J‹rvi has previously served as principal conductor of Sweden's Gothenburg Symphony, chief conductor of the Estonian Symphony Orchestra, and artistic director of Estonia's State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater. He founded the Estonian Radio Chamber Orchestra.
When J‹rvi assumes his new post, Novosti points out, the conductors of all three of the leading orchestras in the Netherlands will hail from the former Soviet Union: In addition to J‹rvi, Valery Gergiev, a Russian, leads the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Mariss Jansons, who is Latvian, is chief conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. All three attended the Leningrad State Conservatory.