Risto Joost

In August 2020 Risto Joost started as the Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Vanemuine Theatre.

Risto Joost is an award winning conductor, who has gained widespread recognition for his work both in the opera pit and on the concert stage. His repertoire ranges from Baroque to the most challenging works of contemporary composers. Joost has studied orchestral and choral conducting as well as singing at the Estonian Academy of Music and received further training at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In 2008, Risto Joost graduated from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with a masters degree, majoring in orchestral conducting with Jorma Panula.

Joost has conducted many internationally acclaimed orchestras such as the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir (Artistic Director 2015-19), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, MDR Leipzig Symphony, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony, NorrlandsOperan Orchestra, Gävle Symphony, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevilla, Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä, Vaasa City Orchestra, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Latvian National Symphony, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra (Chief Conductor 2013-2019), Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Youth Orchestra, Tallinn Baroque Orchestra and the Macao Orchestra.

He has also been working a number of esteemed vocal ensembles such as the RIAS Kammerchor, Rundfunkchor Berlin, SWR Vokalensemble, Netherlands Chamber Choir, Swedish Radio Choir, Ars Nova Copenhagen and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.

His operatic repertoire in the Estonian National Opera includes Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Verdi’s La Traviata, Puccini’s La Bohème and Tosca, Bizet’s Carmen, Gounod’s Faust, Prokofjev’s Capuleti ei Montecchi, Tüür’s Wallenberg, Kõrvits’ Butterfly and ballets as Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Nutcracker, Minkus’ Bayaderka, MacMillan’s Manon, Aints’ Modigliani – The Cursed Artist and others.

In the Vanemuine Joost has conducted many concerts, operas (Eugene Onegin, Madama Butterfly, Carmen, Linda di Chamounix et al.) and ballets (Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake).

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 Chamber Choir, also various recordings of Estonian music with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra.

Recognition
In 2022 the Estonian Theatre Award for Music
In 2021 the main award of the Gustav Ernesaks Foundation
In 2018 the music editors at the Estonian Public Broadcasting named Joost the Musician of the Year for championing and passing on values in the field of music
In 2016 the Annual Award of the Endowment for Music of the Estonian Cultural Endowment
In 2015 prizewinner of the Malko Conducting Competition
In 2012 prizewinner of the Jorma Panula Conducting Competition
In 2011 Young Cultural Figure Award of the Cultural Foundation of the President of the Republic
In 2006 the Annual Award of the Endowment for Music of the Estonian Cultural Endowment

Contact
risto.joost@vanemuine.ee