Captivating start

Risto Joost has taken over from Case Scaglione at the WKO Heilbronn as a conductor who gets to the point, summons up all his energy and aims to light a fire with a clear message. He ignited Mozart's Symphony No. 1 like musical dynamite. The ‘Jupiter’ Symphony was like an explosive rocket, passionate, rather dark, Nordic and determined. The fugal last movement was extremely vital and rousing. [...] Great applause.

Südwestpresse, Jürgen Kanold, 19.10.2024

Risto Joost's inaugural concert with the Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn enraptures the audience

Right at the beginning in the Allegro, the orchestra and Risto Joost unleash a lush sound, to sound very delicate and light as a feather a little later, almost seamlessly. [...] The audience was enraptured by a captivating concert evening. [...]The Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn seems to have found a great chief conductor.

Heilbronner Stimme, Uwe Grosser, 20.09.2024

Bravura for new and old sound jewels

Risto Joost introduced himself as the designated Chief conductor of the WKO Heilbronn with Pärt, Weinberg, Tchaikovsky and Mozart.[...] In Weinberg's intensive interpretation with the brilliant orchestra and Joost the chemistry was visibly right. [...] Mozart's 'Prague' Symphony, fueled by Risto Joost's spirited, gripping approach, became the concert highlight. Full of vitality and exciting contrasts, the idea of concerts regained its meaning.

Südwestpresse, Christa Kanand, 19.10.2023

Risto Joost debuts with Bavarian State Orchestra

After the very colourfully interpreted tone poem Sadko by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at the opening, Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition were performed magnificently in the second half of concert. Risto Joost took his time for the details and the characteristics of the individual parts, which led to an enormously plastic tension and allowed every instrument group, including the solos, to run into top form. […] Huge justified applause.

Süddeutsche Zeitung, Klaus Kalchschmid, 01.11.2022

Album Tõnu Korvits: You are Light and Morning for Ondine:

The listener is enveloped by the recorded sound, sumptuous yet clear, the strings and the choir perfectly balanced, equal, as they should be.[…] The playing of the string group is glorious, deeply expressive and richly sonorous when required. . The team, under the dedicated guidance of Risto Joost, delivers the finest possible outing for a work that will repay repeated listening, a moving and significant addition to the choral repertoire.

Music Web International, William Hedley, 1/2021

New album: Tõnu Korvits

Tõnu Korvits is an impressively unpredictable composer. […] His music is far from being mood music, however, in spite of the fact that it suggests atmospheres so well; it is engaging and colourful. […]The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra plays throughout with the greatest of conviction and the glossiest tone, driven on by Risto Joost’s unique understanding of Korvits’ work. This recording is everything one would expect from the Ondine label.

Gramophone, Ivan Moody, 10/2020

Great sound experience in Wuppertal

Risto Joost's beat technique was perfect and Mozart's Symphony KV 183 was delicately played by the Wuppertal Symphony. The music of Arvo Pärt was very sensitive, and his Fratres was fantastically beautiful in the void. [...] Joost's different seating order of the violas as well as the trombones in Mozart's Great Credo Mass C major together with the Volksbühnenchor and soloists created a great sound experience.

Westdeutsche Zeitung, Hartmut Sassenhausen, 26.11.2018

MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony and Choir open the season with Mahler Symphony No. 2

The Artistic Director of the MDR Choir increasingly assumes the role of an orchestral conductor- energeticly and grippingly. The MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony sounds compact under his direction, without scaffolding and strikingly transparent even at the ecstatic climaxes.

Leipziger Volkszeitung, Werner Kopfmüller, 18.09.2018

"SchuPärt" with MDR Leipzig Symphony Orchestra and Radio Choir

How emotional Risto Joost develops the hymn "Salve Regina" by Arvo Pärt from the first unison motives, which, in addition to the choral parts, only applies to strings and one organ. He leads the music in a curious status of detachment. It seems to touch the listener and to escape. (...) In Schubert's Symphony No. 8 “Unfinished”, Risto Joost recovers the force of the music in order not to cut off the musical language he has found in Pärt. This succeeds in a very sensitive, even more insistent interpretation of Schubert. Great applause already in the interval.

Südthüringer Zeitung, Peter Lauterbach,03.09.2018

Rachmaninov: The Bells in Leipzig

In Rachmaninov's "sleigh ride", Risto Joost forms a sophisticated, magic winter sound and the MDR Symphony Orchestra infatuates with a mix of iridescent string tremolos and the glittering of glockenspiel, triangle and celesta (...). Huge applause for all artists.

