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Attend all evening concerts at Salle des Combins (Carré Or) from the 16th of July 2025 to the 2rd of August 2025. Contact the Ticket Office to buy your Pass.
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Masterclasses Shenzhen 2026
In China, a week of masterclasses with artists of the Verbier Festival.
Masterclasses Verbier 2026
Programme at a glance - Masterclasses are among the Festival's most popular events.
Students 2026
Discover the students of the Academy, Orchestra Training programmes and Shenzhen masterclasses
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Celebrating the Academy's most outstanding talents, including the Prix Yves Paternot - its most prestigious distinction.
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The Verbier Generation
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Students 2026
Discover the students in the orchestra training programs
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VFCO
The Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, the Festival’s worldwide ambassador, unites exceptional alumni of its Orchestra Training Programmes who now perform with some of the world’s leading orchestras.
Summer 2026
Your summer of unlimited music starts with these concerts.
Buskers 2026
Calling all street performers! Apply now to play at next summer's Verbier Festival.
Aftermovie 2025
Relive the energy, the music and the moments that made UNLTD 2025 shine.
UNLTD Collective
Alumni of the Verbier Festival Academy creating bold, original projects for today.
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Join the community that helps UNLTD spark new sounds and ideas.
Summer 2026
Concerts, workshops and outdoor fun for children during the Verbier Festival.
Storytellers in the Classroom
A journey through words, music and images to dream and create.
Drawing Contest
A creative contest inviting children to draw through music.
Zoo
Short animated films inspired by The Carnival of the Animals.
Ludwig's World
An interactive playspace to discover Beethoven.
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Verbier Festival Gold
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深圳·韦尔比耶音乐节 2026
Verbier Festival 2026 Shenzhen
The inaugural Verbier Festival in Shenzhen: 30 January to 8 February 2026
What they say about us
The Festival as seen by the international press.

Etienne Eichenberger co-founded WISE-philanthropy advisors, the first company in Europe to provide philanthropy advisory services to entrepreneurs and their families, helping them define and implement charitable projects. Since 2006, he has served on the board of Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, and is currently its Chairman.

Lynda joined MAVA as Director General in August 2010. She is responsible for implementing the strategy of the foundation and leading the secretariat team. Since joining the foundation, Lynda has overseen a complete reshaping of MAVA including changes at the levels of the board, staff, strategy, processes, project selection, and communications. Lynda led the foundation to incorporate a new programme to work on the intersection of economic growth and natural resource depletion. Before joining the foundation, Lynda spent 13 years with WWF International in Switzerland. She brought with her the experience of managing and directing global strategies for all aspects of office operations in the WWF Network and developing performance tools for its offices. Prior to that, she spent five years in charge of WWF leadership and organisational development. Lynda began her career as a San Francisco stockbroker and then earned an MBA from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. She is American and Swiss and has two grown sons. Lynda serves on the Board of the Global Footprint Network. She also acts as President of the Board of Partners for a New Economy and the Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust (PONT).

Karen Zorn, President of the Longy School of Music of Bard College (Boston) is a fearless educational entrepreneur. She has established partnerships with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and FundaMusical of Venezuela (El Sistema) to launch innovative programs of study and community engagement. These include the recently launched Take a Stand program and new Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) in Music education programme, based in Los Angeles, as well as teaching by Longy Conservatory students in public schools, community centers, prisons, nursing homes and other external venues where the traditions of music education can contribute to public life. Zorn is also a classically trained pianist.

Born in Athens, violinist Leonidas Kavakos had by the age of 21 already won the 1985 Sibelius Competition and the Paganini and Naumburg competitions in 1988. This led to him making the first ever recording of the original Sibelius Violin Concerto, which won the Gramophone Concerto of the Year Award in 1991. Today he is recognised across the world as an artist of rare quality, acclaimed for his matchless technique, captivating artistry and superb musicianship, and the integrity of his playing. He is the Carnegie Hall Perspectives Artist in 2021/22 and is an exclusive recording artist with Sony Classics, who released his eagerly awaited recording of the complete set of Bach Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin. He plays the ‘Willemotte’ Stradivarius violin of 1734.

