This summer: Paavo Järvi and family assemble for 15th Pärnu Music Festival to celebrate Arvo Pärt at 90 (July 15–25)

(April 2025) — Paavo Järvi – Opus Klassik’s 2019 Conductor of the Year – returns to his Estonian roots this summer to celebrate his compatriot and close family friend Arvo Pärt on his 90th birthday. The 2025 Pärnu Music Festival – of which Järvi is founder and Artistic Director – pays tribute to Pärt, who has developed a large and devoted global following through recordings and live performances. The festival also celebrates its own 15th year in the town known as Estonia’s “summer capital.” Highlights of this year’s festival include Järvi conducting the Estonian Festival Orchestra in four concerts (July 19, 20, 24, 25), all featuring works by Pärt, including Silhouette (dedicated to and premiered by Järvi and the Orchestre de Paris in 2015 at the opening concert of the Paris Philharmonie) and Credo, the 1968 premiere of which – under the baton of Järvi’s father, Neeme Järvi – marked a turning point in the composer’s career. Neeme Järvi is also featured in this summer’s festival, as is Paavo Järvi’s younger brother, Kristjan, and his ensemble Nordic Pulse.

Other summer engagements for Paavo Järvi include: taking the podium for music of Dvořák and Strauss at Switzerland’s Seetal Classics Festival (July 11); conducting the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Mahler’s First Symphony along with Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto for the closing concert of the Verbier Festival (Aug 3); and leading his Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich at the Gstaad Festival (Aug 29) and the Enescu Festival(Sep 2, 3), with the performances featuring the Second Symphonies of both Rachmaninoff and Mahler alongside Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto.

Coming up in the fall, Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra release an album of Arvo Pärt’s works that combines studio recordings with live performances, all made during this summer’s Pärnu Music Festival. The album will be released on September 5, anticipating the composer’s birthday the following week. The conductor and orchestra then take part in another birthday celebration for Pärt produced by Carnegie Hall, where Pärt holds the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair for the 2025–2026 season.

See Carnegie Hall’s promotional video about Pärt and his music

A retrospective of Pärt’s music over the course of seven Carnegie Hall concerts opens with the highly anticipated North American debut of the Estonian Festival Orchestra with Järvi on the podium, joined by violinists Midori and Hans Christian Aavik, composer-pianist Nico Muhly, and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. Their all-Pärt program comprises Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, Perpetuum mobile, La Sindone, Adam’s Lament, Tabula Rasa, Fratres, Swansong, and Credo (Oct 23).

Pärnu Music Festival (July 15–25)

Neeme Järvi conducts a concert that serves as an upbeat to the 15th Pärnu Music Festival this summer, leading the Järvi Academy Youth Symphony Orchestra in a special pre-festival concert at Tallinn’s Arvo Pärt Center featuring Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten (July 16). Paavo Järvi’s younger brother, Kristjan, and his ensemble Nordic Pulse present Pärt Mirrored, a specially curated program that interweaves the music of Pärt with new works and improvisations (July 18). The festival also continues its tradition of championing other Estonian music and musicians by featuring Kalev Kuljus as soloist in the Estonian premiere of Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Oboe Concerto, co-commissioned by the festival (July 19); presenting newly commissioned works by Elis Hallik (July 20) and Alisson Kruusmaa (July 25); and featuring violinists Hans Christian Aavik and Mari Poll as soloists for Pärt’s Tabula Rasa (July 20). Paavo Järvi comments:

“I believe that Estonian culture is best represented through music which naturally expresses our national voice. Our country may be small, but Arvo Pärt’s iconic music is loved worldwide. And whilst the world will be celebrating his landmark 90th birthday this year, it is doubly meaningful for us to celebrate here in Pärnu, as Arvo has been a close family friend for as long as I can remember.”

This summer’s festival is titled Credo, after a work of Pärt’s that made history and changed the course of his career. The 1968 premiere led by Neeme Järvi was a sensation: the shocked Tallinn audience demanded a repeat performance, but the Soviet authorities immediately banned the work, seeing it as a political provocation. Pärt relates:

“It was as though I had brought myself freedom, but at the cost of renouncing everything and being left completely naked. It was like turning the new page in my life. It was a decision, a conviction in something very significant.”

It was only after 12 years of censorship, in 1980, that Pärt was able to leave occupied Estonia and set up a new life in Vienna in exile. That same year, Neeme Järvi managed to get his family out and over to the United States. Paavo Järvi was 18 when he left the country, and 33 when he was finally able to return, after Estonian independence was achieved. In 2011, he created the Pärnu Music Festival in the traditional summer resort on the Baltic Sea, where he spent his happiest childhood holidays, and today the family returns every July to celebrate and champion Estonian culture. The Pärnu Music Festival and Järvi Academy involve more than 300 musicians, students and teachers from around the world, and are recognized as Estonia’s leading classical summer events.

