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.

The Estonian Festival Orchestra has just returned from Japan where they made their debut tour – their fourth tour in less than two years. With sell-out concerts in Hamamatsu, Fukui, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, the orchestra was joined on stage by soloist, Midori – who herself made the journey to Estonia last summer to perform with the orchestra at home in Pärnu. And on Midori’s request, the public were invited to hear a conversation with Paavo and members of the orchestra introducing the Japanese audience to Estonian culture before each concert.

Japan’s leading classical music magazine, Ongaku no Tomo, featured Paavo on its front cover to celebrate the arrival of his orchestra in the country and the huge success of the tour resulted in immediate invitations to return in three years time. As always with the Estonian Festival Orchestra, the concerts were high on both energy and authenticity, performing repertoire that is specific to this ensemble – the music of the North – including works by Sibelius, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Estonia’s very own Arvo Pärt and Erik-Sven Tüür.

Paavo Järvi’s first season with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich will be devoted to his Nordic roots. Estonia, Russia, Finland, Latvia and Sweden are the countries which will be the principal musical destinations of the 2019/20 season which opens on 2 October with Sibelius’ Kullervo, featuring guest artists Johanna Rusanen (Soprano) Ville Rusanen (Baritone) and the Estonian National Choir.

The new occupant of the Creative Chair will be Estonian composer, Erkki-Sven Tüür, who this year celebrates his 60th birthday and the In Focus series will also feature the talents of Nordic artists, including appearances by Martin Fröst, Pekka Kuusisto and Ksenija Sidorova, both with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under Järvi’s baton and in chamber music ensembles.

A major focus of the first season will be the complete symphonies of Tchaikovsky which Paavo and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich will perform and record live in concert. Having grown up under Soviet occupation in Tallinn, Russian music was a major part of the cultural landscape for Paavo in his youth. “Tchaikovsky was virtually a saint,” he commented. “There were several gurus who specified how he should be played.”

The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Järvi are awarded the Rheingau Music Prize 2019. The award, initiated by the Rheingau Music Festival, will be presented on July 12 on the occasion of Paavo and the orchestra’s concert with Daniel Trifonov at this year’s festival. The prize of € 10,000 will be provided by the Hessian Ministry of Science and the Arts.

On announcing the prize the Rheingau Music Festival commented: “The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen is a unique phenomenon in the cultural landscape: it fills concert halls all over the world, inspires audiences with its stirring style of music-making, organizes itself democratically and finances itself predominantly on its own. The orchestra was founded in 1980 by music students, and today it is a figurehead: for classical music, for the city of Bremen – but also for entrepreneurial spirit and social commitment. Paavo Järvi and Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen have made interpretation history with their groundbreaking projects on the symphonies of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms. In 2016 the ensemble was awarded the title “Orchestra of the Year” by Deutschlandfunk Kultur.”

Paavo Järvi has stepped in at the last minute to replace Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla for three concerts with the New York Philharmonic on 3, 4 and 5 January. The programme features Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with soloist Gautier Capuçon, Sibelius’ Lemminkäinen and the Maidens of the Island, and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé Suite No.2