In 2019, aged 22, Alexandre Kantorow became the first French pianist to win the gold medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition, where he also won the Grand Prix, which has only been awarded three times before in the competition’s history. Hailed by critics as the ‘young tsar of the piano’ (Classica) and ‘Liszt reincarnated’ (Fanfare), he has received numerous other awards and has been invited to perform worldwide at the highest level.

Even before the competition, Kantorow had already been attracting attention. He began performing professionally at an early age, making his debut at La Folle Journée festival in Nantes at just 16. Since then he has played with many of the world’s major orchestras, including regular appearances with the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev. Highlights in this coming season include concerts with the Orchestre de Paris, Staatskappelle Berlin, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, as well as tours with the Orchestre National de Toulouse, Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic.

He has performed solo recitals at major concert halls across Europe, such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, in their Master Pianists series, the Konzerthaus Berlin, Philharmonie de Paris, BOZAR in Brussels and Stockholm Konserthus. He has also appeared at some of the most prestigious festivals including La Roque d’Anthéron, Piano aux Jacobins, Verbier Festival and Klavierfest Ruhr. Chamber music is another of his great pleasures and he regularly performs with Victor Julien-Laferrière, Renaud Capuçon, Daniel Lozakovick and Matthias Goerne.

Kantorow records exclusively with BIS, to great critical acclaim. His most recent recording (solo works by Brahms) received the 2022 Diapason d’Or. His two previous recordings (Saint-Saëns concerti 3-5 and solo works by Brahms, Bartok and Liszt) each received both the Diapason d’Or and Choc Classica of the Year in 2019 and 2020 respectively. The solo disc was Gramophone magazine’s Editor’s Choice, his performance described as ‘a further remarkable example of his virtuosity and artistry, showing both skill and sensitivity throughout’. His earlier ‘à la Russe’ recital recordings also won numerous awards and distinctions, including the 2017 Choc de l’Année (Classica), Diapason découverte (Diapason), Supersonic (Pizzicata) and CD des Doppelmonats (PianoNews).

Kantorow is a laureate of the Safran Foundation and Banque Populaire, and in 2019 was named ‘Musical Revelation of the Year’ by the Professional Critics Association. In 2020 he won the Victoires de la Musique Classique in two categories : Recording of the Year and Instrumental Soloist of the Year.

Born in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and of Franco-British heritage, he has studied with Pierre-Alain Volondat, Igor Lazko, Frank Braley and Rena Shereshevskaya.

“Absolute artist”, and “a true musician” are words frequently used to describe the conductor, composer and orchestrator Mathieu Herzog.

His musical soul was shaped through working under the guidance of great masters such as Semyon Bychkov, Daniel Harding, György Kurtäg, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Menahem Pressler, Alfred Brendel, and Mitsuko Uchida.

Mathieu has recorded numerous discs for labels such as Warner Classics, EMI, SONY, and Deutsche Grammophon. These recordings received worldwide critical acclaim  and were awarded the “Diapason d’Or”, the “Choc du Monde de la Musique”, and Gramophone’s “Recording of the Year”, to name just a few.

In 2015, Mathieu founded Appassionato, an orchestra which radiates chamber playing in every one of its performances. Mathieu has formed a passionate and ever-evolving relationship with this ensemble, and together, they recorded the last three W.A. Mozart symphonies for the label Naïve. In 2021-2022, he founded Appassionato le Label in partnership with Naïve and recorded two further discs, exploring the music of C. Saint-Saëns and the post-Romantic recording Métamorphoses nocturnes, awarded an Editor’s Choice by the prestigious magazine Grammophon.

Mathieu Herzog is also an associate artist of la Seine Musicale (France), for which he has launched “Vous trouvez ça classique?” (lit. “Do you think this is classical?”), which is aimed at helping new audiences listen to and experience classical music in a new way.

Alongside his work as a performer, Mathieu is also an accomplished orchestrator and prolific arranger, whether it be for Appassionato, for classical musicians such as Roberto Alagna, Nadine Sierra, Philippe Jaroussky and Natalie Dessay, and for vocalists across other genres, for example Stacey Kent and Luz Casals to name a few.

