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George Garrett Keast, conductor...

b i o g r a p h y...........back to roster....up April 2008 George Garrett Keast, "one of America’s brightest young conductors" (Town-Crier News) whose "strong energetic body language" (News Times) and "strong technique and right artistic sense" (Austin American Statesman) make him a promising and sought-after exponent of the young generation of conductors. Among Keast's highlights during the 2007/08 season are a re-engagement as guest conductor with the Oregon Symphony, guest conductor of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and a concert with the New York All-State Symphony in Rochester's Eastman Theater. He also leads a production of Carlisle Floyd's Susannah at the Butler Opera Center of the University of Texas at Austin and returns for his seventh season as conductor of Canada's Music at Port Milford Chamber Music Festival. 2006/07 was a landmark season with a steady array of debuts with such orchestras as the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Boise Philharmonic, Ridgefield Symphony and Mexico’s Orquesta Sinfonica de Xalapa. He also served in his third season as associate conductor of New York City Opera and conducted Bellini’s Norma in South Florida. In July 2006 he led a program of Mozart, Stravinsky, and Beethoven with the Naumburg Orchestra in Central Park, and returned for his fifth season as conductor of Canada’s Music at Port Milford Chamber Music Festival.  The 2005-2006 season featured Keast as the assistant conductor of the Dallas Opera, where he was awarded the Bruno Walter Foundation Career Development Grant. In Dallas he conducted successful outreach programs with the Dallas Opera Orchestra and served as a speaker for Dallas Opera pre-performance lectures and education programs. Working under music director Graeme Jenkins, the season's repertoire included Ariadne auf Naxos, Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci, The Tales of Hoffmann, Rodelinda, and Die Zauberflöte. George Garrett Keast also served as associate conductor of New York City Opera, covering performances of Madama Butterfly. In the spring he served on the faculty of The University of Texas School of Music, where he conducted four performances of Dialogues of the Carmelites. The production was crowned "Best Opera Performance" by the Austin Critics Table for that season. During the 2004-2005 season, Keast served as associate conductor of New York City Opera, assisting George Manahan with Dialogues of the Carmelites. He conducted the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra in a series of Symphony Kids Concerts, served as a cover conductor with the Long Island Philharmonic, and conducted concert performances of Tosca and Die Zauberflöte with New York’s Prism Opera Showcase. He conducted ten concerts with the Queens Symphony Orchestra, where he served as resident conductor and director of education & community relations. The season also marked Mr. Keast’s fifth season on the titles staff of The Metropolitan Opera. Additionally, during the 2003-2004 season, Keast conducted Mississippi Opera’s double-bill of Gianni Schicchi & Pagliacci, South Florida Opera’s Madama Butterfly, and performances of La Bohème and Rigoletto with Prism Opera Showcase. From 1995 to 2000, Keast spent much of his time studying and working with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, music director Christoph Eschenbach, and conductor-in-residence Stephen Stein. At the Houston Symphony, he led rehearsals of the Houston Symphony Chamber Players, served as a cover conductor, assisted in the orchestra library, and assisted with PBS television production. In 2000 he was selected to participate in a conductor reading, leading the New York Philharmonic in Avery Fisher Hall under the mentorship of Kurt Masur. A 1995 graduate of The University of Texas School of Music, George Garrett Keast has performed and studied at the Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, Festival at Sandpoint, and the Opera Theatre of Lucca. Important mentors from festivals and workshops have included conductors Louis Lane, Yoel Levi, Larry Rachleff, Simon Rattle, Robert Spano, Gunther Schuller, and David Zinman. Keast has a deep interest in performing and promoting new music. He is passionate about teaching young people, building audiences for classical music, and developing stimulating programs for the modern symphony orchestra. b i o.......r e s u m e.......r e v i e w s back to roster...up . . . .

. r e s u m e...........back to roster....up click here to read George Garrett Keast's resume (MS Word) b i o.......r e s u m e.......r e v i e w s back to roster...up . . . .

. r e v i e w s...........back to roster....up "George Garrett Keast, one of America’s brightest young conductors, was the musical director of the production. He melded an exceptional group of musicians together into a marvelous small orchestra. He took control during the overture, clearly demonstrating both his own and the orchestra’s extraordinary talents." (Norma, Leonard Wechsler, Town-Crier News, March 2007) "With Guest Conductor George Garrett Keast, the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra was very good at putting new spins on some old numbers. Considering the limited rehearsal time Keast had for developing his ideas with the RSO, the performance was remarkable. Using strong energetic body language, Keast met the challenges amazingly well, bringing his own nuances to the old classics. With unusual articulation and modulations in dynamics, Keast brought some boldness into fine-tuning the sound of the RSO. He seemed to enjoy breaking the mold, thinking outside the box, planning out every measure, and shaping the phrasing with his own fresh approach." (Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, Connecticut, Jan Stribula, News Times, March 2007) "This production's artistic center of gravity was conductor Garrett Keast, demonstrating Friday evening how a conductor's strong technique and right artistic sense draws the constituent efforts into focus, making the best use of what is right and minimizing what is not. He got artistically superb, if not flawless, playing from the orchestra." (Dialogues of the Carmelites, David Mead, Austin American Statesman) "The most impressive element of the production [was] Garrett Keast and Elaine Smith Purcell's well-prepared chorus." (Suppe's Boccaccio, David Shengold, Opera News) "The fully-staged opera [was] performed by a professional cast and...chamber orchestra under the direction of talented conductor George Garrett Keast... The music is beautiful and the performances are magnificent." (Madama Butterfly, Town-Crier News) b i o.......r e s u m e.......r e v i e w s back to roster...up . . . .