Born in Argentina, Sol Gabetta is celebrated worldwide for her virtuoso cello playing and is a welcome guest with almost all the major international orchestras. In recent seasons, she has held residencies with the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Bamberger Symphoniker. The Wiener Konzerthaus dedicated a special portrait series to her and in the USA she has made regular guest appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra – alongside her esteemed colleague Klaus Mäkelä – and the New York Philharmonic. As a passionate chamber musician, her concerts have taken her to venues including Lincoln Centre in New York, London’s Wigmore Hall as well as Lucerne, Verbier, Salzburg, Schwetzingen, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg and the Beethovenfest Bonn. In recognition of her exceptional artistic achievements, Sol Gabetta was awarded the Swiss Music Prize in 2024 and, prior to that, the European Culture Prize. In 2019, she received the Opus Klassik award as ›Instrumentalist of the Year‹. She has been teaching at the Basel Academy of Music since 2005.

In the 2025/26 season, this much-sought-after cellist returned to the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich as a ›Focus Artist‹ – including a number of touring concerts with Paavo Järvi – and thus to the orchestra with which she made her debut 20 years ago. Another project close to her heart this season is her tribute to the cello virtuoso Lise Cristiani, who was one of the first women to take centre stage with the cello in the 19th century. With her historically informed interpretations, Sol Gabetta brings this groundbreaking pioneer back to life. In the 2026/27 season, Sol Gabetta will be Artist-in-Residence with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Estonian conductor and Grammy Award winner Paavo Järvi has been Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen since 2004. One of the many highlights of this collaboration was the Beethoven cycle, acclaimed worldwide by audiences and critics alike, for which Järvi received numerous awards including the ›Echo Klassik Conductor of the Year‹ award and the prestigious annual ›German Record Critics‹’ award. Their Beethoven project was followed by an intensive exploration of the symphonic works of Schumann and Brahms; both cycles also received numerous awards. From autumn 2021, the focus was on Joseph Haydn’s twelve London symphonies, and since 2024, an intensive exploration of Franz Schubert’s symphonies.

Järvi has been Music Director of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich since the start of the 2019/20 season. He is also the founder and Artistic Director of the Estonian Festival Orchestra and the Pärnu Music Festival. From the 2028/29 season, Järvi will take up the post of Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor to the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He also regularly appears as a guest conductor with leading orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

In 2015, he was named ›Artist of the Year‹ by both the British magazine Gramophone and the French magazine Diapason. This was followed in 2019 by the Opus Klassik award for ›Conductor of the Year‹. Other awards include a Grammy Award for his recording of Sibelius’ Cantatas with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the title ›Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres‹, awarded by the French Ministry of Culture. In 2015, Paavo Järvi also received the Sibelius Medal in recognition of his work in bringing this Finnish composer’s music to a wider audience, and in 2012 he received the Hindemith Prize for Art and Humanity. As a committed supporter of Estonian culture, Paavo Järvi was awarded the Order of the White Star by the President of Estonia in 2013.