In 2019 Mathieu was appointed Musical Director of the Blaricum Music Festival (Holland), a position he held since. He has also been involved in music training and masterclasses for the Blaricum Music Festival Orchestra since then.

Highlights of the 2021-2022 season include guest appearances conducting the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Korean Symphony Orchestra, and the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra (Japan) to name just a few. And conducting his Appassionato.

Passionate about literature and history, Mathieu is also currently working on a libretto based on the life of Georges Bizet.

Christian Zacharias conducted without a baton, but his gestures – painting with arms, hands and fingers – was so inspiring, structuring the wonderful music that was created.”

Christian Zacharias is a narrator among the conductors and pianists of his generation. In each of his elaborate, detailed and clearly articulated interpretations, it’s clear what he means: Zacharias is interested in what lies behind the notes.

With a unique combination of integrity and individuality, brilliant linguistic expressiveness, deep musical understanding and a sure artistic instinct, paired with his charismatic and engaging artistic personality, Christian Zacharias has established himself not only as a world-class pianist and conductor, but also as a musical thinker. Numerous acclaimed concerts with the world’s best orchestras and outstanding conductors as well as multiple honors and recordings characterize his international career.

Since the 2017/18 season, Christian Zacharias holds the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta y Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid, and from 2020 will hold the same position with the Orquestra Sinfonica Do Porto Casa da Musica, and was named Honorary Conductor of the George Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest.

In general, the Classical-Romantic repertoire builds an important musical focus, as shown in return engagements with the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, the Orchester Philharmonique Monte Carlo, or the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiano in Lugano. Zacharias gladly presents more modern works in his programs, such as works from Schoenberg and Bruckner.

On the occasion of his 70th birthday, Christian Zacharias will give a few last piano recitals in the musical centers of Europe, for example in Paris, London and Rome.

Zacharias‘ longtime musical partners include the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Konzerthausorchester and the Bamberger Symphoniker. He’s also developed a special love of opera and has directed productions of Mozart’s La Clemenza the Tito and The Marriage of Figaro, as well as Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène. The production of Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, which he conducted at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, was awarded the Prix de l’Europe Francophone 2014 by the Association Professionnelle de la Critique Théâtre, Musique et Danse in Paris.

Since 1990, various films have also been produced featuring Christian Zacharias: Domenico Scarlatti in SevilleRobert Schumann – the Poet Speaks (both for INA, Paris), Zwischen Bühne und Künstlerzimmer (for WDR-arte), De B comme Beethoven à Z comme Zacharias (for RTS, Switzerland) as well as the complete Beethoven piano concertos (for SSR-arte).

His piano lectures on topics such as Why does Schubert sound like Schubert? or Haydn: A Creation from Nothing? offer his audiences impressive insights.

The musical work of Christian Zacharias has been honored many times, for example with the Midem Classical Award Artist of the Year 2007, the honorable award Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French state and a tribute from Romania for his services to culture. In addition, Christian Zacharias was appointed a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 2016, and in 2017 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Gothenburg.

Numerous internationally acclaimed recordings were made during his time as Principal Conductor of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. Particularly noteworthy are the recordings of the complete Mozart piano concertos – awarded the Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique and ECHO Klassik – as well as the complete Schumann symphonies.

Since 2015, Christian Zacharias is chairman of the jury of the Clara Haskil Competition, and in 2018 president of the jury of the Geza Anda Competition where he also conducted the final concert.

Paul McCreesh has guest conducted many of the major orchestras and choirs across the globe, including most recently the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Bergen Philharmonic, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Verbier Festival orchestras, and Berlin Konzerthausorchester. McCreesh also enjoys regular and ongoing collaborations with Saint Paul and Basel Chamber Orchestras.

In 2019/20, he conducted Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 and excerpts from Schubert’s Rosamunde with the New Japan Philharmonic, Haydn’s Creation with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Handel’s Messiah with the Casa da Música Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Haydn’s London Symphony & Beethoven’s C Major Mass with Filharmonia Poznanska, with whom he conducts again this season.

