A terrific mix of Americana, both known and unknown: This disc, aptly titled Transatlantic, came about through American musicians based in Berlin who in 2020 formed a chamber orchestra to perform American works…A fascinating program strongly played and recorded; Transatlantic is a triumph.
Read MoreTRANSLATION: …The result is impressive, both in terms of the convincingly original program, the energetic music-making and the fabulous sound quality. Kicking things off is Stravinsky's Concerto in E-flat Major…The album also features a premiere recording: the beautiful song cycle "Nofim" for soprano, violin, flute, percussion and piano by the Israeli-American composer Avner Dorman…
Read MoreReleased on December 3, Transatlantic takes a slightly different tack by considering how various 20th- and 21st-century composers have been drawn to the idea of America and how it has informed their writing. It’s the brainchild of conductor Garrett Keast and the Berlin Academy of American Music, an ad hoc group of American expats and friends that came together to make music during the pandemic…
Read MoreUnder the direction of Garrett Keast, the newly founded Berlin Academy of American Music succeeds in making its album debut with works from overseas.
By Eckhard Weber, November 24, 2021
When the pandemic put a full stop to the concert business, Berlin-based U.S. conductor Garrett Keast and like-minded musicians set out on a new venture: they founded a new chamber orchestra, the Berlin Academy of American Music…
Read MoreIn November of 2020 two friends, American composer Craig Urquhart and Greek flutist Stathis Karapanos and I began discussing the possibility of recording a new, orchestrated version of Craig’s Lamentation. I had heard Craig’s piano version of the piece and found it deeply touching. Stathis and Christoph Eschenbach had premiered the work for flute and piano that summer at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, where he was honored with the 2020 Leonard Bernstein Award.
Read MoreIn January and February of 2021, in the middle of the Corona Pandemic, plans with a good friend, American bassist and fellow Berliner, Rosie Salvucci, came together in an amazing way as we began to found a top level orchestra focused on performing great American repertoire. The back story of this first recording began with impromptu, distanced rehearsals of Stravinsky and Copland in Kreuzberg during the summer of 2019 which were fun and very successful. Then in November of 2020 while I was conducting at the Finnish National Opera…
Read MoreCelebrating Stravinsky in 2021 - 50 years since his passing in NYC.
Stravinsky became a U.S. citizen in 1945 in Los Angeles and he lived in the US longer than anywhere else in his life. To me it’s amazing to think of this great Russian composer as actually an American one. I am scheduled to conduct two of the great ballet scores in concert next season, The Firebird and Petruchka, yet I find myself especially interested in his long American period.
Read MoreI have been reflecting on the music of Krzysztof Penderecki as we recently performed his music for the world premiere of Val Caniparoli’s Jekyll and Hyde at the Finnish National Opera & Ballet. As Maestro Penderecki just recently passed away in his hometown of Krakow only in March, it is also quite timely and an honor to be immersed in his inventive and articulate musical mind. To the orchestra musicians and me, the ten performances felt quite like a Penderecki Festival within the context of the new Jekyll & Hyde ballet.
Read MoreHow the Coronavirus lockdown led to Bernstein’s “Songfest”
As an American conductor living and working in Europe, the 2020 Coronavirus lockdown provided me with an extraordinary amount of time for research, study and reflection. On March 16th of 2020, my upcoming ten performances at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm were cancelled and I flew home to Berlin and began the long campaign to beat the pandemic with the rest of Germany.
Garrett Keast impresses Mannheim audiences with the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and Saxophone Quartet, Clair Obscur!
Selection of press quotes:
“Garrett Keast” and the orchestra performed an especially fluid rendition of Aaron Copland’s El Salón México. They played as if they had never played anything but such truly American repertoire. And that is what it sounded like: free, fluid, concentrated – a feast for the ears that was wildly applauded.”
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