Christian Blex

Christian Blex is a German conductor who currently serves as the assistant conductor of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. He is the winner of the 2025 Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Award at the Salzburg Festival.

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 at the prestigious Karajan Academy. During his time there, Christian made his debut with the Karajan Academy, stepping in at short notice for Daniel Harding at Schloss Esterházy. His period in Berlin also saw him perform at the Philharmonie, in both the Große Saal and the Kammermusiksaal. In addition to his work with Kirill Petrenko, Christian has had the opportunity to assist and collaborate with prominent conductors such as Daniel Harding, Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, Christian Thielemann, Jakub Hrůša, Tugan Sokhiev, Daniele Gatti, Alan Gilbert, Sakari Oramo, Hannu Lintu, Ingo Metzmacher, and Kent Nagano, both in Berlin and with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester.

Christian has conducted and collaborated with prestigious orchestras, including the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Tiroler Symphonieorchester Innsbruck, Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, Opole Philharmonic, Bergische Symphoniker, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Jena Philharmonie, and Janáček Philharmonie Ostrava.

In the 2025/26 season, Christian conducts the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Aarhus Symfoniorkester, Odense Symfoniorkester, Orchestra Haydn, Brussels Philharmonic, and the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, among other prominent orchestras. He also returns to the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, performing again at the Berlin Philharmonie. Additionally, he records with the Bamberger Symphoniker for Bayerischer Rundfunk in April 2026.

Christian has recently completed 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 was 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.