In the previous season, he conducted works by Elgar, Haydn and Brahms with the Kammerakademie Potsdam, a programme of Elgar, Britten and Mendelssohn with the Bamberger Symphoniker, he returned to the Filharmonia Poznanska for some Rossini and Britten, and conducted performances with the MDR Sinfonieorchester at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Basel Chamber Orchestra.

From 2013-2016 he was Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the Gulbenkian Orchestra (Lisbon) with whom he conducted a wide range of music from the classical period through to the nineteenth and twentieth century, focusing in particular on symphonic repertoire, oratorio and opera in concert, working closely with the world-renowned Gulbenkian Choir.

McCreesh has established a strong reputation in the opera house and has conducted productions at the Teatro Real Madrid, Royal Danish Opera, Opera Comique, Vlaamse Opera and at the Verbier Festival, and most recently he conducted Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Bergen Opera, and returned to Vlaamse Opera for a production of Idomeneo.

In 2011, McCreesh launched his own record label, Winged Lion, in collaboration with the Gabrieli Consort & Players, Signum Classics and the Wratislavia Cantans Festival, where he was Artistic Director between 2006 and 2012. To date they have made seven recordings, most recently Haydn The Seasons, released in spring 2017 and lauded by critics: “the communal sense of joy is infectious” (Financial Times) and “Glorious” (Guardian).

Daniele Gatti graduated as a composer and orchestra conductor at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. He is Music Director of the Orchestra Mozart, Artistic Advisor of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. From 2024 he will be Chief Conductor of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden.

He was Music Director of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and he previously held prestigious roles at important musical institutions like the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Royal Opera House of London, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Zurich’s Opernhaus and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam.
The Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala are just a few of the renowned symphonic institutions he works with.

Some of the numerous and important new productions he has conducted include Falstaff staged by Robert Carsen (in London, Milan, and Amsterdam); Parsifal staged by Stefan Herheim opening the 2008 Bayreuther Festspiele (one of the very few Italian conductors to have been invited to the Wagnerian festival); Parsifal staged by François Girard at the Metropolitan Opera in New York; four operas at the Salzburger Festspiele (Elektra, La bohème, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Il Trovatore).

To celebrate Verdi’s anniversary, in 2013 he conducted La Traviata at the season opening of the Teatro alla Scala, where he also opened the 2008 season with Don Carlo, and performed other titles including Lohengrin, Lulu, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Falstaff, and Wozzeck.
More recent engagements include Pelléas et Mélisande at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tristan und Isolde at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and the 2016/2017 opening of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma where he conducted the same Wagnerian opera.

Since 2016 he has taught conducting at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena and in the same year a three-year concert cycle named “RCO meets Europe” started. It involved 28 member states of the European Union and it included the project “Side by Side”, a project allowing musicians from local youth orchestras to perform the first musical number of the program next to the members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Maestro Gatti, thus fostering an incredibly fruitful human and musical exchange. In June 2017 he conducted the RCO in an opera production: Salome at the Nationale Opera of Amsterdam.

The 2017/2018 Season saw him conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Philharmonie Berlin, the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan interpreting Mahler’s Second Symphony, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Europe, South Korea, Japan, and at the Carnegie Hall in New York, all being side events to Amsterdam’s traditional season.

He opened several seasons of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma: La Damnation de Faust (2017-2018), Rigoletto (2018-2019), Les Vêpres Siciliennes (2019-2020), Il barbiere di Siviglia (2020-2021) and the world premiere of Battistelli’s Julius Caesar (2021-2022). He has recently conducted new productions of I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Zaide, La traviata (broadcasted on Rai3) and Giovanna d’Arco at the Teatro Costanzi; Rigoletto and Il trovatore at the Circo Massimo. He interpreted Verdi’s Requiem at the Palau de Les Arts in Valencia. He also conducted concerts leading the Orchestra dell’Opera di Roma at the Quirinale Gardens (broadcasted on Rai1), at the MAXXI Museum and at the Galleria Borghese.

