Concertgebouw Orchestra with Jean‐Yves Thibaudet

Grammy‐award winning Paavo Järvi has built a remarkable conducting reputation. Born in Tallinn, Estonia, he studied percussion and conducting at the Tallinn School of Music then, in 1980, moved to the USA where he continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music and at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, with Leonard Bernstein.
In addition to his numerous permanent positions, Paavo Järvi is in much demand as a guest conductor appearing regularly with orchestras such as Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles, New York Philharmonic, Boston, Staatskapelle Dresden, La Scala and NHK Symphony.

The 'Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra' is a symphony orchestra of international renown, whose character has been shaped by several generations of musicians, longstanding collaboration with each of the six chief conductors, and the unique acoustic properties of the Concertgebouw’s main hall.

The Orchestra has gained its unique international position with its ‘velvet’ strings, ‘golden’ brass and the exceptional and personal timbre of the woodwinds. The musicians are the guardians of the playing culture that gives the Orchestra its unique sound and flexibility. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra consists of 120 virtuosos who perform together at the highest level.

During the fifty years of Willem Mengelberg’s reign, a wide variety of composers such as Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra several times. Celebrities such as Béla Bartók, Sergey Rachmaninoff and Sergey Prokofiev performed their own works as soloists. This crucial bond with contemporary composers was continued with Bruno Maderna, Peter Schat, Luciano Berio, Hans Werner Henze, Luigi Nono and John Adams, and is still RCO policy.