From the Archives: Paavo Järvi

From the Archives: Paavo Järvi

From Here's The Thing with Alec Baldwin by iHeartPodcasts

April 21, 2026 · 45 min

About this episode

Alec Baldwin interviews renowned Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi about his career and experiences in music.

Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi is one of the most in-demand maestros in the world, and one of Alec’s favorite conductors. Järvi is currently the chief conductor of the NHK symphony orchestra in Tokyo and the Tonhalle Orchester-Zürich. Over his career, he’s led orchestras in Paris, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Malmö, and, for the decade between 2001 and 2011, here in the United States, as the musical director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He and his musical family are pillars of the thriving classical music scene in his home country of Estonia. Paavo Järvi talks to Alec about how slowing down in the pandemic offered Paavo time to think, his early love of music, what it was like to come to the United States from Soviet-era Estonia as a 17-year-old, and what he took away from a decade of conducting the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.  Originally aired November 29th, 2021. Recorded June 2021. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Guest: Paavo Järvi

Topics covered

  • classical music
  • conducting
  • pandemic reflection
  • musical career

Keywords

  • NHK symphony orchestra
  • Tonhalle Orchester-Zürich
  • Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
  • Estonia

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Tokyo, Paris, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Malmö, the United States, Estonia

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