Risto Joost

b. June 22, 1980, Tallinn
Member of the Association of the Estonian Professional Musicians

Risto Joost is a renowned conductor on both the opera pit and concert stage. His repertoire ranges from the compositions of Baroque composers to the most challenging works of contemporary composers. He graduated from Tallinn Music High School in choral conducting with Anneli Mäeots. He continued his music studies under the guidance of Prof. Kuno Areng, Prof. Jüri Alperten and Prof. Paul Mägi at the Estonian Academy of Music (1998–2002). In addition, he also improved his singing skills in the singing class of Uku Joller and Nadja Kurem. From 2002 to 2003, he studied choral conducting with Prof. Erwin Ortner and orchestral conducting with Prof. Leopold Hager at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts. In 2008, he earned his Master’s degree in orchestra conducting from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm under the supervision of Prof. Jorma Panula. Risto Joost has participated in master classes of Andres Eby, Eri Klas, Neeme Järvi and Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paul Hillier, Nigel North, Carl Høgset and Catherine Sadolin.

As a conductor, Risto Joost has won prizes at several international competitions, including in Budapest (2001) and in Tallinn (2002, 2004). He is a laureate of the prestigious Nikolai Malko International Conducting Competition in Denmark (2015) and the 5th Jorma Panula Conducting Competition in Finland (2015).

Since August 2020, Risto Joost has been the music director and chief conductor of the Vanemuine Theatre in Tartu. He continues also as a conductor in residence at the Estonian National Opera, where he started as a full-time conductor in 2009. During his career, he has also been the chief conductor of the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra (2013–2019), the artistic director of the Leipzig MDR Radio Choir (2015–2019), the chief conductor of the Netherlands Chamber Choir (2011–2015) and the chief conductor of the Tallinn Music High School Symphony Orchestra (2006–2011).

His operatic repertoire includes operas such as Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore, Verdi's La Traviata and Aida, Puccini's La bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly, Bizet's Carmen, Gounod's Faust, Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Idomeneo, Le Nozze di Figaro and La finta giardiniera, Tüür's Wallenberg, Kõrvits’s Butterfly and ballets as Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, Minkus’s La Bayadère, MacMillan's Manon, Delibes's Coppélia, Kocsák's Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, Aints’s Modigliani – The Cursed Artist. In addition, he has conducted several symphony concerts in the theatre.

As a guest conductor, Risto Joost has conducted many internationally acclaimed orchestras and choirs, including Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Leipzig MDR Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonie der Nationen, Orchestra Filarmonica della Fenice, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Odense Symphony Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Gävle Symphony Orchestra, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Oulu Symphony Orchestra, Jyväskylä Sinfonia, Vaasa City Orchestra, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Norrland's Opera, Symphony orchestra from St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre, The Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra, Macao Orchestra, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, B'Rock Belgian Baroque Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, RIAS Chamber Choir, Berlin Radio Choir, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, Swedish Radio Choir, Ars Nova Copenhagen, State Choir Latvia, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Estonian National Male Choir and others.

Risto Joost has been the founder and leader of several groups and has been an active figure in Estonian music life. In 1999, he founded the chamber choir Voces Musicales (Voces Tallinn) and acted as its chief conductor for the first ten seasons. Today, the choir has become one of the top choirs in Estonia. In 2002, he also formed the Ensemble Voces Musicales, and in 2008 he was the co-founder of the Tallinn Sinfonietta. Together with Estonian singer and actress Hanna-Liina Võsa, he was the founder and artistic director of KAMBER, an Estonian artistic company that focused on modern music theatre performance and with Italian vocal coach Paolo De Napoli, he established the Baltic Studio Lirico, an international training programme for young opera singers. Risto Joost has also been the artistic advisor of the Glasperlenspiel Festival (2010–2011).

Risto Joost's repertoire also includes a large number of oratorial works. He has actively performed at the Estonian new music festivals NYYD and Estonian Music Days, premiering nearly 50 new works by Estonian composers (Toivo Tulev, René Eespere, Timo Steiner, Ülo Krigul, Helena Tulve, Tatjana Kozlova, Lauri Jõeleht). His 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 Chamber Choir, various recordings of Estonian music with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra.

Risto Joost has received the Gustav Ernesaks Foundation Study Grant (2000, 2003) and Scholarship (2021), the Estonian Choir Association's Young Conductor Award (2004), the Annual Prize of the Endowment for Music of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (2006, 2016), a Young Cultural Figure Award of the Cultural Foundation of the President (2011), the title of Musician of the Year 2018 and the Estonian Theatre Music Award (2022).

Risto Joost homepage: www.ristojoost.com

© EMIC 2008
(updated in April 2022)

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