Principal Conductor and Artistic Director (for lifetime): Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Music Director Emeritus: Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Laureate: Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Chief Conductor Emeritus: Gothenburg Symphony
Guest Chief Conductor: Japan Philharmonic Orchestra
The head of a musical dynasty, Neeme Järvi is one of today’s most highly respected maestros. He conducts the world’s most prominent orchestras and works alongside soloists of the highest caliber. Currently, he is Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. A prolific recording artist, he has amassed a discography of over 500 recordings. In September 2018, Neeme Järvi received the Grammophone Lifetime Achievement Award, and in January 2019 the Barclay de Tolly’s Friends Club Order of Merit Award.
Over his long and highly successful career he has held positions with orchestras across the world such as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and Residentie Orkest The Hague, among others. He holds the titles of Principal Conductor Emeritus of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Laureate of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Guest Chief Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra.
Recent and future seasons include engagements with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and Wiener Symphoniker, as well as major orchestras in the USA and regular engagements with the NHK and Singapore Symphony Orchestra. In September 2019 Neeme Järvi and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra performed at Musikverein Vienna, International Bruckner Festival Linz, Dvořákova Praha International Music Festival, and Festspielhaus Bregenz, among other places.
Highlights of an impressive discography include critically acclaimed complete symphony cycles of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Richard Strauss, Mahler, Dvorak, Glazunov, Grieg, Sibelius, Nielsen and Brahms. Järvi has also championed less widely known composers such as Wilhelm Stenhammar, Hugo Alfvén and Niels Gade, Franz Berwald, Johann Svendsen and Johann Halvorsen of Norway and composers from his native Estonia, including Arvo Pärt, Rudolf Tobias, Artur Kapp, Eino Tamberg, Veljo Tormis, Jaan Rääts, Jaan Koha, Heino Jürisalu and all Symphonies by Eduard Tubin. Throughout his career he has recorded with Chandos, Deutsche Grammophon (Complete music by Grieg, Rimsky Korsakov, Borodin, Nielesen, and Sibelius), BIS, EMI, Orfeo (complete Glazunov Symphonies), and Melodiya, amongst others.
Recent releases on Chandos include Tchaikovsky’s complete ballets and symphonies as well as orchestral music by the Swiss composer Joachim Raff and music by Massenet, Chabrier, Saint-Saëns, Suppé, Atterberg, and X. Scharwenka.
Neeme Järvi has been honored with many international awards and accolades such as the Gramophone Lifetime Achievement Award (Sep 2018), the Echo Classical Award (Neeme Järvi with Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, 2017), and the International Record Prize Toblach in 1993 (Mahler Symphony no. 3, London Symphony Orchestra) and in 2011 (Mahler Symphony no. 7, Residentie Orkest The Hague). From his native country, he received an honorary doctorate from the Music and Theatre Academy and the Order of the National Coat of Arms from the President of the Republic of Estonia, Mr. Lennart Meri. The Mayor of Tallinn presented Maestro Järvi with the city’s first-ever ceremonial sash and coat of arms insignia, and he has been named one of the “Estonians of the Century.” Neeme Järvi holds an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters from Detroit’s Wayne State University and the University of Michigan, as well as honorary doctorates from the University of Aberdeen and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. He has also received the Commander of the North Star Order from King Karl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
Neeme Järvi’s personal representative worldwide is Natalja Slobodyreva at Meta Artists International.
This approved biography is not to be altered or changed without consulting with the personal representative of the artist.