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 70th 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 90th 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.
Credo is the title of Paavo Järvi’s new recording with the Estonian Festival Orchestra, recorded live at this summer’s Pärnu Music Festival and featuring ten of Arvo Pärt’s iconic works, including the world premiere recording of Silouette, dedicated to and premiered by Paavo Järvi in 2010 and Credo, the work famously premiered by his father Neeme, in 1968. ….
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The Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich celebrates the start of its 7th season with Music Director Paavo Järvi this September, with a continued focus on the complete Mahler Symphony Cycle and a tribute to Swiss-French composer Arthur Honneger on the 70th anniversary of his death. ….
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On 14 March Alpha Classics releases Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich’s new recording of Mahler Symphony No. 5, marking the start of a project that has been years in the making. Long admired for his powerfully intimate interpretation ….
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This year’s programme commences with a special Järvi Academy concert at the Arvo Pärt Centre (15 July) before travelling south for 10 days of concerts in Pärnu (16 – 25 July) led by Paavo Järvi and family.
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As Paavo and The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie now prepare for the final celebrations of their 20th anniversary artistic partnership, RCA / Sony Classical releases Volume 2 of the Haydn project, coinciding with concerts in Hamburg and Bremen and an extensive tour of Asia. …
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The season opens with a programme introducing this year’s creative chair, Anna Thorvaldsdottir and the “primeval sonic landscape” of her 2022 orchestral work Archora, which is partnered with Stravinsky’s 1919 Firebird Suite and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1, with soloist and season Focus Artist Víkingur Ólafsson …
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The Pärnu Music Festival has always been about family and, in addition to concerts and masterclasses led by Paavo, Kristjan and Neeme Järvi, this year’s edition welcomes two families of Estonian composers and musicians, as well an extended family of international guests who flock to Pärnu each summer to be part of the annual reunion. …
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January 2024 Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra return to home base in Pärnu on the Baltic Coast to prepare for their third European tour which takes them to Tallinn, Dortmund, Stuttgart, Zürich, Vienna and Munich …
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Hot on the heels of winning the public vote for Gramophone “Orchestra of the Year” Award, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Järvi reunite in December for the next installment of their Haydn London Symphonies ….
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For their latest recording on Alpha Classics, Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra celebrate composers from Estonia and Poland. Two nations closely connected by their history and the corridor imposed on them by 20th century occupation, which resulted in strong musical ties. ….
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A new journey exploring Haydn’s London symphonies. Since their first concert together in 1995, Paavo Järvi and The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (DKAM) have impressed audiences with their fresh and innovative approach to in-depth projects and recordings of the complete orchestral works ….
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This month Alpha Classics releases Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich’s first recording of Bruckner, captured live in concert in January 2022, during Järvi’s third season as Music Director. Symphony No. 7 is the first of three Bruckner releases ….
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Paavo Järvi celebrates his 60th birthday on 30th December in concert with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. The celebrations continue in Tallinn on 1 January with a concert broadcast nationally on Estonian TV, followed by a multitude of highlights to look forward to in 2023.
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The Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zürich AG has announced a five year contract extension with Music Director Paavo Järvi, who will now lead the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich until July 2029 at home in the recently renovated, iconic Tonhalle and on tour internationally.
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This summer celebrates the reunion of the Järvi family after a three year hiatus. Neeme Järvi returns to Estonia to celebrate his 85th birthday year and conducts the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra in the opening concert; Paavo Järvi directs the Estonian Festival Orchestra in four concerts
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Diapason d’or de l’année awarded to Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5. The complete Tchaikovsky cycle with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich released by Alpha Classics to coincide with the reopening of the historic Tonhalle …
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Paavo Järvi has long been recognised as the musicians’ musician, evidenced through his close association with the key orchestras he works with. Following the success of Deutsche Grammophon’s recent release of the complete Schmidt symphonies …
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Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra’s second album on Alpha Classics is dedicated to the music of Erkki-Sven Tüür and features recordings of three works recorded live in concert in Estonia between 2016 and 2019. The album is released this March to celebrate Tüür’s 60th birthday.
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Paavo Järvi makes his début as Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich on 2 October …
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In its third season at the Tonhalle Maag, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich (TOZ) will perform under the baton of its new Chief Conductor and Music Director
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Paavo Järvi has been Artistic Director of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen since 2004 and their 15 year partnership is celebrated this year with the release of Brahms’ Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4 on the RCA Red Seal Label …
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Sony Classical Release: On 18 January Sony Classical releases the long awaited box set of the complete Sibelius Symphony cycle with Paavo Järvi and the Orchestre de Paris …
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Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra make their debut tour of Europe in January 2018 and release first CD on Alpha Classics on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Estonian Independence.
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Currently in his second season as Chief Conductor of the NHK SymphonyOrchestra, Paavo Järvi brings Japan’s leading ensemble on tour to Europe this spring as a part of the orchestra’s major 90th birthday celebrations with concerts …
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At the 54th RECORD ACADEMY AWARD in Tokyo today, Paavo Järvi was announced as the recipient of two prestigious prizes: The Complete Nielsen Symphonies recorded with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony was voted “Gand Prix (Silver Prize): Best Symphony Recording” and his second CD release as Chief Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra featuring Richard Strauss’ Don Quixote, Till Eulenspiegel & Der Rosenkavalier Suite was voted “Best Orchestral Recording” …
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The NHK Symphony Orchestra has announced today (6 October) that they will extend its contract with Paavo Järvi as Chief Conductor for an additional 3 years, until August 2021 …
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Marking the occasion the syndicate of the French critic circle will award Paavo Järvi the prize of Musical Personality of the Year in recognition of his work with the Orchestre de Paris since 2010, in a ceremony which will take place in Paris …
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France’s leading music magazine – Diapason – has chosen Paavo Järvi as “Artist of the Year” at their annual awards ceremony which took place in Paris last night, just two months after the Estonian conductor was also named “Artist of the Year” by Gramophone Magazine in London …
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Tonight, at the Gramophone Magazine’s annual awards ceremony Editor-in-Chief, James Jolly, announced that Paavo Järvi has been voted by the public as Artist of the Year …
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The governors of the Sibelius Society have elected to award the prestigious Sibelius Medal to the Estonian Paavo Järvi, Musical Director and Chief Conductor of the Orchestre de Paris …
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