Neeme Järvi

Honorary Artistic Director for Life

Honorary Artistic Director for Life from 2017
Artistic Director and Principal Conductor 2010–2020
Principal Conductor 1963–1979

Neeme Järvi’s cooperation with ERSO began in 1956, in 1960 he became a regular conductor and in 1963 the principal conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Estonian Radio (the present Estonian National Symphony Orchestra). Neeme Järvi’s arrival brought about a considerable improvement and stabilization in the quality of the orchestra’s performance. The repertoire of the orchestra broadened considerably and music was more frequently recorded for Estonian Radio and Melodya Record Company. The second half of the 1970s marks the beginning of annual concerts in the Grand Hall of Leningrad Philharmonia and performances and recordings in Moscow. With Neeme Järvi the orchestra also went on its first foreign tours – in 1972 to Romania and Bulgaria and in 1976 to Kuwait.

Neeme Järvi’s reunion with ERSO after his emigration to the US early in 1980 happened in 1993; two years later he took the orchestra with Tobias’ oratorio Jonah’s Mission to Gothenburg, Stockholm, Malmö and Helsinki. From the season 2010/2011 to 2019/2020 he was the artistic director of ERSO again.

Neeme Järvi has been of the most active promoters of Estonian music in the world. He and ERSO have been the first to perform such Estonian musical compositions as Arvo Pärt’s Symphonies No 1 (1964) and No 3 (1971, dedicated to Neeme Järvi) and Eduard Tubin’s Symphony No 8 (1967).

Neeme Järvi

The head of a musical dynasty, Neeme Järvi is one of today’s most esteemed maestros. He conducts the world’s most prominent orchestras and works alongside soloists of the highest calibre. Over his long and highly successful career he has held chief conductor positions across the world with orchestras such as the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, among others. He is currently Honorary Artistic Director for Life of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Emeritus of both the Residentie Orchestra The Hague and Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He also holds the titles of Principal Conductor Emeritus of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Conductor Laureate of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He spent three summers between 2013 and 2016 as Head of Conducting and Artistic Advisor of the Gstaad Conducting Academy. He has enjoyed recent engagements with European orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and Orchestre national de France, as well as major orchestras in the USA and throughout Asia. In November 2023 he conducted a highly successful tour of China which was widely acclaimed.

A prolific recording artist, Neeme Järvi has amassed a discography of nearly 500 recordings. He has been a star recording artist with Chandos Records for over thirty years, his most recent releases, with orchestras such as the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, including discs of the three full-length ballets of Tchaikovsky and works by Joachim Raff, Kurt Atterberg, Saint-Saëns, and Martinů. Whilst highlights of his extensive discography for international record companies include critically acclaimed complete cycles of works by many of the great composers, he has also championed less widely known composers such as Wilhelm Stenhammar, Hugo Alfvén, and Niels W. Gade, as well as composers from his native Estonia, including Rudolf Tobias and Arvo Pärt. In September 2018 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the magazine Gramophone.

Neeme Järvi has been honoured with many international prizes and accolades. Named as one of the “Estonians of the Century,” he holds various awards from his native country, including an honorary doctorate from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn, and honorary doctorates from Wayne State University in Detroit, the universities of Michigan and Aberdeen, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. He has also been appointed Commander of the North Star Order by King Karl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

Neeme Järvi’s homepage: http://www.neemejarvi.ee

RECORDINGS WITH ERSO