Leipziger Volkszeitung, Werner Kopfmüller, 29.05.2018

Risto Joost conducts Brahms' Requiem with MDR

In Brahms' Requiem, Risto Joost creates a compact sound of the orchestra and chorus in a philharmonic way, yet he does not neglect the detail. Above all, he devotes himself to the precious knit of the woodwind players and his orchestral equation is sonically wonderful. The chorus got a sound that has lost all earthly heaviness and distils the message from the syllables of the text without detour.(…) Joost’s interpretation is serious, deep, modest and inspired. In the future, he may carry the choral symphonic silverware behind the Gewandhaus Orchestra with pleasure.

Leipziger Volkszeitung, Peter Korfmacher, 27.11.2017

Risto Joost conducts matinee by Mendelssohn und Schumann with MDR

Risto Joost conducts Schumann's Second Symphony finely differentiated, with beautiful ideas in the detailed motives. The first-class woodwinds present themselves finely balanced, enthralled with bewitchingly beautiful solos, the strings sparkle virtuosically and powerfully. (…) Joost allows Mendelssohn's "Verleih uns Frieden" for choir and orchestra to sound very profoundly, naturally, deeply inspired with a pliable beat. Stellar minutes of choral symphonic music!

Leipziger Volkszeitung, Peter Korfmacher, 25.09.2017

A new directness for Mozart's Requiem

The young, steadily rising Estonian conductor Risto Joost has given the attention of Georg Friedrich Haas consciously preserved parts of the Mozart Requiem in their fragmentary form. In "Rex tremendae", with delicate consolation, the gloom and force in the "Introitus" are combined with moments of lightest consolation, while the "Dies irae" is truly stormy and breaks in and almost vibrates in the "Tuba mirum". Messiaens / Gottwald's "Louange á l'eternité de Jesus" is celebrated with great transparency.

Rhein-Zeitung, Lieselotte Sauer-Kaulbach, 22.07.2017

Risto Joost and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra at MDR Musiksommer

Risto Joost showed impressively the sophisticated culture of playing by the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra in the cathedral of Bautzen. Johann Sebastian Bach and Arvo Pärt joined together as soul-related solitaires, polished and unobtrusively. With a well-balanced and contrasting accompaniment, as Bach's concertos ask for. With an intensity that hits the mark with Pärt’s “Silouan's song”. (...) This evening featured Bach in a lively joy of playing, Pärt offered sensational moments. Joost and his orchestra brought the audience to hovering here, and gave a special, Baltic affinity to this music similar to a mother tongue.Long applause.

Sächsische Zeitung, Karsten Blüthgen, 10.07.2017

CD Review: Tonu Korvits Moorland Elegies

Tonu Korvits does not hesitate to use familiar compositions, with regular melodies and tonal sounds,up to close harmonies. With the choral tradition of the Baltics he combines an captivating level of string orchestra. (...) In the realization of this recording, the composer had the superb Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, an apparently uncommonly sensitive conductor and, moreover, two excellent soloists.

Rasmus van Rijn, www.klassik-heute.com, 23.05.2017

Risto Joost with the Heilbronn Chamber Orchestra

Risto Joost inspires the WKO strings in Heino Eller’s pieces to even more precise interplay, clear breathing melodies, subtly muted soundscapes and accentuated emphase. He clearly has the typical sound effects of his Tallinn Chamber Orchestra in his ear, which he can convey to the WKO in a very short time. (...)The energy of the orchestra in the encore by Jonas Tarm's "Yellow Media" is still striking above the electrifying "Souvenir de Florence" by Tchaikovsky.

Heilbronner Stimme, Lothar Heinle, 28.04.2017

Risto Joost led the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra with a fascinating energy through Tchaikovsky's "Souvenir de Florence". Elegiac cantilenas, a touch of Italy in the Pizzicato moments, and an Allegretto à la "Bohemian Rhapsody": an abundance of sounds that swept the audience to a raving applause. (...)The passion with which Joost directed the WKO in Jonas Tarm's "rainbow press" was equal to the passion dedicated by the musicians.

Neu-Ulmer Zeitung, Dagmar Hub, 29.04.2017

Mozart programme with MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony and Choir: clarity and musical intelligence

In Mozart's motet ‘Ave verum corpus’, Risto Joost shapes the music through the slightest changes in the flow of his movement. Just these five minutes show the many dynamic nuances of the award-winning choir, supported by the orchestra. Joost weights the instrumental and vocal voices in the C Minor Mass with clarity and musical intelligence,which leads into a homogenous unity. In the final both choir and soloists unleash a dazzling forte.

