Christian Jost was born on 17 October 1963 in Trier. He studied composition, analysis and conducting in Cologne with Bojidar Dimov from 1983 to 1988 and with David Sheinfeld at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 1988 to 1989. Jost received scholarships from the foundation Kulturfond des Deutschen Volkes and the artistic and cultural foundation of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Jost first caused a sensation in 1992 with the performance of his orchestral work Magma, a commission by the State Theatre Darmstadt. Between 1996 and 1998, he made regular visits to the People’s Republic of China and undertook intensive cooperation with a variety of Chinese orchestras. In 1997, the piano concerto Der lange Weg des Drachen (rev. 2009) was premiered by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra with Jost as the soloist. The orchestral work one small step (rev. 2002), a commission by the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen was composed in 1999 to commemorate Neil Armstrong landing on the moon in 1969 and also reflects Jost’s fascination for pioneering astronauts. The composer received further commissions from the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Festival de la musique contemporaine Dijon and the Residentie Orkest Den Haag. The composer now also frequently makes appearances as a conductor, e.g. with the Bremer Philharmoniker, the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, the Essener Philharmoniker and the Oper Graz. Jost lives as a freelance composer and conductor in Berlin.