Born in Paris in 1988, Camille Thomas began playing the cello at 4 years of age. She went on to study first with Frans Helmerson at the Hanns Eisler Music College in Berlin, and later with Wolfgang Emmanuel Schmidt at the Franz Liszt Music College in Weimar. Even during her studies, this young cellist was already enjoying huge success in renowned concert halls such as the Théâtre des Champs-Èlysèes in Paris, the Victoria Hall in Geneva and in the Jerusalem Music Center. She has worked with orchestras such as the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Baden Baden Philharmonie, the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège and the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2017 she appeared at the ›Echo Klassik Gala‹ in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie.

Alongside her work as a soloist, Camille Thomas is also a passionate chamber musician and has performed with colleagues such as Menahem Pressler, Beatrice Berrut and Julien Libeer. In 2014, this Franco-Belgian musician was nominated Newcomer at the French Grammy equivalent ›Les Victoires de la Musique‹ and was also named ›New Talent of the Year 2014‹ by the European Broadcasting Union Competition. She has also received rave reviews for her first CD, and for her second she was awarded an ›Echo Klassik‹. Thomas is now an exclusive artist for Deutsche Grammophon. Her debut album appeared in 2017, performed together with Alexandre Bloch and the Orchestre National de Lille. Camille Thomas’ instrument is a prized Ferdinand Gagliano.

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.