Paavo Järvi is currently on his second European tour with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. They have already performed in Tallinn, London, Paris and Vienna and have further concerts in the coming days in Cologne, Dortmund, Amsterdam, Berlin and Brussels.

Of the London concert The Times wrote “From the first note of the Second Symphony (Rachmaninov) … this was an exceptional performance.” Classicalsource called the performance “A tour de force” and Backtrack.com “one of the finest accounts of the Second I’ve heard in concert.”

Audiences world wide can watch Medici TV‘s live broadcast of the concert in Dortmund on Saturday 29 February at 20.00 (local time) featuring works by Takemitsu, Schumann and Rachmaninov with soloist Sol Gabetta here.

Paavo Järvi and the Berliner Philharmoniker perform Stravinsky, Abrahamsen and Berlioz on January 31, 20:00 CET at the Philharmonie Berlin. The concert will be broadcast live on the Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall (the live-stream starts at 19:45).

STRAVINSKY: Scherzo fantastique
ABRAHAMSEN: Horn Concerto (with Stefan Dohr)
BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique

… Paavo Järvi treibt am Pult des Orchesters Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique in eine köstlich radikale Überzeichnung … Paavo Järvi unterstützte diese Überzeichnung noch in dieser Musik, die zwischen Traum und Drogen changiert. Dabei besteht die Herausforderung bei Berlioz oft darin, die langweiligen Teile nicht durchhängen zu lassen. Wie oft musste man im langsamen Satz mit seiner ländlichen Idylle schon gähnen. Hier nicht! Das war ganz exquisit zwischen Regentropfen und Donnergrollen, und das Fernduett mit Albrecht Mayer (Oboe, hinter der Bühne) und Dominik Wollenweber (Englischhorn, auf der Bühne), war ein einziger Genuss.
rbbKultur, Andreas Göbel, 30 January 2020

… Stefan Dohr (Solist in der Hornkonzert von Hans Abrahamsen) spielt mit einer Kraft und Sicherheit, die zugleich großes poetisches Empfinden zulassen. Paavo Järvi am Dirigentenpult ist ihm darin ganz ähnlich, mit Strawinskys klangkulinarischem „Scherzo fantastique“ und Hector Berlioz’ „Symponie fantastique“ rahmen zwei Stücke das Programm, bei denen Järvi weniger das Fantastische einer außermusikalischen Handlung interessiert als die Komplexität der Machart. Der Eindruck ist dadurch nicht weniger groß.”
Berliner Zeitung, Clemens Haustein, 30 January 2020

> Watch a trailer filmed at rehearsal
> See subscriptions plans for the Digital Concert Hall

The NHK Symphony Orchestra (based in Tokyo and headed by Chairman Yoshinori) is pleased to announce that it has extended the contractual period of Paavo Järvi’s tenure as Chief Conductor by one year to August 2022.

Since assuming the post in September 2015, Maestro Järvi has presented numerous outstanding performances with the NHK Symphony Orchestra incorporating a wide repertoire unique to him, ranging from Beethoven, Bruckner and R.Strauss to contemporary music.

As the NHK Symphony Orchestra will celebrate its 95th anniversary in October 2021, it hopes to further increase its concerts worldwide by embarking on overseas tours including the coming tour in Europe next spring.

We hope that performances of the NHK Symphony Orchestra under his baton will reach and delight broad audiences not only through our concerts but also by television and radio.

This November Paavo Järvi reunites with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for performances both at home in Amsterdam and on tour in Asia. Two sold out performances in the legendary Concertgebouw concert hall with soloist Lang Lang performing Beethoven’s 2nd Piano Concerto precede the tour itself which takes the musicians across Taiwan and Japan. Lang Lang joins Paavo Järvi and the orchestra in Tokyo, Nagoya and Kawasaki in a programme that also includes the overture to Wagner’s Tannhäuser and Brahms Symphony No.4.

The New York Times attests that the violinist Janine Jansen has “a kind of radiant modesty”, and indeed: even in moments of utmost virtuosity, her performances captivate with introspection and substance. This ability is particularly well demonstrated in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, which, despite its fast yet expressive tempos, is always interspersed with subtle nuances. To bring the concert to a close, Paavo Järvi conducts Robert Schumann’s sonorous and exuberant Rhenish Symphony.

View live on 12 Oct 2019, 19:00 (CET)

The Brahms interpretations of Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen have been receiving the highest public and critical acclaim. “A Brahms revelation“ was the headline in The New Yorker, for DIE ZEIT it’s „a reference recording“ and the Hamburger Abendblatt wrote “the greatest experts on Brahms come from Bremen“. The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen perform Brahms nowadays exactly to the size that the composer himself was accustomed to at the time. This interpretation puts Brahms’ symphonies in a new light, which is revealed in a new documentary from the point of view of the musicians.

It’s the third music documentary in which Deutsche Welle film director Christian Berger accompanies the working process of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Järvi. In the earlier films The Beethoven Project of 2010 and Schumann at Pier 2 (2012), the film crew and the artists developed a level of mutual trust and familiarity that made the new Brahms film possible.

