This Dutch violinist enjoys international acclaim for her »absolutely breathtaking« playing (Chicago Tribune) and her »bright, radiant tone« (The New York Times). With her extensive repertoire, Simone Lamsma appeared last season with some of the world’s leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and with Jaan van Zweden with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In addition, she also celebrated her return to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and toured with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxemburg and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal. Alongside her close collaboration with Jaap van Zweden, she has also worked with other renowned conductors including Vladimir Jurowski, Sir Neville Marriner, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Omer Meir Wellber.

Further noteworthy appearances are planned for the 2022 season, including the premiere of a work for violin solo by Thomas Larcher as well as a violin concerto composed for Simone Lamsma by Mathilde Wantenaar and which will be premiered in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw by Karina Canellakis and the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest.

As well as several awards, this violinist received a further honour in 2019: she was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in London; a title reserved for only a limited number of alumni. Her current CD has just been released and includes works by Einojuhani Rautavaara. It was recorded together with Robert Trevino and the Malmö Symphony.

Estonian conductor and Grammy Award winner Paavo Järvi has been Artistic Director of The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen, his only German orchestra, since 2004. One highlight of the collaboration were the celebrated concerts of the Beethoven cycle, which received critical acclaim worldwide. Järvi received numerous awards for the recordings, including the ›Echo Klassik‹ as ›Conductor of the Year‹ and the prestigious ›Annual Prize of the German Record Critics‹.

Following the Beethoven project, he and the orchestra tackled the symphonic works of Schumann and Brahms, which received similarly enthusiastic reviews. Paavo Järvi is also Principal Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Advisor to the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the Järvi Summer Festival in Pärnu, Estonia, and since 2019/20 Artistic Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. He regularly makes appearances as guest conductor with orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras, the Staatskappelle Dresden and the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago and the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra. In 2015, he was named ›Artist of the Year‹ by the renowned British magazine Gramophone and the French magazine Diapason. In 2019, he received the ›Opus Klassik‹ as ›Conductor of the Year‹.