|
The Estonian conductor, Risto Joost, studied at the Estonian Academy of Music and at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In 2008 he graduated from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with a Masters Degree, majoring in orchestral conducting with Jorma Panula. He won the Cultural Endowment of Estonia Music Prize 2016. He was also a prize-winner at the Malko Conducting Competition in 2015 and the Jorma Panula Conducting Competition in 2012.
Still in his mid-thirties, Risto Joost is a conductor of rare experience and versatility. He has gained widespread recognition for his work both in the opera pit and on concert stage. His repertoire ranges from Baroque to the most challenging works of contemporary composers. He has already held major artistic positions, succeeded at important competitions, issued critically acclaimed recordings and conducted some of the world’s most distinguished orchestras. His repertoire stretches from baroque music to contemporary music. He continues as Conductor in Residence at the Estonian National Opera (since 2009), Chief Conductor of the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra (since 2013), Artistic Director of Tallinn Philharmonic Society (since spring 2016) and Birgitta Festival (Tallinn) and as Artistic Director of the MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig (since 2015-2016 season).
In recent years Risto Joost has conducted some of the world’s most respected orchestras. These include the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Mariinsky Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Gävle Symphony, Orchestra of the Teatro la Fenice, Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevilla, Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä, Vaasa City Orchestra, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Concerto Copenhagen, and Macao Orchestra. He has worked with esteemed vocal and choral ensembles, including RIAS-Kammerchor, Rundfunkchor Berlin, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, Nederlands Kamerkoor (Chief Conductor: 2011-2015), Swedish Radio Choir, Ars Nova Copenhagen, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, State Choir Latvija, and Voces Musicales, Tallinn (Founder & Director: 1999-2009).
Risto Joost has established a firm presence across the Baltic and Nordic regions. He is a regular guest at the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Turku Symphony Orchestra, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Tallinn Youth Orchestra, and Tallinn Baroque Orchestra. He has worked with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestras and the Orchestra of NorrlandsOperan in Sweden, also with Oulu Symphony Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta and Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä in Finland. In the coming season he will debut with the Odense Symphony Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn and Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) and SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart.
Opera forms the backbone of Risto Joost's conducting work, and his repertoire at the Estonian National Opera and beyond includes L’elisir d’amore, La Traviata, La Bohème, Tosca, Georges Bizet's Carmen, I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Wallenberg (by Erkki-Sven Tüür). This season he conducts Aida, Charles Gounod's Faust, and is musical director for the production of W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the ENO. He is equally at home conducting for ballet, as as Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Manon, Modigliani – The Cursed Artist and others.
In the 2018-2019 season, new challenges await Risto Joost in front of the Oslo National Opera, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. In Leipzig, he will be opening the new season with an elaborate concert of the MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig and MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, conducting Gustav Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. Another highlight of the season is Igor Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, an opera-oratorio based on Sophocles’ play with performances in Leipzig and Erfurt. The season will end with a live recording of the world première of a new composition by Tõnu Kõrvits with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.
Risto Joost's discography includes recordings by Haydn with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Peeter Vähi with the Latvian National Symphony, Arvo Pärt with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and Nederlands Kamerkoor and numerous recordings (including various recordings of Estonian music) with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and the Nederlands Kamerkoor.
In 2019 the music editors of Estonian Broadcasting Company nominated Risto Joost as the Estonian musician of the year. In 2016, he received the Music Prize of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia for artistic activities home and abroad and he was also awarded the Young Cultural Figure Award of the Estonian Republic in 2011. He signed to Nordic Artists Management in 2015. |