“Although eight years have passed since the first film,” says Christian Berger, “this orchestra was special and has remained so. The first film was a portrait of the orchestra and the conductor. In the second, we concentrated on Schumann’s symphonies and elaborately staged the music itself — essentially organizing a whole concert for the film production. The Brahms film is both, presenting the musicians and the conductor as partners in dialogue and moving seamlessly from there to the concert recordings in Paris.

The complete Brahms Symphony cycle and documentary are available as a DVD to purchase, distributed by C major / Unitel The documentary will be broadcast on Deutsche Welle multiple times between 11 and 21 October

Next Wednesday, the Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi will be officially taking office as Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich  (TOZ). In his suitcase, he will be bringing sounds from the far North and an ambitious objective: “I intend to position the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich among the world’s best orchestras.  Ever since our first encounter I have felt a very strong chemistry and was overwhelmed by the commitment of both the musicians and management. I look forward to strengthening those musical and personal relationships and embarking on a new chapter of our musical lives together”.

For the inaugural concerts, which will be given next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 2, 3, and 4 October at Zürich’s Tonhalle Maag, Järvi has chosen Kullervo, Jean Sibelius‘s epic Symphonic Poem.  This is a work that has always remained close to Paavo Järvi’s heart and one which he introduces Zürich audiences to for the first time. The large-scale line-up includes soloists Johanna Rusanen and Ville Rusanenand, a male choir featuring singers from both the Zürich Sing-Akademie, under the direction of Florian Helgath, and the Estonian National Men’s Choir.

Paavo Järvi will also bring with him to Zürich an amusing and unconventional short composition by fellow Estonian, Arvo Pärt.  More than forty years after composing Wenn Bach Bienen gezüchtet hätte…(If Bach Had Raised Bees…), Pärt has created a new and expanded arrangement of his original work especially for Järvi ‘s inauguration in Zürich for which the composer will be present.

Paavo Järvi’s initial appearances with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich were enthusiastically received and bear witness to a promising, successful partnership. The first recorded testimony of this is a CD featuring both early and late orchestral works by Olivier Messiaen, that is released by Alpha Classics to coincide with next week’s inaugural concerts. “The Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich is now entering an important new chapter in its recording history,” says Artistic and Executive Director Ilona Schmiel of their debut CD together. “It may come as a surprise that Paavo Järvi’s first work with the orchestra should focus on Olivier Messiaen’s little-known works. The result subtly draws the listener’s attention to the composer’s unique handling of tonal colour in these compositions. And it is certainly an indication of what we are all looking forward to in this collaboration.”

This recording project will be followed by a complete cycle of the Tchaikovsky Symphonies which will be released on Alpha Classics in March 2021, coinciding with the orchestra’s return it its original home – the iconic Tonhalle on Lake Zurich – following an extensive renovation.

Concerts on 2, 3, and 4 October 2019, Tonhalle Maag, Zürich:

Jean Sibelius: Kullervo. Symphonic Poem for Soprano, Baritone, Male Choir and Orchestra op. 7

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Paavo Järvi, Conductor
Johanna Rusanen, Soprano
Ville Rusanen, Baritone
Estonian National Choir
Zürich Sing-Akademie

Paavo Järvi has been named Conductor of the Year by Germany’s leading classical music awards, Opus Klassik, for his recording of the complete Sibelius Symphonies with the Orchestre de Paris. The award ceremony, which takes place at the Berlin Konzerthaus on Sunday 13 October, will be broadcast nationally on ZDF and promoted on the leading streaming service for classical music, Idagio.

On announcing the award Opus Klassik stated ‘As the son of a famous conductor, Paavo Järvi has achieved world-wide success. He is one of the most sought-after orchestral conductors of our time. This autumn, he looks forward to his first season as Chief Conductor of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, while continuing to direct the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, as well as The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.’

Recorded live in concert over a period of four years, the Sibelius cycle was a central project during Paavo Järvi’s tenure as Music Director (2010-2016) of the Orchestre de Paris and the first full Sibelius cycle to be performed and recorded in France. For his role in promoting Sibelius’ music to a wider public, the Sibelius Academy awarded Paavo Järvi the prestigious Sibelius Medal in 2015 commenting: ‘Paavo Järvi has promoted the music of Sibelius with great talent in concerts which he has conducted throughout the world and particularly in France. With his passion and drive he is making history by recording the complete Sibelius symphony cycle with the Orchestre de Paris – a project so far never undertaken by any other French orchestra.’

Since his professional conducting debut in 1985 when he conducted Sibelius’ First Symphony, Paavo Järvi has continuously performed and promoted the composer’s works throughout the world. In 2003 he won a Grammy Award for his recording of Sibelius Cantatas and on 2 October he opens his tenure with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in three performances of Kullervo. This autumn he also returns to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic, Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra and London Philharmonia – orchestras with which he holds special relationships.

Paavo Järvi returns to Berlin this week to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic in 3 concerts (23, 24 and 25 May) with a programme of Bach, Berg and Bruckner.

The sold-out concert on 25 May will be broadcast live on the Digital Concert Hall platform.  Meanwhile 5 previous performances that Paavo Järvi conducted with the Berlin Philharmonic are now available to watch on the Digital Concert Hall Archive.

Paavo Järvi will be back with the Berlin Philharmonic again this October with a programme of Sibelius, Tchaikovsky and Schumann, featuring Janine Jansen as soloist.