Born in 1989, the Russian soprano Julia Lezhneva has not only won over an international audience but the critics also rave about her »angelic« voice (The New York Times), her »pure tone« (Opernwelt) and her »immaculate technique« (The Guardian).  She began piano and singing lessons aged only five and later studied at the famous Moscow Conservatory. She completed her studies at the Guildhall School in London. This singer won first prize at the Paris Opera Competition in 2009, making her the youngest winner in the competition’s history. Her appearance with Rossini’s ›Fra il Padre‹ at the Classical Brit Awards in London’s Royal Albert Hall was also a sensation. The following year, the journal Opernwelt named her ›Young Artist of the Year‹.

From 2012, this young soprano appeared for three consecutive seasons as Asteria alongside Plácido Domingo und Bejun Mehta in Handel’s ›Temerlano‹ at the Salzburg Festival. In recent years, Julia Lezhneva has also toured in Australia and has given concerts in Lausanne, Toulouse, St Petersburg, Madrid, Lucerne, in the Konzerthaus Berlin and in the Berlin Philharmonie.  She also gave her debut in the Gewandhaus Leipzig with Herbert Blomstedt. Julia Lezhneva is the 2019 ›Artist in Residence‹ at the Kissinger Summer, where she first appeared on stage with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen. Further debuts of her 2019/20 season will be concerts with Adam Fischer and the Berlin Philharmonic in October and at the Musikverein in Vienna in February 2020.

The Estonian conductor and Grammy Award winner Paavo Järvi has served as Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen since 2004. One of the many highlights of this long standing collaboration was the widely acclaimed Beethoven cycle, whose performances were celebrated by critics around the world and honoured with numerous awards, including the Echo Klassik for “Conductor of the Year.” The Beethoven project was followed by an intensive exploration of the symphonic works of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms; both cycles likewise received multiple distinctions. Since autumn 2021, the orchestra has turned its focus to Joseph Haydn’s twelve London Symphonies, followed in 2024 by an in depth engagement with the symphonies of Franz Schubert.

Since the 2019/20 season, Paavo Järvi has also served as Music Director of the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich. Starting with the 2028/29 season, Järvi will assume the position of Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He is the founder and Artistic Director of the Estonian Festival Orchestra and the Pärnu Music Festival, which he established in 2011. As a guest conductor, he regularly appears 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, Paavo Järvi was named Artist of the Year by both Gramophone magazine (UK) and Diapason (France). This was followed in 2019 by the Opus Klassik award for Conductor of the Year. Further honours 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 recognition of his commitment to promoting the music of Jean Sibelius, he received the Sibelius Medal in 2015, and in 2012 he was awarded the Hindemith Prize for Art and Humanity. For his dedication to Estonian culture, Paavo Järvi was awarded the Order of the White Star by the President of Estonia in 2013, and in 2024 he received the Bremen Senate Medal for Art and Science.