Bühnenkonzerte

Gunther Rost performed Bach's complete organ works while he was still at school. He has received over a dozen international prizes such as the Leipzig Bach Prize, he held a scholarship with the prestigious 'Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes' and was awarded the 'Bayerischer Kunstförderpreis" (Bavarian State Award for the Advancement of the Arts).

He studied organ with Günther Kaunzinger (Würzburg) and Marie-Claire Alain (Paris). At the age of 24, he began to train young organists himself, first at the conservatory and shortly afterwards at the University of Music in Würzburg, before being appointed professor of organ and improvisation at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz at the age of 27.

He has been a guest lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music London, the Chopin Academy Warsaw and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory Moscow and other prestigious institutions.

In Graz, Gunther Rost founded the Center for Organ Research and conceptualized several mobile concert organs, e. g. for a more flexible use with orchestra.

The artist has released recordings with Motette, OehmsClassics and Deutsche Grammophon.
As a soloist, he has performed, among others, at the concert halls of Vienna and Berlin, the Philharmonie and the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, the Auditorio Nacional de Música Madrid, the Rheingau Music Festival and the Bachfest Leipzig.

From 2012 to 2014, he held the position of Organist in Residence with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Gunther Rost has worked with artists and ensembles such as Tine Thing Helseth, Elīna Garanča, the Windsbacher Knabenchor, the Thomanerchor Leipzig and the Bavarian Radio Choir, the FOK Prague, the Münchner Bachsolisten, the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken-Kaiserslautern, the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Working frequently with contemporary composers, Rost has initiated numerous new works for his instrument. He has repeatedly premiered solo works, chamber music and concertos for organ and orchestra and presented the first authorized complete recording of Petr Eben's oeuvre for the organ.

In 2018 he founded the '4D Orchestra', in 2023 '4D Baroque' - both ensembles are dedicated to the exploration of central repertoire for the organ under his direction.

In Styria, Rost is committed to making the organ more visible and accessible to the general public. For example, he set up an early education program for the organ at the Graz University of the Arts, he is Artistic Director to the 'Orgelfrühling Steiermark' festival and he is engaged in a large scale recording project of valuable local instruments. Since 2025, he has been inviting audiences to join him on stage in the Stefaniensaal in Graz, offering first hand insights into the world of the organ.