In 2022, as part of the 84th Festival of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, he conducted Orphée et Eurydice – the inaugural title of the Festival – and Ariadne auf Naxos.

In 2022-2023 he conducts Il Barbiere di Siviglia, the first title of the opera season 2022/23 of the Teatro del Maggio, and interprets the Quattro pezzi sacri at the Verdi Festival and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino where he also conducts Don Carlo and The Rake’s Progress on the occasion respectively of the Autumn and Carnival Festivals. In summer 2025 he will return to the Bayreuth Festival for the new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

He regularly leads the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestra Mozart, the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, the Dresdner Festspielorchester, the Münchner Philharmoniker, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

Daniele Gatti was awarded the Premio “Franco Abbiati” from Italian music critics as best conductor in 2015, in 2016 he was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur from the French Republic for his work as Music Director of the Orchestre National de France and he was also awarded the Grand Officer of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Under Sony Classical he has recorded works by Debussy and Stravinsky with the Orchestre National de France, and a DVD of Wagner’s Parsifal staged at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Under the label RCO Live he has recorded Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Mahler’s First, Second and Fourth Symphonies, a DVD of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps together with Debussy’s Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un Faune and La Mer, a DVD of Strauss’s Salome performed at the Dutch National Opera, a CD of Bruckner’s Symphony n. 9 together with the Prelude and the Karfreitagszauber (Good Friday Music) from Wagner’s Parsifal. In November 2019 a DVD of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, staged at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, was released by C Major.

Neeme Järvi first studied music with his brother Vallo before entering the Tallinn School of Music, where he studied percussion and choral conducting. Having made his public conducting debut in Tallinn in 1954, he continued his studies between 1955 and 1960 at the Leningrad Conservatory, where his teachers in symphonic and operatic conducting included Nicolai Rabinovich and Yevgeny Mravinsky. Both made a great impression upon him, as he recalled: ‘Rabinovich was all beautiful hands and upbeats and everything that conductors need.’ Jarvi has also noted that these mentors were in turn highly influenced by the Jewish conductors who were seeking refuge from Nazi Germany during the 1930s: ‘Bruno Walter and Otto Klemperer conducted in Leningrad every year, and these young Rabinovichs and Mravinskys looked (at them) every day, as I looked at Mravinsky and Rabinovich thirty years later.’

Following graduation from the Leningrad Conservatory in 1960, Järvi played as a percussionist in the Estonian Radio Symphony Orchestra, being subsequently appointed chief conductor of this orchestra in 1963, as well as chief conductor and artistic director of the State Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (renamed the Estonian National Opera Theatre after independence was restored to Estonia). In the same year he co-founded the Estonian Chamber Orchestra in Tallinn and became its artistic director. During the 1960s Järvi began to gain an international reputation through his regular appearances with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra and the major Moscow orchestras, as well as with guest appearances elsewhere in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Having made his operatic conducting debut with Bizet’s Carmen at the Kirov Theatre in Leningrad, he later conducted the Soviet Union’s first-ever performances of Der RosenkavalierPorgy and Bess and Il Turco in Italia.

In 1971 Järvi took first prize at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Conducting Competition in Rome. This opened the door to invitations to conduct in Western Europe (Great Britain, Sweden, Holland, Germany) and further afield (Argentina, Canada and Japan), and in 1973 and 1977 he made his first appearances in the USA, on tour with the Leningrad Philharmonic and the Leningrad Symphony Orchestras. His debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York came in 1979, when he conducted Eugene Onegin to considerable critical acclaim. Järvi had relinquished his position at the head of the Estonian State Opera in 1976, when he was appointed the chief conductor of the newly-formed Estonian State Symphony Orchestra, but following a performance he gave in Estonia of Arvo Pärt’s Credo, which contained words from the Bible, members of the Estonian State Symphony Orchestra were sacked from their posts by the authorities. As a result, in 1980 Järvi decided to emigrate with his family to America.

