The 2026/27 season marks Paavo Järvi’s eighth year as Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. Highlights include a continuation of the Mahler cycle, a special tribute to Beethoven in the 200th anniversary year, and a Prokofiev “exchange” with Gianandrea Noseda and the Zurich Opera House. Wayne Marshall and Khatia Buniatishvili feature as season “Focus Artists” and Swiss composer Dieter Ammann, is this year’s “Creative Chair.
The Mahler cycle, launched in 2024, continues with performances and a recording of Symphony No. 6 at the Tonhalle Zürich in November. This is followed by a European tour featuring Symphonies Nos 5 and 6, with appearances at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and Wiener Konzerthaus. In Autumn 2026, Alpha Classics will release the fourth recording in the cycle: Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony with the Zürcher Sing-Akademie and soloists Mari Eriksmoen and Anna Lucia Richter.
Beethoven’s music has long been central to both Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich’s repertoire, and the 2027 anniversary year offers a chance to revisit his work from fresh perspectives, with a focus on Mahler’s arrangement of the Ninth Symphony and the Missa solemnis. In Spring 2027, Alpha Classics will also release a recording of Fidelio, captured from a semi-staged performance at the Tonhalle Zürich in June 2023, featuring Jacquelyn Wagner (Leonore) and Michael Schade (Florestan), Christof Fischesser (Rocco), Katharina Konradi (Marzelline), Patrick Grahl (Jaquino), Shenyang (Don Pizarro), and Tareq Nazmi (Don Fernando).
Following a successful first partnership in 2023, Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich renew their collaboration with Gianandrea Noseda and the Zurich Opera, placing Sergei Prokofiev at the centre of the season in both “houses”. Together, they will present four Prokofiev symphonies, alongside concertos performed with Sol Gabetta, Hilary Hahn, Daniil Trifonov, and Hayato Sumino. These programmes will be paired with works by Dieter Ammann, this season’s “Creative Chair ”.
Wayne Marshall is the first of two “Focus Artists” in the 26/27. He appears as both organist and conductor: in recital, in performances of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Second Rhapsody under Järvi, and leads a play-conduct New Year’s Eve concert featuring music from Bernstein to Duke Ellington.
Georgian pianist, Khatia Buniatishvili continues her long-standing collaboration with Järvi and the orchestra, returning to Zürich for performances of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 at the season opening and the Grieg Piano Concerto at tonhalleAIR.
A country focus on Georgia also features violinist Lisa Batiashvili, who introduces two young pianists – Tsotne Zedginidze and Giorgi Gigashvili – both former participants in the Tonhalle Society Zurich’s Série jeunes programme, and now making their orchestra debuts.
Supporting the next generation also remains central to Järvi’s work in Zürich through the annual Conductors’ Academy, held in August. Last year’s winner, the 38-year-old Swiss conductor Gabriel Pernet, will join Järvi in Pärnu for this year’s Järvi Academy masterclasses.
The season concludes with the second city-wide edition of tonhalleAIR, with concerts at Münsterhof. Paavo Järvi conducts both the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and the Jugend Sinfonieorchester Zürich in a side-by-side performance, bringing together professional musicians and young players on one stage. “I love this format because it brings us directly into the city,” says Järvi. “It embodies accessibility – open-air concerts are simple, joyful, and full of life – meeting audiences right in the heart of Zurich.”