In the United States, Järvi became Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1990. He served until 2005, and is now its Music Director Emeritus. In November 1996, Järvi conducted a joint concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic in Camden, New Jersey, to raise funds for the Philadelphia Orchestra, which was in the midst of a strike. He donated his services and received no fee for this concert. He received praise from US orchestra musicians for this gesture, which was controversial with several managers of American orchestras, who had urged him against conducting this concert.