Garrett Keast

“He goes beyond just music and the art of singing; he tries to create an atmosphere and to evoke feelings in the listener. Keast succeeds in this so well with the orchestra in the pit and the singers on the stage, that even doubters about New Music would have to capitulate." [Opernnetz, Michael S. Zerban]

Berlin-based conductor Garrett Keast, acclaimed for conducting performances “imbued with gravitas, fullness of sound and orchestral sweetness…” [John Christiansen, 2012] is increasingly in demand in concert halls and opera houses around the world. Born in Houston, Texas, he studied under Christoph Eschenbach at the Houston Symphony and Houston Grand Opera before beginning his career as an Associate Conductor of New York City Opera. Garrett Keast’s musical philosophy is centered on the breath, the art of phrasing, and a historically informed modern style. He is passionate about expanding audiences for classical music and developing captivating programs for the modern symphony orchestra.

In demand as a guest conductor, recent engagements have included the NDR Radio Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, MDR Leipzig Radio Sinfonieorchester, Atlanta Symphony, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Bach Collegium München, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile, and the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música. He has conducted productions with the Opéra National de Paris (Faust & Swan Lake), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Die Zauberflöte), Oper Bonn (Bluthaus), Hamburg Ballet (Mahler’s 10th Symphony, Othello & Tatjana), Fort Worth Opera Festival (Cosi fan tutte), as well as a tour with the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester (Cosi fan tutte).

In the 2015 - 2016 season, Garrett Keast leads over 30 performances with John Neumeier’s Hamburg Ballet. He makes his debut with the Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin, conducts Denmark’s Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition with the Odense Symphony Orchestra, and conducts the premiere of Three is a Party at the Staatsoper Hannover. His Hamburg Ballet performances include tour performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Tokyo, Shakespeare Dances in Vienna’s Theater an der Wien, and
 The Nutcracker in the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. He conducts these productions as well as Othello and Tatjana in the Hamburg Staatsoper. 

Garrett Keast has often assisted Christoph Eschenbach at the Vienna State Opera, the Opera National de Paris, the Stuttgarter Symphoniker, as well as European tours of the National Symphony Orchestra and the combined NDR Symphony Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic.​ He was awarded the Bruno Walter Foundation Career Development Grant while assistant conductor of the Dallas Opera and at the age of twenty-six was invited by Kurt Masur to conduct the New York Philharmonic.