July 5th, 2019 - Against the stream

The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen is one of the world's leading orchestras, captivating audi-ences everywhere with its unique style of music-making. The Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi has been the orchestra's Artistic Director since 2004.

One of the many highlights of the ensemble's collaboration with Paavo Järvi has been their Beethoven Project, on which the conductor and orchestra concentrated for six years. Their Beethoven interpreta-tions have been acclaimed worldwide by audiences and critics alike as benchmark performances. They have thrilled listeners in Paris, Tokyo, Strasbourg, Warsaw, at the Salzburg Festival and the Beetho-venfest Bonn with the complete cycle of nine Beethoven symphonies. The cycle was recorded on RCA and enthusiastically acclaimed by critics throughout the world. The TV and DVD documentary of the Beethoven Project produced by Deutsche Welle and Unitel was also greeted with a positive response, receiving numerous awards. In October 2014 The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen added a recording of Overtures (Sony/RCA) to its Beethoven cycle.

Following the Beethoven Project, The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Järvi fo-cused on Robert Schumann's symphonic works with equal success. After sensational triumphs in To-kyo and Saint Petersburg, the Schumann cycles were also acclaimed at the Beethoven Festival in War-saw and Vienna's Konzerthaus. The third and last CD of the Schumann cycle – symphony no. 4 and the concert piece of 4 horns – received the renowned Diapason d’Or (2014), an important french music award. Also the TV/DVD documentary about the Schumann Project, produced by Deutsche Welle in cooperation with Unitel, arte and Radio Bremen, was presented with several awards.

The latest project of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen – after Beethoven and Schumann – is the German composer Johannes Brahms. The first CD (Sony/RCA) of the project including Sym-phony No. 2, Tragic Ouverture and the Academic Festival Ouverture released in autumn 2017 was named ›CD der Woche‹/CD of the week by NDR Kultur and ›CD-Tipp‹/CD tip by BR Klassik. For this recording, The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen received an Opus Klassik in the category ›Recording of the year/Music of the 19th century‹ in 2018. The second CD, including Symphony No. 1 and the Haydn-Variations, was released in autumn 2018.

With the third and fourth Symphony, released in March 2019, the symphony cycle has come to com-pletion.

In concert, Paavo Järvi and The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen continue to place Brahms at the heart of their programming. The complete symphony cycle, performed in Paris, was filmed by Medici TV. Highlight of the project was the performance of ›A German Requiem‹ on the 10th of April 2018 at Bremen Cathedral, 150 years after the first performance.

For many years, the orchestra has cultivated close musical friendships with such internationally re-nowned soloists and conductors as Christian Tetzlaff, Maria João Pires, Viktoria Mullova, Helène Grimaud, Janine Jansen, Igor Levit, David Fray, Hilary Hahn, Pekka Kuusisto, Martin Grubinger, Trevor Pinnock and Sir Roger Norrington.

The orchestra members devote themselves with strong personal commitment to their joint projects with the Bremen East Comprehensive School, where the ensemble's rehearsal rooms are now located. The unique collaboration that has resulted has been recognized with numerous awards from the begin-ning, including the Zukunftsaward (Future Award) as best social innovation in 2007 and the Echo Klassik Award in 2012. With these projects, the musicians pursue the goal of encouraging individual development through music – especially, but not only in an educationally disadvantaged environment. The Minister of State for Culture has designated The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen's Fu-ture Lab as a model project.

Meanwhile, this model is known not only nationwide, but also internationally. In 2018, the Future Lab Tunisia was established with the support of the German Foreign Office in Tunis.

In 2008 The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen received the prestigious German Founders Award in the special award category for its successful combination of entrepreneurship and culture. In 2009 three of the orchestra’s CD releases won Echo Klassik Awards. The

Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen was honoured with the German Record Critics' Certificate of Special Merit in 2010 for its complete discography ranging from Bach to Ruzicka. The same year Paavo Järvi received the Echo Klassik Award as Conductor of the Year for the Beethoven recordings.

