Christian Tetzlaff has been one of the most sought-after violinists for many years. His concerts are often an existential experience for performer and audiences alike. Old, familiar pieces suddenly appear in a completely new light. Tetzlaff cultivates an unusually broad repertoire, drawing attention on the one hand to neglected masterpieces while at the same time championing major contemporary compositions. Tetzlaff regularly performs with today’s leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra and all the major London orchestras. He was Artist in Residence at the Berlin Philharmoniker and, for the 2022/23 season, Artist in Residence at the London Symphony Orchestra.

Previously, this violinist has worked with legendary maestri such as Sergiu Celibidache, Bernard Haitink, Lorin Maazel and Kurt Masur as well as more recently with Paavo Järvi, Barbara Hannigan, Andris Nelsons and Sir Simon Rattle, to name but a few. For his CD recordings, Christian Tetzlaff has won numerous prizes including the annual Deutsche Schallplattenkritik in 2018, the Midem Classical award in 2017 and the Diapason d’or. In 1994, Christian Tetzlaff and his sister Tanja founded their own string quartet and to this day, he is as passionate about chamber music as he is about his solo work. For many years, this extraordinary musician has enjoyed a close friendship with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen.

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.

Both as a soloist and as a chamber musician, Tanja Tetzlaff is one of the leading cellists of her generation. Her repertoire is broad and varied, bridging the standard repertoire with contemporary compositions from the 21st century. She studied cello with Bernhard Gmelin at Hamburg College of Music and Drama, followed by studies with Heinrich Schiff at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. She has won many international competitions, including the ARD Competition and has also worked with numerous renowned orchestras – the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Orchestre de Paris and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Daniel Harding and Vladimir Ashkenazy. She has also recorded the cello concertos Wolfgang Rihm and Ernst Toch with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen on the Neos label.

Last season saw Tanja Tetzlaff in Tokyo with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and also on stage with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. For the 2018 season she is Artist in Residence with the SWR Schwetzinger Festival where she can be heard in a number of performances throughout the season. She has a particular interest in chamber music und performs regularly with Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt and can be seen on stage at the renowned Heidelberg Spring Festival, at festivals in Bergen, Baden-Baden and at the Edinburgh Festival. This much sought-after performer is a core member of the Heimbach Festival ›Spannungen‹ as well as being a member of the Tetzlaff Quartet, which she co-founded in 1994 with Christian Tetzlaff, Elisabeth Kufferath and Hanna Weinmeister. She was, for many years, principal cellist with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen; a post she held until 2018.