Upcoming Highlights:
WDR Funkhausorchester
Palau de les Arts, Valencia
Copenhagen Philharmonic
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Tonkünstler Orchester Vienna
Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra
BAAM @ the Elbphilharmonie
Jeonju Symphony Orchestra
Ballets de Monte-Carlo
“Garrett Keast is energetic and throws himself completely into stirring up his orchestra.”
“Bernstein Dances is a rousing revue to the music of Leonard Bernstein, played with verve and precision by the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, which was highly committed throughout the run with Garrett Keast conducting.”
A desire to unify hearts and minds through the spirit and messages of music is at the core of Garrett Keast’s work. Known for his ability to inspire and connect with musicians and audiences alike, the Berlin-based conductor is widely recognized for his musical depth with a wide range of repertoire both in the concert hall and opera house. Keast has become known in recent years for his symphonic conducting and expertise in American repertoire as well as for his rise as founder and conductor of his critically acclaimed orchestra, the Berlin Academy of American Music.
Keast began his career as Associate Conductor of New York City Opera before launching his career in Europe with engagements at the Paris Opera, Orchestre de Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester. Today, he regularly appears at top venues including Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Brussel’s BOZAR, the Staatsoper Hamburg, Seoul Arts Center, Theater an der Wien, and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. Described as drawing out “refined and concentrated playing” with “assured sensitivity” (Financial Times), Keast has conducted performances with orchestras including the Tonkünstler Orchester, Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Orchestre National Capitole Toulouse, Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, the Atlanta Symphony, and the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra. Recent recording projects have included Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin and the debut album of the Berlin Academy of American Music, Transatlantic, which received 5 stars from the BBC, Fanfare, Limelight and das Orchester magazines.
The 2024-2025 season begins in South Korea with concert performances of Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony with the Bucheon Philharmonic and Bernstein’s West Side Story Symphonic Dances with the Jeonju Symphony Orchestra. Keast joins tenor Jonathan Tetelman for performances with the Copenhagen Philharmonic and will bring in the new year at the Essen Philharmonie with the WDR Funkhausorchester, performing a Gershwin Tribute concert featuring pianist Makoto Ozone. He returns to the Ballets de Monte Carlo with both Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake, making debuts with the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Florence and Orquestra de la Commitat Valenciana. In the US, Keast will make his debut with the Houston Ballet. His Berlin Academy of American Music (BAAM) continues to garner attention, performing again at the Elbphilharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin as well as on tour.
In Rehearsal with Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 - Garrett & Stuttgarter Symphoniker
Garrett conducts Beethoven’s Eroica - A film portrait (Co Merz)
Britten’s Four Sea Interludes with NDR Jugendsinfonieorchester
BERLIN ACADEMY OF AMERICAN MUSIC
Formed during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the Berlin Academy of American Music recorded its debut album Transatlantic in Berlin’s legendary Teldex Studios. ONYX Classics released the compact disc with worldwide distribution and streaming in October of 2021.
The orchestra is the creation of its founder and artistic director, American conductor Garrett Keast and is made up of world-class musicians sharing a common focus to perform and promote the greatest works of American and American immigrant composers. Keast is passionate about creating a cultural bridge between America and Europe, presenting sophisticated programs with popular appeal, and showcasing an exceptionally talented orchestra from Germany’s capital. The Berlin Academy has already enjoyed collaborations with acclaimed artists such as Israeli soprano Chen Reiss, American violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley, Greek flutist Stathis Karapanos and French harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet. The orchestra enjoyed a series of debut concerts in Berlin featuring the European premiere of Anthony Davis’s “You Have the Right to Remain Silent” and in February of 2022 made its debut on the main stage of Hamburg’s famed Elbphilharmonie. Upcoming performances include invitations to major festivals, a recording focused on Carter, Mumford, Bach and Stravinsky, and the commissioning of a new violin concerto by American composer Jonathan Dawe for BAAM’s new concert series Lost and Found Composers.
