Paavo Järvi in conversation with Sarah Willis (18 min.)

In October 2019, Paavo Järvi conducted a programme with the Berliner Philharmoniker which included Jean Sibelius’s last published composition Tapiola, Robert Schumann’s Third Symphony, and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. The conductor explains here in an interview with the Philharmoniker’s horn player Sarah Willis how much he admires the soloist of the evening – the violinist Janine Jansen –, how he developed his individual approach to Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony, and why Sibelius almost completely gave up composing in his last 30 years of life. Järvi also talks about the similarities and differences between the top three orchestras in Bremen, Zurich and Tokyo who appointed him artistic director.