Paavo Järvi

Conductor

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2025-26 Paavo Jarvi biography.docx English

“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
Artistic Director: Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Artistic Director and Founder: Estonian Festival Orchestra
Artistic Advisor and Founder: Pärnu Music Festival & Järvi Academy
Artistic Advisor: Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Honorary Conductor: NHK Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Laureate: Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Honorary Conductor: Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Estonian Grammy Award-winning conductor Paavo Järvi is widely recognised as one of today’s most eminent conductors, enjoying close partnerships with the finest orchestras around the world. He serves as Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Artistic Director of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and as both the founder and Artistic Director of the Estonian Festival Orchestra.

Highlights of Paavo Järvi’s seventh season as Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich include the continuation of their Mahler Symphony Cycle and a tribute to Swiss-French composer Arthur Honneger on the 70^th anniversary of his death. Additional spotlights include performances with season focus artists, cellist Sol Gabetta and pianist Kirill Gerstein, as well as a year-long exploration of the music of Thomas Adés, this year’s Creative Chair. Alpha Classics releases Mahler Symphony No.1 in Autumn 2025, coinciding with the start of a three-year guest residency at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and a Mahler tour which takes them to the Vienna Musikverein, Cologne and Paris Philharmonies. Additional touring includes appearances at the Gstaad Menhunin Festival and George Enescu Festival in Bucharest, a guest performance at La Scala, Milan and an extensive tour to Japan and South Korea in May 2026.

Now in his third decade as Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Paavo Järvi has performed and recorded benchmark performances of the complete orchestral works of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms on the RCA Red Seal label. Highlights in the 2025/26 season include the final release of the London Haydn symphonies as well as recordings and performances of Schubert’s symphonies at home in Bremen and on tour across Europe.

Each season concludes with two weeks of performances and conducting masterclasses at the Pärnu Music Festival in Estonia, which Paavo Järvi founded in 2011. The success of both the Festival and its resident ensemble – the Estonian Festival Orchestra – has led to high-profile recordings and tours throughout Europe and Asia. In September 2025 Alpha Classics releases the orchestra’s sixth album entitled Credo, which pays tribute to Arvo Pärt on his 90^th birthday. Paavo Järvi then leads the Estonian Festival Orchestra in performances of Pärt’s iconic music, on tour to Tallinn, Zürich, Vienna, and Hamburg, culminating with the orchestra’s USA debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

In addition to his permanent positions, Järvi is much in demand as a guest conductor, regularly appearing with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic. This season, Järvi also conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Gewandhaus Orchester, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Philharmonia Orchestra, Luxembourg Philharmonic and Verbier Festival Orchestra. He also continues to enjoy close relationships with many of the orchestras of which he was previously Music Director, including Orchestre de Paris, Frankfurt Radio Symphony and NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo.

Recent accolades include Germany’s 2025 Opus Klassik “Composer of the Year” Award for the Estonian Festival Orchestra’s recording of Jüri Reinvere’s Ship of Fools and an International Classical Music Award for the recording of Bruckner Symphony No.8 with Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, both on Alpha Classics. With The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Paavo Järvi won the 2024 Opus Klassik and 2023 Gramophone “Orchestra of the Year “award, as well as the 2019 Rheingau Music Prize and Opus Klassik “Conductor of the Year”. Other prizes and honours include a Grammy Award for his recording of Sibelius’ Cantatas with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres awarded by the French Ministry of Culture. In 2015, Paavo Järvi was also presented with the Sibelius Medal in recognition of his work in bringing the Finnish composer’s music to a wider public and, in 2012, he received 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.