Garrett Keast
Garrett Keast has received worldwide attention for his ability to create galvanizing and soul-stirring experiences in concert halls and opera houses. Praised for »leaving audiences hungry for more« (Basler Zeitung), the Berlin-based conductor is recognized for his broad repertoire experience and for his American focus with the Berlin Academy of American Music. He is consistently admired for the enthusiasm and synergy he builds with musicians and audiences.
Keast began his career in New York as Associate Conductor of the New York City Opera before launching his career in Europe with engagements at the Paris Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Bonn, and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester. Today, he regularly appears at venues including Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Brussel’s BOZAR, the Staatsoper Hamburg, Aspen Music Festival, 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 such as the Tonkünstler Orchester Vienna, Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Belgian National Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
Keast has led over sixty symphony orchestras and more than twenty opera companies across four continents. His symphonic repertoire extends from Haydn and Brahms to Adams, Britten and Widmann. From the operatic canon, Keast has led masterworks of contemporary composers such as Georg Friedrich Hass, Leonard Bernstein, and Unsuk Chin, to traditional and iconic pieces by Mozart, Puccini, Strauss and Wagner.
Garrett Keast is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Berlin Academy of American Music, a chamber orchestra he founded during the pandemic, made up of top Berlin-based musicians sharing a common focus to perform and promote the greatest works of American and American immigrant composers.