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GARRETT KEAST

Founder & Intendant / Chief Conductor

“He goes beyond just music; he strives to create an atmosphere and evoke feelings in the listener.” - Opernnetz, Oper Bonn

Garrett Keast is a Berlin-based conductor known for his musical depth, stylistic versatility, and ability to connect with both musicians and audiences. As Founder and Chief Conductor of the Berlin Academy of American Music (BAAM), he has established the ensemble as a distinctive and internationally recognized voice, dedicated to presenting American and American-inspired repertoire with fresh perspective.

After beginning his career as Associate Conductor of New York City Opera, Keast quickly built a broad international profile, leading performances at major opera houses and concert venues including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, BOZAR Brussels, Staatsoper Hamburg, and Seoul Arts Center. He has collaborated with orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, and the Copenhagen Philharmonic.

Equally at home in the concert hall and opera house, his repertoire spans from core symphonic works by Brahms, Mahler, and Tchaikovsky to contemporary voices including Missy Mazzoli, Unsuk Chin, and Avner Dorman. His interpretations have been praised for their refinement, clarity, and expressive sensitivity.

A passionate advocate for American music, Keast is committed to creating programmes that foster dialogue across cultures and generations. Through his work with BAAM and his international engagements, he continues to build artistic bridges and bring new perspectives to audiences worldwide.

BEHIND THE SCENES 

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KIM MIRA MEYER

Kim is a Berlin-based director, musician, and Artistic Director of the independent theatre Momentbühne Berlin, known for her cross-cultural artistic vision and her commitment to building bridges between European and African musical traditions.

Trained in contemporary dance and voice at the Performing Arts Studios Munich, Meyer began her career as Assistant Director at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz from 2019 to 2022, where she co-directed Mozart muss sterben and directed Humperdinck's Dornröschen. For her initiative Kultur auf Rädern and her founding of Opera Namibia, she was nominated for the Tassilo Prize by the Süddeutsche Zeitung and honoured with the Theatre Scholarship of the City of Munich in 2023.

A close collaborator of her mentor Jetske Mijnssen, Meyer has led revivals at major international opera houses including the Dutch National Opera Amsterdam, the Royal Danish Opera Copenhagen, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía Valencia, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and the Teatro di San Carlo Naples. As founder and Artistic Director of Momentbühne Berlin, she initiated and directed the world premiere of Eslon Hindundu's Chief Hijangua — Namibia's first opera — at the National Theatre of Namibia in Windhoek in 2022, before bringing the production to the Haus des Rundfunks Berlin in collaboration with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Siemens Arts Program, the Berlin Senate Chancellery, and the Berlin Lottery Foundation. A chamber adaptation, Hijangua. A Journey into the Desert, was subsequently presented at the Humboldt Forum Berlin.

In autumn 2025, Meyer directed and produced the international project People of Song in Windhoek, Berlin, and Bremen — a musical theatre piece developed with co-director Jason Kooper and co-writer Natasha Kitavi that continues the artistic dialogue between Namibia and Germany begun with Chief Hijangua. Through Momentbühne and her ongoing international engagements, Meyer continues to shape a body of work defined by cultural dialogue, historical reflection, and the creative reimagining of operatic form.

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SELINA J. DROEHMER

Selina is a Berlin-based cultural manager working at the intersection of classical music, opera, and artistic production, with a particular focus on Baroque and Early Music, contemporary classical repertoire, and American and American-inspired music.

As Managing Director of the Berlin Academy of American Music, she helps shape one of the city's youngest internationally oriented concert institutions, dedicated to presenting American and American-inspired repertoire to Berlin audiences. She serves on the board of Music Crossroads International e.V., an organisation committed to fostering cross-cultural musical exchange with African countries. In parallel, she works at the Artistic Office of the Musikfestspiele Sanssouci und Nikolaisaal Potsdam, one of Europe's leading festivals for Early Music under the artistic direction of Dorothee Oberlinger, where she is also responsible for the production of the festival's Bicycle Concerts.

Trained at the Stiftung Oper in Berlin, Droehmer has built a broad profile across many of the capital's most distinguished institutions, including the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the RIAS Kammerchor and the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation, and the Komische Oper Berlin on productions by Tobias Kratzer, Barrie Kosky, Kirill Serebrennikov, and Dagmar Manzel.

 

Festival engagements have taken her to the Musikfestspiele Sanssouci productions of Deda Cristina Colonna, Marshall Pynkoski, and Alessandra Premoli, as well as to co-productions of Hans Otto Theater with the Kammerakademie Potsdam. Her commitment to preserving Jewish musical heritage is reflected in her upcoming work for the Shalom Music Festival, and her active membership in Juvenilia – European Network of Young Opera Friends connects her to a generation of opera professionals across the continent.

Alongside her practical work, Droehmer comes from a background in economics, building on that she finished her degree in Cultural Management. She has specialised in German public procurement law  and copyright law through targeted continuing education, areas that have become defining pillars of her professional profile in contract management and institutional governance.

Trained in classical Ballet and a pianist since the age of six, Droehmer combines artistic sensibility with organisational precision. Her love of languages — she works in German, English, French, Spanish, and Italian — reflects a deeply international outlook that informs every aspect of her work. Through her engagements across Berlin and Potsdam, she continues to build bridges between artistic vision, legal expertise, and institutional reality.

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FRIENDS and SUPPORTERS

Dr. Markus Baum - Dr. Baum GmbH & Co. KG

Dr. David de Bjaouix - Business Liaison, Orchestra Touring, Travel Designer

Bettina Brand - Ursula Mamlok Foundation

Jonathan Dawe - Composer, Juilliard School of Music

Avner Dorman - Composer

Christoph Eschenbach - Conductor, Pianist

Michael Fine - Grammy award-winning record producer

Joel Hunter - Mahler Chamber Orchestra

Dudana Mazmanishvili - Pianist and Georgian cultural attaché

Boris Matchin - Geschäfts­führender Gesellschafter TONALi, Hamburg

David Mees - Former cultural attaché, US Department of State

Howard Pollack - Author, John & Rebecca Moores Professor of Music at the University of Houston

Christian Reichart  - Dramaturg

Stefan Schneider - Generalkonsulat, Los Angeles - Deustches Generalkonsulat

Nadine Secunde - American mezzo-soprano

David Skudlik - Co-Founder & CEO Sforzato

Amadeus Templeton - Geschäfts­führender Gesellschafter TONALi, Hamburg

Augusta Read Thomas - Composer, Prof. at the University of Chicago, Director, Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition

Hannes Tronsberg - CEO Future Demand

Yezu Woo - Violinist

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William Anderson

Friends of BAAM Board Member, Guest Presenter & Artistic Partner

William Anderson is an American guitarist, composer, performer, and producer whose work has long been dedicated to contemporary music and international artistic exchange. He is the founder of the Cygnus Ensemble and has performed with leading institutions including the New York Philharmonic, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Metropolitan Opera Chamber Players.

A longtime supporter of BAAM, William Anderson serves on the U.S. board of Friends of BAAM and joins the Berlin Transatlantic Composers Workshop as a guest presenter. Through his artistic leadership and commitment to new music, he has become an important partner in BAAM’s transatlantic mission.

As Artistic Director of the Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music, Anderson has helped make possible the inaugural BAAM / Dina Koston Transatlantic Composition Prize, supporting young composers and strengthening the dialogue between American and European contemporary music communities.

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