BERLIN ACADEMY OF AMERICAN MUSIC

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 earned recognition for his symphonic conducting and expertise in American repertoire, as well as for founding and leading the critically acclaimed 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 Copenhagen Philharmonic, Tonkünstler Orchester, Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Orchestre National Capitole Toulouse, Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Bucheon Philharmonic, and the WDR Funkhausorchester. 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 Music, Fanfare, Limelight and das Orchester magazines.   

 

The 2025-2026 season marks a further expansion of Garrett Keast’s international profile, featuring his debut at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo conducting Bernstein’s Wonderful Town, and his return to the George Enescu Festival with the Berlin Academy of American Music (BAAM) for a tour showcasing works by Barber, Bernstein, Dorman, and Gershwin. In January, the BAAM Orchestra returns to the Konzerthaus Berlin with premieres by Billy Childs, Jonathan Dawe, and Missy Mazzoli. Other season highlights include performances with the North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra featuring the Marsalis Violin Concerto and Simon’s Four Black American Dances; a return to the Seoul Arts Center for a program titled 'Bernstein & Bruch' with the Sol Camerata; and a new production of Jean-Christophe Maillot’s La Bayadère with Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. Keast also makes debuts with the Orchestra del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, conducting an American program of Copland, Bernstein, and Gershwin, and with the Orchestra Filarmonica Pugliese, performing works by Verdi, Beethoven, and Rimsky-Korsakov. In summer 2026, he will lead the BAAM Composers Workshop in Berlin, continuing the success of last season’s inaugural program.

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With distinct performances leading over sixty symphony orchestras and more than twenty opera companies across four continents, the conductor’s experience on the podium showcases extraordinary range. His symphonic repertoire extends from Brahms, Mahler, and Tchaikovsky to Adams, Britten, and Widmann. From the operatic canon, Keast has led masterworks of contemporary composers such as Georg Friedrich Hass and Unsuk Chin to pillars of the genre by Mozart, Puccini, Strauss, and Wagner. 

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Additionally, Keast has conducted performances with orchestras including the SWR Sinfonieorchester, Prague Philharmonia, Belgian National Orchestra, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Royal Danish Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, and Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Florence.

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Having been a singer and instrumentalist since childhood, Keast brings a passion for creating a holistic approach to opera and stage productions. His opera credits include Faust (Opéra National de Paris), Die Zauberflöte (Deutsche Oper Berlin), La Bohème (Aspen Music Festival), Ariadne auf Naxos (Virginia Opera), Carmen (Opera San Antonio), Midsummernight’s Dream in Tokyo, Der Fliegender Holländer (Theater Erfurt), Rigoletto (Theater Bremen), Don Giovanni (New Orleans Opera), and Bluthaus (Oper Bonn), as well as a critically-acclaimed production of Così fan tutte at the Fort Worth Opera Festival, described by the Dallas Morning News as “the operatic experience of the year.” 

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At the Staatsoper Hamburg, Keast enjoyed a long relationship with John Neumeier’s Hamburg Ballet where he led over 130 performances of eight productions. Additionally, he conducted Swan Lake with the Opéra National de Paris, Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet and the Nutcracker at the Royal Swedish Ballet, as well as several productions at the Finnish National Opera & Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet and Staatsoper Hannover.  

 

Connection is a theme carried throughout Keast’s endeavors. The Houston-born conductor is a prominent interpreter of repertoire from his homeland, continuously developing relevant, thought-provoking programming. In recent seasons, he has led programs premiering works of Missy Mazzoli, Anthony Davis, Caroline Shaw, David T. Little, David Lang, and Avner Dorman.   

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Additional American programs include John Neumeier’s Bernstein Dances in the Los Angeles Music Center and Baden Baden Festspielhaus, a Broadway program at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, a Bernstein Gala with the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, performances of Bernstein’s Mass in Dresden’s Frauenkirche, and Copland’s Third Symphony at the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.  

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Presenting a fusion of iconic and modern American and American-themed works is also the focus of the Berlin Academy of American Music (BAAM), founded by Keast at the height of the pandemic. The orchestra’s debut recording, Transatlantic, was released in October 2021 on the ONYX Classics label. The orchestra has quickly gained recognition for its exceptional quality of performance and programming, garnering return invitations, sold-out performances, and tour developments.

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Garrett Keast was mentored by Christoph Eschenbach at the Houston Symphony and served as his assistant conductor for opera productions and international tours at the Paris Opera, Vienna State Opera, National Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, and the Pacific Music Festival. Keast studied at the Aspen and Tanglewood Music Festivals and was assistant conductor at the Dallas Opera, where he received the Bruno Walter Career Development Grant.