Paavo Järvi is one of today’s leading conductors. Since 2019, he has served as Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and, since 2004, as Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. From the 2028/29 season, he will become Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Each season culminates in performances and conducting masterclasses at the Pärnu Music Festival, founded by Järvi in 2011. The festival and its resident ensemble, the Estonian Festival Orchestra, have earned international acclaim through widely praised performances and recordings.

A sought-after guest conductor, he appears regularly with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic, while maintaining close ties with former music directorships including the Orchestre de Paris, Frankfurt Radio Symphony and NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo.

A prolific recording artist for more than three decades, Järvi has built a discography of over 130 recordings, spanning repertoire from Brahms and Beethoven to Shostakovich and contemporary music. His recording of Sibelius’s Cantatas won a Grammy Award.

Additional honours include Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Order of the White Star (Estonia), Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun (Japan), the Hindemith Prize and Sibelius Medal.