Tagged with 'Christian Jost'

The opera world is looking forward to the Grand Théâtre de Genève’s world premiere of Voyage vers l'espoir (Journey of Hope) by Christian Jost, and libretto by Kata Wéber, on 28 March 2023. With libretto by Kata Wéber and musical direction by Gabriel Feltz and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, audiences can expect a unique production by director, Kornél Mundruczó, with costume and stage design by Monika Pormale.

In his Intermezzo appassionato Christian Jost presents a unique perspective on the classical instrumental genre. The work, commissioned by the Kammerakademie Potsdam, will be premiered under the baton of Antonello Manacorda on December the 3rd at the Nikolaisaal.

2020 is the 200th anniversary of the Berlin Konzerthaus, a concert hall that started life as a theatre. In celebration of this anniversary as part of Musikfest Berlin, Christian Tetzlaff will perform the world premiere of a new violin concerto by Christian Jost on 6 September. The concerto, entitled Concerto noir redux, will be accompanied by Konzerthausorchester Berlin and conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. 

Concerto noir redux was originally intended to bear the same title as his opera Journey of Hope - Voyage of Despair. However, after the cancellation of the original premiere in March 2020, Jost chose instead to make changes to the music in response to recent events.

Christian Jost – Concerto noir redux: music from the lockdown

The result was not only a smaller orchestra, necessitated by social distancing, but a work that expresses a darker character and soundworld. Concerto noir redux is now one of two versions of the work Concerto noir, each with the same solo part.

Usually, I compose with a clear idea of the musical structure and of the sounds, and therefore of the course of the resulting work. But this time it was different. There was an initial thought for the opening in which the solo violin gradually separates from unison with the first violins. From this starting point the work should virtually compose itself. The resulting single-movement concerto with a single tempo (quarter = 76 espressivo) is driven by rhythmic ‘cells’. I completed the composition more or less simultaneously with the end of the lockdown, and since this had given rise to a work with predominantly dark shades of colour and sound, I considered Concerto noir to be a perfect title. Christian Jost

• Christian Jost – composer profile


• Concerto noir redux – work details and online score


• Konzerthaus Berlin


• Musikfest Berlin

Photos: Adobe Stock / lakkot, Joe Quiao

Christian Jost’s opera Egmont premieres at Theater an der Wien on 17 February conducted by Michael Boder. The work was commissioned by the theatre for 2020 in celebration of Beethoven’s 250 Anniversary. Keith Warner has created the production for the premiere.

Egmont is based on the play of the same name by Goethe, a work to which Beethoven famously wrote incidental music. The libretto for Jost’s Egmont was adapted from the play in collaboration with Christoph Klimke for a cast of six characters and addresses both topical issues and conflicts. In the original, Prince Egmont of Gaure is portrayed to be an advocate for freedom, peace, and justice – themes that resonated strongly with Beethoven throughout his life. However, these ideas are sometimes approached from an altered perspective in the opera, which explores how society may be manipulated, and what can happen when a system falls short of its own moral and ideological values.

Christian Jost – Egmont: freedom, peace, and justice

My opera reveals a different side of Beethoven: extracts from his famous letter ‘to the immortal beloved’. The ubiquitous six-voice chorus leads us into the interior of the figures and behind the masks of their social functions in a fragile, chiseled vocal texture. – Christian Jost

Egmont will run at the Theater an der Wien until 26 February with the German premiere of the opera set to take place at Theater Bielefeld during the 2020/21 season. On 30 March, another of Jost’s operas, Voyage vers l’espoir (Reise der Hoffnung), will open in its world premiere production at the Gran Théâtre de Genève.

• Christian Jost – Profil


• Egmont – Work details


• Theater an der Wien

On 1 December, Christian Jost’s The Woman in the Gardens of Suzhou will receive its German premiere at the Congresshalle Saarbrücken with the Saarländische Staatsorchester conducted by Jonathon Heyward. The concert forms part of the orchestra’s “Artist in Focus” series which will feature Jost both as composer and conductor throughout the 2019/20 season.
Originally commissioned by the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, The Woman in the Gardens of Suzhou received its world premiere on 27 November 2018 in China. Over the course of 15 minutes, Jost’s work explores the architecture and history associated with a series of nine classical gardens which together form an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Christian Jost – The Woman in the Gardens of Suzhou: procurement of contents

Titles are very important to me because I want to create a specific space of association for the listeners. I'm less and less concerned with what sounds I want to compose. I am much more concerned with conveying content than constellations, which then have an abstract size. When listening to contemporary music, you can see a lot in a larger arc. A complex structure can be heard in a larger picture. This larger image needs a really strong and exciting content in the first place. – Christian Jost

The Woman in the Gardens of Suzhou will be performed by the orchestra again on 2 December, after which the orchestra’s next “Artist in Focus” concert will take place on 16 February 2020, where Jost conducts two of his own works Lovers – Sky Song and Dichterliebe.

• Christian Jost – profile


• The Woman in the Gardens of Suzhou – work details 


• Saarländisches Staatsorchester 

Photo: Joe Quiao

On 19 August, the world premiere of Christian Jost’s An die Hoffnung will be performed by Yutaka Sado and the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich with tenor Klaus Florian Vogt, opening the 10th annual Grafenegg Festival. Jost was commissioned to write An die Hoffnung as Composer in Residence at this year's festival. The residency will include performances of several of his existing compositions and he will also appear as a conductor and leader of the young composers' workshop INK STILL WET from 1-5 September.

An die Hoffnung—A modern allusion to Beethoven

In 1804, Beethoven set Christoph August Tiedge’s poem ‘An die Hoffnung’ (from Urania) to music, revisiting and revising the vocal work nine years later (Op. 94). Beethoven’s song provides the starting point for Jost’s orchestral work of the same name, which maintains much of Beethoven’s harmonic and sung material integrated into a newly composed orchestral score. Jost’s orchestration further draws from Beethoven by instrumentally mirroring his Symphony No. 9, which will also feature in the opening concert of the festival.

The agitated, rhythmically driven composition begins with an orchestral landscape characterised by minor thirds, expanding orchestrally on Beethoven’s fragile motif of ‘hope’ and interweaving with Tiedge’s final lines: ‘whether an angel waiting above will count my tears.’ – Christian Jost

Other performances of Jost's music at the Grafenegg Festival include the world premiere of another new work, a Fanfare for 9 wind instruments on 19 August, CocoonSymphonie on 25 August with the composer conducting, lautlos for solo cello on 28 August played by Georgy Goryunov, and Portrait for solo violin solo played by Sophie Kolarz-Lakenbacher on 10 September.

• Christian Jost - Profil


• Grafenegg Festival