Leipziger Volkszeitung, Katharina Stork, 04.04.2017

On the summit of choral singing of Wagner

Risto Joost conducted the large potpourri Tableaux from the Meistersinger, Parsifal, Tannhäuser and the Flying Dutchman with the MDR Sinfonieorchester and Rundfunkchor to great seriousness and great vocals. And with huge inspiration and great technical impact. His quite unique vocal ensemble, e.g. the women singers in Parsifal can never be heard like this in an opera house - even not in Bayreuth. They got a sensual pianissimo melting, crystal-clear overtone pomp and an assertiveness in the forte, where the ladies are traveling on a par with the equally sensational male choir.

Leipziger Volkszeitung, Peter Korfmacher, 24.05.2016

Messiah with MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony and Choir

Airy, impressive and inspired – that’s the resumé of this Messiah. Händel's most popular oratorio was acknowledged with standing ovations and bravos. The 35-year-old Risto Joost on the podium has succeeded a master stroke. Above all, the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir celebrated a feast under Joost, who conducted alertly, precisely and inspiringly.(…) The orchestra played almost without vibrato, slim and refreshing, and Joost tamed the sonority of the modern instruments, whereas the “Mozart colours” of the wood winds were audible as warming ingredient.

Sächsische Zeitung, Karsten Blüthgen, 31.08.2015

Risto Joost conducts Mozart and G.F. Haas  with SWR Vokalensemble & Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra

After Introitus and Kyrie which Risto Joost conducted by intense energy and a tight tempo creating strong colorful contrasts and the required theatricality, the fragment sounded step by step minimalistic: The soloists were accompanied in Tuba mirum and Recordare only by a few instrumentalists at time. (...) The result has been captivating under the direction of Risto Joost.

Esslinger Zeitung, Verena Großkreutz, 21.03.2016

Mendelssohn Elias with MDR: Sweeping power from the symphonic centre

Risto Joost’s “Elias” proves that one has to count on the young Baltic man. The diligence in which he brings the more than two hours to sound, gives evidence of the deep pervasion. He could make it more easily and could simulate extreme over-reliance, rely on effects or let speak the sheer quality of his choir itself. But Joost tells the story of the massive and violent zealot flawlessly from the centre of the symphonic structure.

The result is a very eclectic and concise interpretation of Mendelssohn which keeps the classical balance and draws its strength from structure. From the finely created overture to the grandiosity of the final chorus.

Peter Korfmacher, Leipziger Volkszeitung, 10.10.2015

Brahms: Symphony No. 4 at MDR Musiksommer

Only 33-years-old Risto Joost, in our area still an unknown conductor, while he could be seen just recently at the Schleswig-Holstin Musikfestival, is conductor at the Estonian National Opera in Tallinn. With the Tannhäuser overture he has proven himself to be a true opera conductor that convinced the sceptic audience fully and on the spot. They raised the roof with this kick-off, which was unique in its tightness and dramatic effect. Joost conducted the musicians from more than 40 different nations and five continents with energy and power but also with the modesty of a skilled craftsman. He made them produce unity, coherence, abundance, and especially in the winds a surprisingly softness of sound.

Insuedthueringen.de, Julia Lucas, 26.08.2013

J.S. Bach/Mozart Tallinn Chamber Orchestra/Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

In addition to a clear dynamic plan, Risto Joost’s conducting also displays narrativity: he infuses the piece with expressive dynamics and gives emphatic cues to both the sections and soloists, valuing players as characters whose entries and exits form an important part of the story. The symbiosis of musical narrative and delicate dynamics is what makes the music so enchanting and allows it to captivate the audience. And this is exactly what it did.

SIRP/ Estonian national weekly cultural newspaper, 18.10.2013

Antrittskonzert von Risto Joost beim Württembergischen Kammerorchester verzückt das Publikum

Schon zu Beginn im Allegro entfachen das Orchester und Risto Joost einen üppigen Sound, um wenig später, fast übergangslos sehr filigran, ganz federleicht zu klingen. […] Das Publikum war hingerissen von einem fesselnden Konzertabend. […] Das WKO scheint einen großartigen Chefdirigenten gefunden zu haben.

Heilbronner Stimme, Uwe Grosser, 20.09.2024