Paavo Järvi, Honorary Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon

Japan’s Spring Honors in 2026 were announced today, and Paavo Järvi, Honorary Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon. The honor is in recognition of his achievements in promotion of the exchange of music between Japan and Estonia, as well as in the enhancement and development of Japan’s classical music culture. Especially he contributed enormously in elevating the NHK Symphony Orchestra’s international reputation through numerous recordings he made with the orchestra, as well as European concert tours (2017 and 2020), which he successfully led twice, during his tenure as Chief Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra (2015-2022).

Paavo Järvi was born as the elder son of renowned conductor Neeme Järvi in 1962 in Estonia under the former Soviet Union, and studied music in Tallinn, his birthplace, and in the U.S. where he moved to with his family, before making his debut as a conductor. In his first collaboration with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in January 2002, he delivered performances of substantial quality by programs with a wide-ranging repertoire, furthermore, he won overwhelming success when he conducted a complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies, with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, for which he serves as Artistic Director, in its Japan tour in May 2006, all of which have made his name widely known in Japan. While outside Japan, he has held key positions with renowned orchestras, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, and the Orchestre de Paris, while appearing with world's most prestigious orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker and Wiener Philharmoniker as a guest conductor. In 2015, he assumed the position of Chief Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, hoisting his mission to make the NHK Symphony Orchestra known to the world as one of the most renowned. With that in mind, he proactively led the orchestra's overseas concert tours, recordings of many CDs, as well as the expansion of the orchestra’s repertoire. Consequently, the NHK Symphony Orchestra has gained even greater international acclaim, making it the first Japanese orchestra to be nominated for the category of Orchestra of the Year of the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2020 hosted by Gramophone, a British classical music magazine.

He became Honorary Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2022, and has continued to appear with the orchestra. His next concerts are in May 2027 when he will work on a Nordic program which includes Swedish composer Stenhammar's Symphony No. 2. You will witness that the orchestra’s instantaneous response to Paavo’s agile baton work will weave fresh and vivid music as if the works they are performing were being created at the very moment. We sincerely hope you will look forward to the future concerts of the NHK Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Paavo Järvi.