'No ego, no hierarchy' — Paavo Järvi's EFO, where only the music matters

"There's no ego, no competitive atmosphere, no politics. Everyone leaves their stress at home and comes together purely to make music." — First violinist Yoon Bo-na

Every July, musicians from some of the world's leading orchestras, chamber ensembles and solo careers pack a suitcase and an instrument and make their way to Pärnu — a seaside resort city on Estonia's Baltic coast. They come for the Estonian Festival Orchestra (EFO), founded in 2011 by conductor Paavo Järvi. The EFO serves as the resident ensemble of the Pärnu Music Festival, and Järvi personally selects every member.

Marking its 15th anniversary this year, the EFO is returning to South Korea for the first time in four years since its debut visit. The tour opens Sunday at Art Center Incheon before moving to Seoul Arts Center on Tuesday. Four Korean members of this singular ensemble — brought together for the purest of musical purposes — spoke with The Korea Herald in written interviews. They are Lee Kyung-eun, a first violinist with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra; Yoon Bo-na, a violinist who trained at the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen Academy and has been with the EFO for eight years; Kim Won-ho, a violinist whose career centers on solo and chamber music; and Hong Sung-hyuk, a double bassist and professor at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe.

All four found their way to Pärnu through Järvi. Lee first met him at an audition for the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, which Järvi leads as music director, and received an invitation to the EFO on the spot. Hong was a member of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra during Järvi's tenure there. Yoon joined during her second year at the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Academy, and Kim received Järvi's call in the summer of 2023.

EFO members gather only once or twice a year, with rehearsals lasting just a few days. Yoon described it as "a festival orchestra in the truest sense — not a permanent job," yet added that "the sound comes together with astonishing speed." The reason, she said, is clear.

"At the EFO, what matters most is not where you're from or which orchestra you belong to — it's what sound we're going to create together, right here, right now."

Kim said that spirit comes through directly in the playing. "Every musician in the EFO is here for the music alone, and we genuinely want each other to perform at our very best," he said. "There's a certain openness, a spontaneity, and a willingness to take bold risks in the sound." That freedom, however, sits alongside real tension. Hong admitted that "you have to listen and respond to each other far more acutely than in a regular orchestra, which can be a serious challenge as a performer."

New faces join every year, yet something remains constant. Yoon called it "the spirit of the EFO."

"New musicians come every year, but somehow the music we make always carries the same spirit. I sometimes wonder whether it comes from Paavo's magic or whether it emerges naturally from us — probably both." — Yoon Bo-na

What has impressed him most over the past eight years, he added, is that the ensemble has "continued to stay humble and true to itself."

"Paavo Järvi makes musicians listen to one another. That is the one ability that truly great conductors alone possess."

The Järvi Kim remembers conveys what he wants with the subtlest of gestures — a flicker of expression, a small movement of the hand — while encouraging each player to perform from the heart. Lee agreed, saying Järvi's "musical vision is clear, but he never imposes it unilaterally — he guides the musicians with great precision so they can discover and unlock that sound themselves." Hong's impression is no different.

"Rather than pulling the musicians along by force, what you see first is his pure passion for the music — and that passion naturally finds its way into the sound the ensemble makes." — Hong Sung-hyuk

For Yoon, Järvi is inseparable from her growth as a musician. During her time at the academy, she performed the complete Beethoven symphonies with him for the first time, along with the complete symphonies of Brahms, Schumann and Schubert. Having been immersed in string quartets at the time, she said, "the way I hear Beethoven changed completely after that."

"In rehearsal, he communicates in a way that makes you feel we are all building this music together. There is no hierarchy of any kind. The only thing that matters to him is the music." — Yoon Bo-na

The roots of that music reach back to his father, Neeme Järvi. Yoon shared a stage with Neeme in Pärnu this past summer and said she could see firsthand "where Paavo draws all that musical knowledge from." The elder Järvi's instruction was brief and unequivocal: "Don't just play the notes — make music. Never stop making music." Words spoken by composer Arvo Pärt at a rehearsal for the 2018 BBC Proms tour have also stayed with Yoon. "I don't think you love this chord enough," Pärt told the ensemble. "Try to embrace it with love" — and he wrapped his arms around himself to show what he meant. The chord that followed, Yoon recalled, "sounded like a completely different chord."

The program opens with "Passion-Illusion" by Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür — the second and third parts of his string orchestra triptych "Action-Passion-Illusion" — in its Korean premiere. Clara-Jumi Kang joins as soloist for Brahms' Violin Concerto. The second half features Brahms' Symphony No. 1 on Sunday and Sibelius' Symphony No. 5 on Tuesday. Yoon described the lineup as "a program that embodies the very ethos of the EFO."

"Three composers from entirely different cultures come together. It mirrors the EFO itself — people from different backgrounds gathering to create one music."

Hong believes Tüür's work will offer "the stage that best represents the EFO's identity." Kim described Tüür's music as combining "elements of Baroque music, minimalism and rock-derived techniques to produce something deeply poetic yet utterly compelling to listen to."

Brahms is a composer Järvi has long explored in depth, having recorded the complete orchestral works with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie. Yoon, who has played Järvi's Brahms with both ensembles, hears the difference in the forces involved. Unlike the smaller Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, "the EFO is a full-sized orchestra, so it naturally produces a far more Romantic sound" — yet "because the interpretation ultimately comes from Paavo, the two orchestras still share a great deal in common," she said.

For all four musicians, this tour is also a homecoming. Kim noted that they share "a similar background as second-generation Koreans who grew up abroad, which creates a deep bond between us." Yoon, who grew up in New Zealand, added that she is "unmistakably Korean when it comes to food." Lee said she hopes audiences will feel "the conductor and the orchestra breathing as one organic living thing."

The words Kim left for aspiring musicians echo the reason the EFO returns to Pärnu every year. "There are difficult and painful moments in a musician's life. But in the end, I believe it is always the music itself that brings us back to our center." — Kim Won-ho