On 24 September, the European Culture Prize took place for the first time in Switzerland with a gala evening hosted by the Tonhalle. Receiving the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich’s Prize as one of eleven international cultural ambassadors, Paavo Järvi said “A symphony orchestra is a good example of how we could model our society: 32 nationalities are represented here, highly talented, professional and full of respect. It has never been more important for me as an Estonian to be a European than in these times.”

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“John Adams Rattles And Rolls Like New Music” wrote Norman Lebrecht in his preview of Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich’s latest album, to be released by Alpha Classics on 2 September. (more…)

The Estonian Festival Orchestra is back on tour for the first time in three years, following the pandemic. The orchestra – hand-picked by Paavo Järvi and comprising the best talent from Estonia and across the globe – reunites for concerts in Tallinn (30 August) and Lahti (31 August) before travelling to Korea for performances in Seoul (3 September), Tongyeong (4 September) and Gyeonggi-do (5 September).

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Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra’s third CD on Alpha Classics is released today. Estonian Premieres presents six compositions by five internationally renowned Estonian composers and the voyage through their unique worlds sheds light on just how rich and multi-faceted Estonian music is.

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Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich launch the new season at the recently restored Tonhalle Zürich on 14 September with Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony. “Bruckner is a kind of essence for a symphony orchestra and is extremely demanding” says Paavo Järvi. “It is important to have a good architecture that really demonstrates the quality of the orchestra and the quality of the individual registers. In my opinion, that is why it is the perfect way to experience this orchestra – but also the new concert hall”.

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As a sign of our solidarity, we shall be giving a fundraising concert in aid of the suffering people of war-ravaged Ukraine at the Tonhalle Zürich under the baton of our Music Director Paavo Järvi on Wednesday 23 March. The originally planned programme will remain unchanged. All performers will waive their fees. We shall be donating the proceeds of our ticket sales to the Glückskette. By doing so, we hope to make a small contribution towards alleviating the plight of the people of Ukraine.

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Being an Estonian it is obvious that an attack on Ukraine, an independent country, hits very close to home…

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Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich have been awarded a prestigious Diapason D’Or de l’année in France for the first recording in their complete cycle of Tchaikovsky symphonies.

“Finding a recording of such relevance, accuracy, pre-meditation and exemplary orchestral performance has become very rare” wrote Diapason, of the November 2020.

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Recorded in June whilst quarantining in Tokyo, Paavo Järvi talks to Alec Baldwin for his podcast series “How’s the Thing”. Topics include how slowing down in the pandemic offered Paavo time to think, his early love of music, what it was like to come to the United States from Soviet-era Estonia as a 17-year-old, and what he took away from a decade of conducting the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

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Paavo Järvi has been awarded an Order of Merit by the Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his “exceptional contribution to raising Estonia’s profile in the world”.

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