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 Artistic Director of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and 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 celebrated 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. In Autumn 2021 Alpha Classics released the complete box set of Tchaikovsky Symphonies, completing the cycle which was their first major recording project together in Zürich.
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.
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, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
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 and Order of Merit in 2021.
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.