BBC Music Magazine reviews BAAM’s first album Transatlantic (Onyx Classics): “A celebration of the love affair enjoyed between composers and America, this is a winning collection of works …”
By Frederik Hanssen - 11/27/2022: Founding the Berlin Academy of American Music, American conductor Garrett Keast aims to make the music of his homeland better known in Berlin…
June 3, 2023 - CONCERTI MAGAZINE - Lighting a Beacon of Creativity and Ideas: Conductor and ensemble founder Garrett Keast carries the torch of American music across the Atlantic…
June 14, 2023 - GARDEN & GUN MAGAZINE - How a Texas Conductor Brings American Music to European Audiences:“We’re not just a sweet little Mozart chamber orchestra”…
By Ilona Oltuski - January 7, 2023: BAAM's Transatlantic brings together a group of diverse professional orchestral musicians that share his passion – uncover and explore the vast soundscape of American Music in Berlin's classical music scene…Keast takes a post-pandemic moment to reflect on his life as a musician that bridges both continents' traditions and expands on the inclusive character of social justice with music…
In an almost sold-out Concertgebouw (and for the occasion can be viewed on life-size screens on Museumplein), two major Broadway stars (Alli Mauzey and Hugh Panaro) were accompanied by the Württembergische Philharmonie, conducted by the American conductor Garrett Keast…
“under the direction of Garrett Keast… the 102 of Haydn revealed the best of the orchestra by the stylish impetus, the depth of the strings, the fusion of timbres...”
“Under the baton of Garrett Keast, the musicians make Bernstein’s works soar in the lyrical parts and shine and pulsate like fireworks in the groovy numbers.”
Jeonju Symphony Orchestra
URQUHART: Adieu
BARBER: Violin Concerto
BERNSTEIN: West Side Story Symphonic Dances
Fabiola Kim, Violin
Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra
Bucheon Arts Center
WEBER: Oberon Overture
BRUCH: Violin Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5
Kyumin Park, Violin
WDR Funkhaus Orchestra
Essen Philharmonie
Gershwin Tribute / New Years Eve Concert
GERSHWIN:
Overture to Girl Crazy
Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin in Hollywood
Catfish Row from Porgy and Bess
An American in Paris
GROFE: “Mississippi Suite”
Makoto Ozone, Piano
Orchestre Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Theatre
Les Ballets de Monte Carlo
PROKOFIEV: Romeo & Juliet
Orchestre Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Theatre
Les Ballets de Monte Carlo
TCHAIKOVSKY: Swan Lake
Houston Ballet
Wortham Center
TCHAIKOVSKY: Sleeping Beauty
Berlin Academy of American Music
Contemporary Series
Konzerthaus Berlin, Werner-Otto-Saal
CARTER: Dialogues I & II
MUMFORD: Unfolding Waves (World Premiere)
STRAVINSKY: Danses Concertantes
Pina Napolitano, Piano
Copenhagen Philharmonic
Tivoli Concert Hall
Program: TBA
Jonathan Tetelman, Tenor
Palau de les Arts
Orquestra de la Commitat Valenciana
Les Ballets de Monte Carlo
PROKOFIEV: Romeo and Juliet
Berlin Academy of American Music
International Conducting Workshop
Studio Börne 45
Garrett Keast, Jeffrey Meyer, Silas Huff, faculty
Atlantic Music Festival
Gordon Center for the Performing and Creative Arts
Programs TBA
George Enescu Festival, Bucharest
Berlin Academy of American Music
COPLAND: Outdoor Overture
GLASS: Violin Concerto
DORMAN: Tanyaderas
BERNSTEIN: Three Dance Episodes from “On the Town”
GERSHWIN: An American in Paris
Mihaela Martin, Violin
George Enescu Festival, Bucharest
Berlin Academy of American Music
CAROLINE SHAW: Entr'acte
BERNSTEIN: Serenade
LIVIA TEODORESCU: Eritrean Ring (Premiere)
COPLAND: Appalachian Spring Suite
Mihaela Martin, violin
DAEGU Opera House, Korea
Ballets des Monte-Carlo
Hankyung arte Philharmonic Orchestra
PROKOFIEV: Romeo and Juliet
