Christian Blex

Christian Blex is a German conductor and currently serves as assistant conductor of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. 

His career took a significant turn after winning the Siemens Conductor Scholarship, which led him to assist Kirill Petrenko at the Berliner Philharmoniker in addition to being a conducting scholar of the prestigious Karajan Academy. While there, Christian debuted with the Karajan Academy, stepping in at short notice for Daniel Harding at Schloss Esterhazy. He performed then in the Große Saal and the Kammermusiksaal of the Philharmonie Berlin. In addition to his work with Kirill Petrenko, Christian has had the opportunity to assist and collaborate with great conductors such as Daniel Harding, Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, Christian Thielemann, Jakub Hrusa, Tugan Sokhiev, Daniele Gatti, Alan Gilbert, Sakari Oramo, Hannu Lintu, Ingo Metzmacher, and Kent Nagano, both in Berlin and with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. 

Looking ahead to the 2024/25 season, Christian will return to the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, performing again at the Philharmonie Berlin. Additional highlights of the season include concerts with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony with the South Denmark Philharmonic, and assisting Daniel Harding in a production of Tristan and Isolde with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Christian has conducted and collaborated with prestigious orchestras such as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tiroler Symphonieorchester Innsbruck, the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, the Opole Philharmonic, and the Bergische Symphoniker. He has participated in masterclasses with renowned conductors including Klaus Mäkelä, Vasily Petrenko, Hannu Lintu, Jorma Panula, James Gaffigan, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Johannes Schlaefli, Nicolas Pasquet, and Eivind Gullberg Jensen. He has conducted ensembles such as the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Jena Philharmonie, and Janacek Philharmonie Ostrava.

Currently, Christian is pursuing his studies under Ole Kristian Ruud at the Norwegian Academy of Music. In the 2021/22 academic year, he participated as an exchange student in the esteemed class of Prof. Johannes Schlaefli at the Zürich Academy of Arts and Prof. Nicolás Pasquet at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar. He has been a fellow of the German Forum Dirigieren and is part of the Norwegian Dirigentforum.

Christian holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Warwick, a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge, and is currently a PhD student at the University of Oxford, benefiting from the Alan Turing Institute studentship.