Järvi, Kristjan, Conductor
The chief conductor of the Tonkünstler Orchestra, Kristjan Järvi, was born in Tallinn in Estonia but moved as a child with his family to New York, where he grew up amidst the great musical variety of Manhattan. He studied piano at the Manhattan School of Music (with Nina Svetlanova) and conducting, but his interests extended far beyond the realm of classical music. Thanks to his European origins and his training in America, he personifies both the Old and the New World in his musical activities. This duality is also reflected in his two jobs: principal conductor of both the Tonkünstler Orchestra and New York’s Absolute Ensemble, which he founded in 1993.

Under Järvi’s leadership, the Absolute Ensemble plays music ranging from Baroque to rock and makes regular guest appearances at the most important festivals and at musical centres throughout the world. CD recordings with Järvi and the Absolute Ensemble have been nominated for the Grammy Award and honoured with the German Record Critics Award. The ensemble’s latest album is called Arcanum.

Järvi worked for three years assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, making his conducting debut with them at the Hollywood Bowl, and for four years he was principal conductor of the Norrlands Opera Symphony Orchestra of Umeå in Sweden. He has appeared a guest conductor with such celebrated ensembles as the Russian National Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Included in his repertoire are pieces from the Vienna classic period and the great symphonic works of the Romantic period and 20th century as well as contemporary music (he has conducted the first performances of works by Erkki-Sven Tüür, Peeter Vähi and also the music of Arvo Pärt). In 2007 Järvi also conducted the new production of John Adams\' Nixon in China at the Cincinnati Opera.

The New York Times described Kristjan Järvi as "a technically adroit conductor and kinetic stage presence, with a wavy mane of long blondish hair and an impish smile that suggests he finds the job of smashing categories tons of fun."

Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Orchestra
The Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin was the first symphony orchestra set up by a broadcasting network in Germany, and was founded in 1923. Marek Janowski has been its principal conductor since 2002. Its former principal conductors have included Eugen Jochum, Sergiu Celibidache, Hermann Abendroth, Heinz Rögner and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, as well as guest conductors such as Otto Klemperer, Bruno Walther and Erich Kleiber.

The efforts of such distinguished figures have created a body whose repertoire ranges from the pre-classical period to modernism, and since its foundation it has shown a particular commitment to contemporary music. Some of the finest composers of the first half of the 20th century have either taken the rostrum or performed their own works as soloists with the orchestra. They have included Paul Hindemith, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Serge Prokofiev, Kurt Weill and Alexander Zemlinsky, and more recently Krzysztof Penderecki, Peter Maxwell Davies, Friedrich Goldmann, Berthold Goldschmidt and Udo Zimmermann.

In collaboration with Deutschlandradio Kultur, the main partner in the Rundfunk-Orchester und -Chöre Berlin GmbH (founded in 1994), of which the RSB is a part, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin has been giving some 60 public concerts annually, as well as a lot of CD recording sessions. Some of the latest recordings, for labels such as DECCA, BMG/EMI, Wergo, BIS, Ondine, BERLIN Classics and KOCH International, have received the Cannes Classical Award, the Gramophone Award, the Price Echo Klassik, the Grand Prix du disque de l’Académie Charles Cros or the German record critics’ prize.

Since 1956 the orchestra has played in 20 countries, seven times in Japan, 1998 in China, 2000 it successfully toured South America. Besides its international presence the ensemble of course performs throughout all of Germany.