project, in recognition of his work in bringing greater attention to the Finnish composer’s music to French audiences. Alongside the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen he was also awarded the Rheingau Music Prize 2019, in recognition of their artistic achievements 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 autumn 2015, and Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture for his contribution to music in France. As a dedicated supporter of Estonian culture, he was awarded the Order of the White Star by the President of Estonia in 2013 for his outstanding contribution to Estonian culture.

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)