The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen is permanent guest orchestra at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Festival Orchestra of Kissinger Sommer, first Orchestra in Residence of Rheingau Music Festival and was Deutschlandradio Kultur ›Orchestra of the year‹ in 2016.

Lisa Batiashvili received the highest accolade at the age of 22, from no less a musician than the great Alfred Brendel, who said of one of her concerts that “Every note sang and spoke: imagination and control, warmth and mastery, rigor and flexibility were in balance. Once again it was evident that the quality of great violinists is manifested at an early age.” As the youngest entrant in the famous Sibelius Competition in Helsinki, Lisa Batiashvili already gained international recognition. Today this German-Georgian virtuoso, to whom the Financial Times attested “profound empathy”, is among the leading, most sought-after violinists of her generation. She regularly performs with the most renowned orchestras and with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Yannick Nézét-Séguin, Alan Gilbert and Sir Simon Rattle.

In 2019 Lisa Batiashvili is taking over the exclusive artistic direction of the Audi Summer Concerts in Ingolstadt. For the first time in its history, the entire festival will bear the artistic signature of a personality from the world of music. This is, therefore, a premiere – for the festival and for the artist herself: “Creating the program of a festival is a new challenge for me. For the first time, I can give shape to a musical idea that then becomes reality in many different concerts. I am extremely pleased to be able to do this in cooperation with Audi in Ingolstadt – a place I know from my childhood.”

With “Fantastique!”, Lisa Batiashvili presents a festival program this year that takes visitors to the Audi Summer Concerts on a musical journey into worlds of the fantastic. “I would like to delight audiences with performances by international musicians, ensembles and orchestras, with music that tells stories and makes us forget the time and place.” This exceptional violinist is not only the artistic director of the Audi Summer Concerts 2019, however; audiences can also hear her play in two concerts.

Paavo Järvi’s second season as Chief Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra opened on a high when he conducts Mahler’s Symphony No.8 in celebration of the orchestra’s 90th Anniversary. They also performed Mahler to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Suntory Hall and they will embark on a major European tour in spring 2017 with performances in Berlin, Luxembourg, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Vienna and Cologne.

As Artistic Director of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Paavo Järvi and the orchestra returned to Asia for performances across Taiwan and Japan in autumn 2016. Throughout the season they will continue their critically acclaimed Brahms symphony cycle with performances throughout Germany and Switzerland. The first recording of the Brahms cycle is released on Sony’s, RCA label in spring 2017.

In summer 2016, Paavo Järvi concluded his highly successful tenure as Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris and was simultaneously heralded by the French Critics’ Association as ‘Musical Personality of the Year’. Highlights of his six year tenure included conducting the opening concerts of the new Paris Philhamonie which were recorded for i-Tunes and immediately became an international bestseller; the Sibelius Medal in recognition of his achievements in championing the Finnish composer’s music in France: and the release of his highly acclaimed recording of music by Dutilleux on the Erato label which received an Echo Klassik Award for contemporary recording.

Guest engagements see the completion of Paavo Järvi’s extensive Nielsen Symphony Cycle with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, return visits to the Wiener Symphoniker, Berlin Staatskapelle and performances with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Budapest Festival Orchestra, and L’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. In spring 2017 Paavo Järvi also conducts Don Giovanni at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala as well as orchestral concerts with the La Scala orchestra. He also returns to conduct the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, where he is Conductor Laureate.

The 2016/17 season concludes with a week of performances in mid-July at the Pärnu Music Festival in Estonia. Founded in 2010 by Paavo Järvi, the festival offers both conducting master-classes and concerts. As a festival celebrating the orchestra at its heart, Järvi created a new ensemble which has become the uncontested highlight of the summer season; the Estonian Festival Orchestra brings together leading Estonian musicians with soloists from Europe’s top-ranking orchestras.

With an extensive discography, Paavo Järvi’s latest releases are the complete Nielsen Symphonies with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony on Sony Japan, and Elgar and Walton’s Cello Concertos with Steven Isserlis and the Philharmonia Orchestra on Hyperion. He was named Artist of the Year by both Gramophone (UK) and Diapason (France) in autumn 2015.