Two major agencies, International Concert Management and Columbia Artists, offered to represent him and he decided to work with the latter. Soon he was conducting the major American orchestras, including the Cincinnati Symphony, New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestras, developing in particular a close association with the orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit. In addition appointments with European orchestras quickly followed. Järvi worked alongside Simon Rattle as principal guest conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra between 1981 and 1984, and following an appearance at the Royal Opera House in Sweden conducting Richard Strauss’s Salome he became chief conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in 1982, holding this appointment until 2004 when he became the orchestra’s conductor emeritus. Similarly, he was chief conductor of the Scottish National Orchestra between 1984 and 1988, then becoming that orchestra’s conductor emeritus in 1990. Having become an American citizen in 1987, Järvi was appointed chief conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1990: as with the Gothenburg Orchestra, he developed a long relationship with this ensemble, stepping down only in 2005, when he became conductor emeritus of this orchestra too, as well as the chief conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and of The Hague Residentie Orchestra. Throughout the period of his Detroit appointment, Järvi also accepted numerous guest engagements, appearing in Europe and the USA regularly as both a symphonic and operatic conductor, as well as being the principal guest conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra.

Järvi has a superlative conducting technique through which he strives for close communication with orchestral players: ‘…you have to talk with your hands with the musicians. You have to explain with every gesture, like you’re breathing. If you’re not breathing you’re not alive. This kind of a relationship – always showing what you want – works so beautifully, and American orchestras are the best to work with as a conductor, because they are so professional. Just show them and it’s done. If you are not showing, nothing comes. You are just beating, no music.’ In addition he is a conductor who is frequently highly spontaneous in performance, giving his interpretations notable freshness and immediacy. This aspect of conducting is often in the forefront of his teaching. At the annual conducting course in which he participates at Pärnu, a resort town on Estonia’s southern coast, Järvi has been known to both censure and encourage students with comments such as: ‘Boring music-making! Do something with it! If you are in the middle of a piece and want to do something, do it.’ Those who have played with Järvi praise highly his collaborative style of music-making. A member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, violinist Beatriz Budinszky, has commented in interview, ‘Neeme is proof that a conductor can be a gentleman… he has that charisma, that contagious enthusiasm.’

Järvi is also unusual in that he is constantly searching out and performing neglected works by both popular and lesser-known composers. This philosophy developed early in his career: when he was active in Estonia he presented many new works by fellow countrymen Eduard Tubin and Arvo Pärt, long before they had achieved the international distinction which they now enjoy. These three characteristics – a highly communicative conducting technique, consistent spontaneity and the constant search for new repertoire – have made Järvi an ideal recording conductor. During the course of his career he has recorded well over three hundred and fifty discs for the Deutsche Grammophon, Chandos, BIS, Orfeo, EMI and BMG labels, as well as for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s own label. He has recorded complete symphonic cycles of Swedish composers Wilhelm Stenhammar and Hugo Alfvén; Danish composers Niels Gade and Carl Nielsen; Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (his complete orchestral music); Johannes Brahms and Franz Schmidt; Czech composers Bohuslav Martinů and Antonín Dvořák; Estonian composers Arvo Pärt and Eduard Tubin; Russian composers Glazunov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich; and many others. With the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, he has recorded thirty-six discs for the Chandos label, including an important American series with works by Samuel Barber, Amy Beach, Charles Ives, George Chadwick, Duke Ellington and William Grant Still. In addition, notably with the Gothenburg Orchestra, Järvi has revived several important works by Russian composers which have vanished undeservedly from the concert repertoire, such as Maximilian Steinberg’s Symphony No. 1 and Myaskovsky’s Symphony No. 6.

The considerable influence exerted by recordings is acknowledged by Järvi, who has commented, ‘I think that the orchestras that I lead should become known in the world. It’s not possible to travel around the world with them that much, and thus I can introduce them via the records. Gothenburg is a small Swedish town and the Gothenburg orchestra would have remained unknown had we not recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra’s almost one hundred records have given it considerable recognition.’ Neeme and Liilia Järvi’s three children are all musicians: his two sons Paavo and Kristjan are both distinguished conductors, while his daughter Maarika is a flautist of note.

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