Seoul Arts Center, Korea
Ballets des Monte-Carlo
Hankyung arte Philharmonic Orchestra
PROKOFIEV: Romeo and Juliet
Gangneung Arts Center, Korea
Ballets des Monte-Carlo
Hankyung arte Philharmonic Orchestra
PROKOFIEV: Romeo and Juliet
Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm
Royal Swedish Orchestra
TCHAIKOVSKY: The Nutcracker
Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm
Royal Swedish Orchestra
TCHAIKOVSKY: The Nutcracker
Staatsorchester Braunschweig
Staatstheater Braunschweig, Großes Haus
Live broadcast, NDR
FLORENCE PRICE: Dances in the Canebrakes
CAROLINE SHAW: Watermark Concerto for piano
CHARLES IVES: The Unanswered Question
KURT WEILL: Sinfonie No. 2
Annika Treutler, Piano
Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo
Ballets de Monte-Carlo
Grimaldi Forum, Monte Carlo
EZIO BOSSO: Within the Golden Hour
JOHN ADAMS: Fearful Symetries
Berlin Academy of American Music
Konzerthaus Berlin Series, Werner-Otto-Saal
Memories & Messages for a Modern World
AVIYA KOPELMAN: Landscape in Fume (German Premiere)
DAVID T. LITTLE: 1986 (European Premiere)
DAVID LANG: Wed (European Premiere)
URSULA MAMLOK: Fünf Phantasiestücke
AVNER DORMAN: Nigunim (Violin Concerto no. 2) (German Premiere)
Guy Braunstein, Violin
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz
Rosengarten, Mannheim
SAY: Istanbul Symphony
THEODORAKIS: Zorbas Suite fur Alto solo, choir and orchestra
Chor der Metropolregion
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz
Pfalzbau Konzertsaal, Ludwigshafen
Rosengarten, Mannheim
SAY: Istanbul Symphony
THEODORAKIS: Zorbas Suite fur Alto solo, choir and orchestra
Chor der Metropolregion
Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Großer Saal
Berlin Academy of American Music
COPLAND: Outdoor Overture
OPSAHL: A Mass of Stars Block the View (world premiere)
MAZZOLI: Dark with Excessive Bright
BERNSTEIN: Wonderful Town Overture
BERNSTEIN: Three Dance Episodes from "On the Town"
GERSHWIN: An American in Paris
Charlotte Thiele, Violin
Teldex Studio / ONYX Classics
World Premiere Recordings of Dorman (2025 release)
Berlin Academy of American Music
DORMAN: Tanyaderas
DORMAN: Cello Concerto
Inbal Segev, Cello
Tonkünstler Orchestra Vienna: Bernstein and the American Songbook
Live broadcast, ORF III / Program includes:
BERNSTEIN: Overture to “Wonderful Town”
BERNSTEIN: “Glitter and be gay” from Candide
BERNSTEIN: Three Dance Episodes & “Lucky to be me” from “On the Town”
BERNSTEIN: “Concert Suite” and “Mambo” from West Side Story
Aleksandra Szmyd, Soprano
Matthew Newlin, Tenor
Atlantic Music Festival, Maine, USA
PROKOFIEV: Peter and the Wolf
PROKOFIEV: Violin Concerto No. 1
Midori, Violin
James Vandermark, Narrator
Atlantic Music Festival, Maine, USA
RAVEL: Pavane pour une infante défunte
RAVEL: Tombeau de Couperin
STRAVINKSY: Pulcinella Suite
“He goes beyond just music; he strives to create an atmosphere and evoke feelings in the listener.”
LOCAL AGENCIES & PRESS
Impulse Art Management, Amsterdam
Benelux, Germany, Austria - Management
Martijn Jacobus
+31 20 626 6944 / martijn (at) Impulseartmanagement.nl
impulseartmanagement.nl
Nordic Artists Management, Copenhagen
Scandinavian Management
Jacob Soelberg
+45 4449 2910 / jrs (at) nordicartistsmanagement.com
www.nordicartistsmanagement.com
Kanzen Arts, New York
North America - Management
Earl Blackburn
+1 (917) 702-8403 / eblackburn (at) kanzenarts.com
kanzenarts.com
NOVA Artists Management
Opera & Vocal Projects - Continental Europe
Morten Ernst Lassen
+45 6037 9059 / morten (at) novaartistsmanagement.com
novaartistsmanagement.com
Press / Public Relations
For Artists Berlin - Philip Krippendorff
+49 30 644 75241/ philip.krippendorff (at) forartists.de
General Assistance / Special Projects - Amy Harris
office (at) garrettkeast.com
BAAM’s Elbphilharmonie Concert featured on NDR’s Hamburg Journal