In the classical music world, violinist Christian Tetzlaff is known as an exceptional musician and is highly praised for his expressive and sensitive interpretations. His individual approach to the score, in which he always seeks the emotional and structural depth of a composition, is often described in concerts as a truly existential experience. Since his spectacular debut with Schoenberg’s Violin Concerto in Berlin, Munich and Cleveland in 1988, this violinist has performed with leading orchestras of the highest calibre and has collaborated with multiple renowned conductors. His extensive repertoire ranges from Bach’s solo sonatas and partitas to lesser-known concertos by Giovanni Battista Viotti and Joseph Joachim to contemporary works by György Ligeti, Jörg Widmann and Thomas Ades. In February 2026, the violinist is giving the world premiere of Ondrej Adamek’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in Paris, followed by national premieres in Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

Chamber music is an integral part of Christian Tetzlaff’s career. In 1994, he founded the Tetzlaff Quartet together with his sister, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, and which was awarded the Diapason d’or l’année. This violinist has also received numerous awards for his many recordings as soloist, including the Diapason d’or, the German Record Critics’ Award and the Midem Classical Award. In 2023, he also took over as artistic director of the Spannungen Festival in Heimbach. This extraordinary musician has enjoyed a close friendship with The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen for many years.

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.

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.