Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra return to South Korea this October for a second tour, before making their long-awaited debut in China. The journey which starts in Tallinn, encompasses Incheon, Seoul, Shanghai, Wuxi and Beijing, with programmes that place the great Romantic repertoire alongside the distinctive voices of contemporary Estonian music.
The tour opens in Tallinn on 14 October, before continuing to Incheon and Seoul, where the programmes bring together music by Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür, Sibelius and Brahms, with violinist Clara-Jumi Kang as soloist.
On 22 October, the orchestra arrives in China for its debut at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, presenting Tüür’s Passion and Illusion, Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with pianist Alexandre Kantorow, and Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony. Further concerts follow in Wuxi and Beijing, with Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten joining the repertoire alongside works by Brahms, Rachmaninov and Sibelius.
The tour showcases the distinctive musical identity of the orchestra, rooted in Estonia and the Nordic tradition while embracing the wider European repertoire. For the Estonian Festival Orchestra, the Chinese debut marks a significant new step in its growing international presence under under the leadership of founder and Artistic Director Paavo Järvi.