Jost Meier

Biography

Jost Meier (15 March 1939, Solothurn, Swit. – 5 December 2022, Basel, Swit.) was a Swiss cellist, conductor and composer.

After graduating from high school, Meier studied mathematics and physics, as well as the cello and piano Conservatory of Biel under Rolf Looser, where he also earned a teaching diploma. He began composing in his teens as well. He earned his performing and composition degrees at the conservatories of Bern. Further studies took him to the Netherlands, to work with Frank Martin.

He then played for multiple ensembles, including the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and the Camerata Bern.

Meier served as conductor of the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra from about 1969 to 1979. In 1980, he became conductor of the Theater Basel. Beginning in 1983 he was a freelance conductor and composer. He has conducted in Switzerland and in most European countries and taught at the conservatories of Zurich and Basel.

After having composed mainly chamber music and symphonic works, he devoted himself more and more to opera. In his stage works, he made the exclusion of the individual and the destruction of nature his recurrent subject. The main titles are Sennentuntschi (1983), The Dragon (1985), Der Zoobär (1987), Augustin (1988), Dreyfus (premiered in 1994 at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin and conducted a few performances himself), and Pilger und Fuchs (1995)).

In 1969 he received the "Prix de composition de l’ORTF" in Paris, in 1984 the "Prix du Festival de Lausanne", in 1985 the "Prix des Arts du Canton de Soleure", and in 1995 the "Prix culturel de la Ville de Bienne."

He was the official composer of the “Fête des Vignerons” de Vevey in 1999.

Works for Winds

Resources

"HIMMEL UND HAUS for Orchestral Winds IN MEMORIAM JOST MEIER (Switzerland, 1939 – 2022). " WASBE. Web. (Featured as WASBE’s Composition of the Week, 23 January 2023). Accessed date
Jost Meier. Wikipedia. Accessed 24 January 2023