The London Philharmonic Orchestra has appointed Estonian maestro Paavo Järvi as its next chief conductor and artistic advisor, beginning with the 2028–2029 season, on an initial five-season contract, the orchestra announced on Tuesday.
Järvi will succeed Edward Gardner, who has been principal conductor since 2021 and will leave the post when his current contract ends at the close of the 2027–2028 season.
Born in Tallinn in 1962, Järvi comes from one of Estonia’s best-known musical families: his father Neeme Järvi is a renowned conductor, and his younger brother Kristjan Järvi is also a conductor. The family moved to the United States in 1980, and Paavo Järvi later studied at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music and at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, where he worked with Leonard Bernstein.
Over his career, Järvi has held senior posts with orchestras including the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and the Orchestre de Paris (music director, 2010–2016). He is currently chief conductor and music director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and has been artistic director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen for more than two decades.
He is also the founder and artistic director of the Pärnu Music Festival and its resident Estonian Festival Orchestra, which has become a major platform for Estonian musicians and composers and a regular touring ensemble in Europe and beyond. In 2025, Järvi was among the world’s busiest conductors, touring widely and performing in 14 countries over the year.
Järvi has longstanding ties to Britain and London’s orchestral scene. In an interview with The Guardian, he said a New Year 2025 tour to China with the London Philharmonic Orchestra helped confirm the rapport he felt with the orchestra, adding that he grew up listening to the ensemble’s recordings and described it as a “wonderful historic orchestra”.
In the same interview, he addressed the sector-wide challenge of broadening audiences and countering the idea that classical music is “difficult” or “elitist”, pointing to experiments such as late-night concerts and cross-genre projects – while arguing that accessibility should not mean simplifying the repertoire. He also said he expects his programming to include Estonian music, alongside British works and contemporary music, though no specific plans were announced.
Gardner, speaking to The Guardian, backed the appointment and praised the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s stylistic range, saying he had “never met an orchestra” that could absorb such a wide variety of repertoire with the same openness.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1932 by Sir Thomas Beecham, is one of the resident orchestras at London’s Southbank Centre and the resident symphony orchestra for Glyndebourne Festival Opera.