Paavo Järvi: summer 2025

May 26, 27
Zurich, Switzerland
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Conductor’s Academy masterclasses

May 28
Zurich, Switzerland
Conductor’s Academy closing concert / Conductor’s Academy course conductors
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Martin Frutiger, English horn
VERDI: Overture from Nabucco
Pēteris VASKS: Concerto for English Horn (1989)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 3 in D, “Polish,” Op. 29
STRAUSS: Mein Lebenslauf ist Lieb’ und Lust, Op. 263

June 4, 5. 6
Zurich, Switzerland
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
MOZART: Symphony No. 39 in E-flat, K. 543
MOZART: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
MOZART: Symphony No. 41 in C, “Jupiter,” K. 551,

June 12
Zurich, Switzerland
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
KHACHATURIAN: Concerto for Piano
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39

June 13
Zurich, Switzerland
Open air concert (Münsterhofplatz)
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
BIZET: Carmen Suite
KHACHATURIAN: Concerto for Piano
KODÁLY: Dances of Galánta

June 14
Zurich, Switzerland
Open air concert (Münsterhofplatz)
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
GRIEG: Peer Gynt Suite No. 1
DVOŘÁK: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World,” Op. 95

July 11
Seon, Switzerland
Seetal Classics Festival
Julia Fischer, violin
DVOŘÁK: Serenade for Strings in E, Op. 22
DVOŘÁK: Romance for Violin and Orchestra in F minor, Op. 11
R. STRAUSS: Der Bürger als Edelmann, Op. 60

July 15–25
Tallinn and Pärnu, Estonia
Pärnu Music Festival

July 15
Tallinn, Estonia
Arvo Pärt Center Tallinn
Järvi Academy Sinfonietta / Järvi Academy course conductors

 July 16
 Pärnu, Estonia (all remaining performances)
 Pärnu Concert Hall
Järvi Academy Symphony Orchestra / Neeme Järvi
Arvo PÄRT: Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten
MOZART: Symphony No. 29
SAINT-SAËNS: Symphony No. 3

July 17
Pärnu Concert Hall
Järvi Academy Sinfonietta / Järvi Academy course conductors

July 18
Pärnu Concert Hall
“Pärt Mirrored“
Nordic Pulse / Kristjan Järvi
Arvo PÄRT:
Da pacem Domine
Swan Song
Fratres
Mirror In Mirror
New works by Nordic Pulse orchestra members

July 19
Pärnu Concert Hall
Estonian Festival Orchestra / Paavo Järvi
Kalev Kuljus, oboe
Arvo PÄRT: La Sindone
Erkki Sven TÜÜR: Oboe Concerto (Estonian premiere)
Arvo PÄRT: Silhouette
STRAVINSKY: Firebird Suite

July 20
Pärnu Concert Hall
Estonian Festival Orchestra / Paavo Järvi
Hans Christian Aavik, Mari Poll, violins
Elis HALLIK: New Work (world premiere)
Arvo PÄRT: Tabula Rasa
Arvo PÄRT: Silhouette
STRAVINSKY: Firebird Suite

July 21
Pärnu Concert Hall
Estonian Foundation of Musical Instruments

July 21
Elizabeth Church
Järvi Academy teachers’ concert

July 21
Pärnu Concert Hall
Night concert with the Pärnu City Orchestra

July 22
Pärnu Concert Hall
Pärnu Music Festival gala

July 23
Pärnu Concert Hall
Pärnu City Orchestra & Järvi Academy Symphony Orchestra / Järvi Academy course conductors

July 24
Pärnu Concert Hall
Estonian Festival Orchestra / Paavo Järvi
Iveta Apkalna, organ
Arvo PÄRT: Swansong
POULENC: Organ Concerto
Arvo PÄRT: Für Lennart in memoriam
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7

July 25
Pärnu Concert Hall
Estonian Festival Orchestra / Paavo Järvi
Vilde Frang, violin
Alisson KRUUSMAA: New Work (world premiere)
BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7
Arvo PÄRT: Credo

Aug 3
Verbier, Switzerland
Verbier Festival (closing concert)
Khatia Buniatishvili, piano
TCHAIKOVSKY: Concerto for Piano No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
MAHLER: Symphony No. 1 in D, “Titan”

Aug 29
Gstaad, Switzerland
Gstaad Menuhin Festival
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Sol Gabetta, cello
SHOSTAKOVICH: Cello Concerto No. 2 in G, Op. 126
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27

Sep 2
Bucharest, Romania
Enescu Festival
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
ENESCU: Prelude from Oedipe
SHOSTAKOVICH: Cello Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 126
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27

Sep 3
Bucharest, Romania
Enescu Festival
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
George Enescu Philharmonic Choir
MAHLER: Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection”