Paavo Järvi succeeds Edward Gardner as head of the London Philharmonic Orchestra London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra announced on Tuesday that Paavo Järvi will succeed Edward Gardner as principal conductor from the 2028-29 season, when Gardner’s current contract expires.

Järvi, 63, was born in Estonia into a musical family. His father Nim is also a bandleader, and his younger brother Christian is also a bandleader. The family moved to the United States in 1980, and Järvi studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and at the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein.

During his career, he has worked with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Malmö Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the NHK Symphony in Tokyo, and the Paris Philharmonic, where he was music director from 2010 to 2016.

He has been artistic director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen for more than two decades. In 2011 he founded the Pärnu Music Festival and its resident Estonian Festival Orchestra, and since 2019 he has been principal conductor of the Tonhalle-Orchester, Zurich. Järvi, a regular visitor to the UK with these orchestras and as guest conductor of the Philharmonia as well as the LPO, said it was the 2025 New Year tour to China with the orchestra that confirmed their chemistry for him.

“When I did the LPO for the first time, it was immediately clear that we were a good match, and that there was energy. I usually try not to work over Christmas and New Year, but when they asked me to do it on the tour, I accepted because I understood that this was something very special,” he said.

“I grew up listening to recordings of this wonderful, historic orchestra,” he said. “They’ve been popular in our house since I was a kid.”

He’s looking forward to integrating himself into the UK music world he knows so well – having had a home in the capital for 30 years, as well as bases in the US and Estonia. “The classical music scene in London is unlike anywhere else in the world, and nothing compares to it. There is great wealth and an incredible offering of great music and musicians.”

He acknowledged the challenges facing all classical musicians today in terms of building audiences and challenging assumptions that this music is “difficult” or “elitist.” “We are all evangelists for our art form, and more than ever it needs strong advocacy and exposure.”

Collaborations with DJs, rock musicians and midnight parties are among the initiatives in which he is involved with other orchestras. “There’s an amazing array of things we’re constantly trying. Some are more successful than others, but we’ll keep trying.” He added that this should not come at the expense of belittling or belittling the actual music. “But people generally don’t grow up listening to classical music, and our job is to find ways to bring it closer to the surface.”

While it is too early to reveal any programming details with the LPO, he knows that his advocacy for his homeland’s music and its contemporary composers will figure in his plans. “I commission four or five pieces a year from Estonian composers… We will definitely be programming Estonian music, new and old. But also British music – there is such a vibrant and important new music scene in the UK that there will be a lot of choice.”

This is an orchestra that can play anything very well, he said.

These are sentiments echoed by Edward Gardner, who has been principal conductor since 2021. “I have never met an orchestra that can accommodate such a diverse range of styles,” he said. “The LPO has the ability to cut corners with a completely different repertoire, from Mozart to talking to everything in between, and always with such openness and friendliness.”

Gardner still has more than two years in his position, and many upcoming projects with the orchestra; Taking place in April, Wozzeck is one of the most eagerly anticipated events at Southbank’s Multititudes Festival. “It’s weird to talk about [my departure] So far in advance, but we wanted to announce now so the great musicians at LPO know they have a musician of Paavo’s quality coming through for the next era.

Gardner is currently preparing the Ring Cycle with the Norwegian National Opera, where he is Music Director. “I felt there was a bottleneck in upcoming projects and it would not be fair for an orchestra of the LPO’s stature and brilliance to not have my full commitment.”

The LPO was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932 and today is one of the resident orchestras at London’s Southbank Centre. It has been the resident symphony orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival since 1964, and also performs in Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden as well as touring internationally.

London audiences and musicians will have the chance to see chemistry in action on Wednesday: Järvi presents Tchaikovsky and Sibelius, at the Royal Festival Hall on 4 March.