Paavo Järvi has been invited to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic on 1st May for its prestigious European Concert which this year takes place in the newly reopened Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth, recently declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. The event, which has been celebrated annually since 1991, is an important one in the orchestra’s calendar and is broadcast live on both the Berlin Philharmonic’s digital platform and Germany’s ARD at 11.00 on 1 May. The performance will also be released on DVD and Blu-ray by Euroarts in September 2018. This year’s programme features Beethoven’s Leonora Overture No.3, Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder with soloist Eva-Maria Westbroek and Beethoven Symphony No.4.

Following the 1st May concert, Paavo Järvi conducts the Berlin Philharmonic for a further two concerts back “home” in the Philharmonie on 5 and 6 May with a programme dedicated to Sibelius and Shostakovich with soloist Janine Jansen. Järvi has conducted the Berlin Philharmonie regularly since his debut in 2000 and led the widely appraised gala concert “50 years German-Israeli Relations”.

On 13 August – immediately following this year’s Pärnu Music Festival – Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra will travel to London for its Proms debut. Not only will this performance be an important debut for the Estonian Festival Orchestra but it also marks the first occasion that an Estonian Orchestra has ever performed at the Proms and will be broadcast on both BBC Radio 3 and BBC TV. The programme features Pärt’s Symphony No.3, Grieg’s Piano Concerto with soloist Khatia Buniatishvili and Sibelius’ Symphony No.5. Together they will perform the same programme at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie on 15 August racking up another important debut for the orchestra as its international profile grows at an extraordinary pace.

On 10 April Paavo Järvi and the The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen will bring the Hanseatic composer Johannes Brahms back “home” to Bremen, with a performance of the German Requiem at the “Bremer Dom”. The special performance takes place exactly 150 years to the day that Brahms himself conducted the world premiere of the Requiem in Bremen’s cathedral. Joining Järvi and The Deutsche Kammerphilhamonie Bremen for this special concert are soloists Matthias Goerne and Valentina Farcas, also the Latvian National Choir – Koris Latvija – which accompanied the orchestra on their most recent tour of Asia. The Hanseatic cities of Bremen and Riga have been twinned for 800 years.

As Bremen’s resident ensemble since 1992, The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie has a long and close history with the city. Paavo Järvi joined as Artistic Director in 2004 and, in the intervening years, their landmark projects focusing on Beethoven and Schumann have met with international praise. This special performance of the Brahms Requiem, which will be filmed for later broadcast on Germany’s 3Sat TV, plays a central role in the orchestra’s current Brahms cycle.

The Brahms cycle

Paavo Järvi and The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen embarked on the Brahms Project in 2015 since which time they have performed the complete symphony cycle in Germany, Tokyo, Vienna, St Petersburg and Canada. Their recent performance of the full cycle in Paris will be broadcast on Medici TV on 9 April on Medici TV. The first CD in the cycle, featuring Symphony No.2, the Tragic and Academic Festival Overtures on Sony / RCA, was released in the Autumn of 2017. The second release follows this Autumn featuring Symphony No. 1 and the Haydn Variations