Нееме Ярви (Neeme Järvi) |

Cape Lake

He studied percussion and choral conducting classes at the Tallinn Music College (1951-1955), and after that he linked his fate with the Leningrad Conservatory for a long time. Here, N. Rabinovich (1955-1960) was his leader in the class of opera and symphony conducting. Then, until 1966, the young conductor improved his postgraduate studies with E. Mravinsky and N. Rabinovich.

However, the classes did not prevent Yarvi from starting practical work. As a teenager, he performed on the concert stage as a xylophonist, played drums in the Estonian Radio Symphony Orchestra and in the Estonia Theatre. While studying in Leningrad, Yarvi regularly came to his homeland, where he conducted both in concerts and in the theater, demonstrating his creative growth from time to time. The Leningrad listeners also met him at that time. In particular, his diploma work, Carmen by Bizet, was successfully held at the Kirov Theater.

In Tallinn, Järvi, despite his youth, led since 1963 a large group – the Opera House “Estonia” and conducted the Estonian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Every year the conductor expanded the theater and concert repertoire. The operas The Magic Flute, Othello, Aida, Carmen, Porgy and Bess sounded under his direction. During this time, many significant works were also included in the programs of the Radio Orchestra. Järvi constantly performed works by Estonian composers – X. Eller, E. Tubin, E. Tamberg, J. Ryaets, A. Pärt, V. Tormis, X. Jurisalu and others.

Jarvi performed in many cities of the country. He conducted Verdi’s Aida at the Bolshoi Theatre; in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory he conducted a series of five piano concertos by Beethoven with E. Gilels and four symphonies by Brahms.

Järvi began his international career in 1971, after winning a competition in Italy at the Academy of Music of Santa Cecilia. This event was followed by invitations from all over the world from many famous orchestras and famous opera houses.

In 1980, Yarvi left the Soviet Union with his family and moved to the United States, since 1987 he has been a US citizen. In 1982-2004 chief conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, simultaneously in 1984-1988. led the Scottish National Orchestra, and in 1990-2005. Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1981-1983) and others. Yevgeny Svetlanov led his life). He regularly performs with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Orchester de Paris and other leading orchestras in the world. Since 2005 he has again led the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.

Among other things, Järvi is known as a performer of many rarely performed and little-known symphonic scores. The conductor’s recordings include the complete symphonies by Hugo Alfven, Samuel Barber, Alexander Borodin, Antonin Dvorak, Vasily Kalinnikov, Boguslav Martinu, Carl Nielsen, Sergei Prokofiev, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Jan Sibelius, Wilhelm Stenhammar, Eduard Tubin, Zdeněk Fibich , Dmitri Shostakovich, all operas by Sergei Rachmaninov, collections of symphonic works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Edvard Grieg, Antonin Dvorak, Jean Sibelius.

Conductor Neeme Järvi said in an interview with Aktualnaya kamera that there are too many Russian-language media in Estonia that distract non-Estonians from learning the state language. Järvi noted that the Estonian language is a phenomenon, but it remains unclear why only Estonian is not spoken in Estonia. “We have to constantly work on this, but we give in. That is why, for example, the newspaper Postimees should be published in Russian? After all, it shouldn’t, ”said the conductor.