Born in Latvia and trained in Russia, Misha Maisky is one of the world’s leading cellists and has performed in the great concert halls of London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, New York and Tokyo, as well as being a welcome guest at international festivals. He has performed with almost all of the greatest conductors from Leonard Bernstein to Gustavo Dudamel. As a chamber musician, this cellist continues to perform with outstanding musicians such as Martha Argerich, Janine Jansen and Lang Lang.

One particular highlight of his concert activities to date was without doubt the year 2000. Misha Maisky marked the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach’s death that year with a worldwide concert marathon in excess of 100 performances in which he performed Bach’s solo suites for cello. As an exclusive artist for ›Deutsche Grammophon‹, Maisky has made 44 recordings spanning over 30 years, including with prominent orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris and many others. This exceptional cellist, who has chosen to make his home in Belgium, sees himself as a citizen of the world. In the year of his 75th birthday, Maisky looks back on his 50-year stage career in the west.

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 has been the acclaimed, globally celebrated performances of the Beethoven cycle, 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. Since autumn 2021, the focus has been on Joseph Haydn’s twelve London symphonies, and since 2024, an intensive exploration of Franz Schubert’s symphonies.

Paavo Järvi has been Music Director of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich since the start of the 2019/2020 season. He is also the founder and Artistic Director of the Estonian Festival Orchestra and the Pärnu Music Festival, which he established in 2011. He regularly appears as a guest conductor with major orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the London Philharmonia Orchestra, the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras 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.