In January, 2010 Paavo Järvi announced that he would not renew his contract with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra when it expired at the end of the 2010-2011 season The news was met with sadness, but for the Estonian born conductor, who had forged a relationship with five orchestras, something had to go.
Pre-CSO-season activities took Järvi to the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, Germany in September, where he conducted a complete cycle of the Beethoven symphonies with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Because of overflow crowds at Beethovenhalle, there were "public viewings" of the concerts in the Marktplatz.
The CSO season opened with a sold-out gala concert September 17 featuring pianist Lang Lang.
In October, Jarvi joined Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, New York Pops conductor Steven Reineke, May Festival Chorus director Robert Porco and CSO/Pops assistant conductor Vincent Lee in a memorial concert at Music Hall for Cincinnati Pops conductor Erich Kunzel, who died of cancer September 1.
The Japan tour in November was a triumphant return for Järvi and the CSO, who performed a live concert on Japanese television during their visit.
In February, they returned together to Carnegie Hall. Guest artist was pianist Radu Lupu.
Icelandic volcano Ejafjallajõkull kept Järvi in Europe in March, forcing cancellation of his CSO concerts April 23-25 (when he was replaced by Julian Kuerti) and necessitating his "appearance" at the orchestra's annual Opus luncheon for CSO subscribers via Skype.
Jarvi's recording activities with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen took him to Berlin in April for a recording session at Berlin's historic Funkhaus (former home of East German Radio). Here he is with producer Philip Traugott at a playback session.