Paavo Järvi (born December 30, 1962) is an Estonian-American conductor, and current Music Director of The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Järvi was born in Tallinn, Estonia, to conductor Neeme Järvi and Liilia Järvi. His siblings, Kristjan Järvi and Maarika Järvi, are also musicians. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Otto-Werner Mueller, and at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute with Leonard Bernstein.

From 1994-97 Järvi was principal conductor of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra. He was named music director of the Cincinnati Symphony in January 2000, and assumed the post with the 2001-2002 season. In April 2007, the orchestra announced Järvi's contract with the CSO would be extended through 2011, at which point the contract would become an "evergreen" agreement. In addition to his American position, since 2004, he has been the artistic director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Bremen. In January 2010, however, it was announced that Järvi, who will by then hold three directorships on top of his Cincinnati position, would terminate his tenure with the expiration of his current contract in 2011.

In 2006, Järvi became the principal conductor of the hr-Sinfonieorchester, formerly known as Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In May 2007, the Orchestre de Paris named Järvi as its next music director, beginning with the 2010/2011 season. Järvi conducted as many concerts as Music Director Eschenbach in the 2009-2010 season and began his directorship in September 2010.

The orchestras Paavo Järvi has guest-conducted include the Orchestre National de France, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia ,the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He debuted with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in 2006, conducting Franz Schubert's Great C major symphony.

He has recorded for the RCA label as well as Telarc, ECM, BIS and Virgin Records.

His Virgin Classics recording of Sibelius Cantatas with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Estonian National Male Choir and Ellerhein Girls Choir won a Grammy Award for “Best Choral Performance”.