Kevin Kastning

History

Born in 1961 in Wichita, Kansas, Kastning's father was a musician, and by age 11 he had first guitar. He attended Wichita East High School during which time he was in the school orchestra and jazz ensemble as well as in several bands. Kastning attended Wichita State University between 1980 and 1984, graduating with a Bachelor of Music. While there he studied composition under the tutelage of Pulitzer Prize winning composer, Walter Mays. In 1985, Kastning moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he pursued graduate studies at Berklee College of Music for 2 years. At Berklee, Kastning studied with Walter Beasley and John la Porta while being privately tutored by guitar legend Pat Metheny. Between the years of 1985 and 1990 he played in numerous jazz chamber groups, playing at clubs throughout the greater Boston and Hartford area are as well as in his own jazz ensemble, the Kevin Kastning Unit, which released a self-titled album in 1988. The Kevin Kastning Unit included Carl Clements on tenor and soprano saxophone with which Kastning has maintained a working relationship.

Since that time, Kastning has made numerous notable collaborative contemporary classical guitar recordings, which are largely improvised. Kastning plays a number of guitar family instruments of his own imagining on his albums including a 36-string Double Contraguitar, a 30-string Contra-Soprano guitar, 6-string bass-baritone guitar, a 12-string extended baritone guitar, a 12-string alto guitar, and 14-string, 16-string, and 17-string Contraguitars. His music consistently receives strong reviews in the experimental acoustic music community and other modern abstract traditions. Irish painter, Ken Browne's March 2011 exhibition 'Odyssey II' at the Origin Art Gallery (Dublin) featured abstract paintings based on Kastning's music.

Kastning has invented a number of guitar family instruments which extend the traditional range of the guitar into new territory.

Kastning is an artist endorser for Santa Cruz Guitar Company, Daniel Roberts Stringworks, Anvil Cases, Emerald Guitars, Enhanced Audio, Bricasti Design, Kelsone, Peluso, John Pearse Strings, Cervantes Classical Guitars, Microtech Gefell Microphones, G7 Performance Capos, ToneRite, Hipshot, and K&K Sound,.

Recording artist

In 1990 Kastning was invited by colleague and fellow guitarist to form the KastningSiegfried Duet Project, and over the next several years they wrote and recorded 5 albums of acoustic, experimental classical guitar compositions which were all released on the label, Greydisc. The KastningSiefried Duet Project is ongoing although Kastning has moved away from performing and recording composed music and favors instead improvisation in the recording studio.

In 2006 Kastning began a long term collaboration with Hungarian guitarist, Sandor Szabo. Together they have released 4 albums, on the Greydisc label, each of which is completely improvised, or composed in real time within the studio. Each album was recorded in a single day and each track represents a one time recording without overdubs or multiple takes. Szabo and Kastning toured Hungary in 2009 with guitarist, Dominic Miller, who is well known for playing with Sting (musician).

In 2009, Kastning met British electric guitarist Mark Wingfield and proceeded the following year to record an ambient, electro-acoustic album of improvised guitar duets with Wingfield which was released on Greydisc Records. In 2012 Kastning and Wingfield released a second album of wholly improvised ambient duets entitled "An Illustrated Silenece".

During the 2009 Szabo/Kastning Hungarian tour, Kastning recorded a trio album, entitled "Triptych", with Szabo and percussionist, Balazs Major on location in Nograd. Triptych was released on Greydisc Records in December 2011. The album has drawn comparisons to the recordings of Ralph Towner and John Abercrombie.

Kastning toured Hungary a second time in March 2012 with Szabo and Major in support of Triptych with a concert entitled "Kontaktus". The concert was a melding of sound poetry and movement featuring two Hungarian dancers from the Hungarian National Ballet, Timea Gyorke and Judith Szamosi. The tour included dates in Budapest, Debrecen and Vacz. In Vac Kastning and Szabo recorded a duo album entitled "The Book of Crossing", which was released on Greydisc Records later the same year, as well as a trio album with Major, "Becoming", which was released in March 2013.

In 2012, Kastning released a duo album with longtime musical collaborator Carl Clements entitled "Dreaming As I Knew". The album represents various improvised contemporary classical duets with combinations of Kastning's guitar family instruments and Clements multiple wind instruments.

In 2012 Kastning also released a duo album with famous bassist, Michael Manring entitled "In Winter" an exploratory album of improvised compositions.

Composer

In addition to performing, Kastning is a modern classical composer with over 200 compositions for various chamber and solo instrumentation, including ten piano sonatas, seven string quartets and numerous works for unusual instrument duets, trio, quartets and quintets. Kastning's works have been performed annually by the London Chamber Group since 2001.

Inventor

Kastning has invented a number of guitar family instruments in collaboration with Dan Roberts. The two met in 1999 when Kastning commissioned a guitar from the Santa Cruz Guitar Co, where Roberts was the production manager. By 2002, Kastning was an artist endorser for the Santa Cruz Guitar Co. Kastning is interested in extending the pitch range of the guitar and from this, he has developed several unique instruments with Roberts. The first instrument was the DKK 6-string extended baritone guitar, a 13 fret D baritone, voiced for a low G tuning developed in 2005 with Roberts and the Santa Cruz Guitar Co. The second was the Santa Cruz DKK-12 string extended baritone guitar, a 13 fret, D baritone voiced for a low F# tuning developed in 2005/06 . The third, the Santa Cruz KK-alto, a 12 string alto guitar in A, was developed in 2008. Kastning continued his collaboration with Roberts after Roberts left Santa Cruz Guitar Co to form his own company, Daniel Roberts Stringworks. In 2007 Kastning commissioned at 14 string contraguitar from Roberts which was completed in 2010. A second Contraguitar was commissioned from Roberts in 2011 to be utilized in alternate tunings. In 2012 Roberts converted one of Kastning's contraguitars to a 17-string, 9-course contraguitar.

In 2012 Kastning collaborated with Alistair Hay of the Irish company, Emerald Guitars, to conceive of and build a 30 string double-necked guitar. The guitar model was named "Triocha," the Kevin Kastning Signature Model, and combines an 18-string Contra guitar neck with a 12-string alto guitar neck providing an unorthodox tonal range. This instrument is known as the Kevin Kastning Signature Series 30-string Contra-Alto guitar

In 2013, Kastning again collaborated with Alistair Hay of the Irish company, Emerald Guitars, to conceive of and build the 36-string Double Contraguitar. This doubleneck instrument consists of two 18-string Contraguitars used in two different tunings. This instrument provides both an extended range and an unorthodox harmonic palette. The 36-string Double Contraguitar and the 30-string Contra-Soprano guitar have become Kastning's main instruments for both concerts and recordings. This instrument is known as the Kevin Kastning Signature Series 36-string Double Contraguitar.

In 2014, Kastning once again collaborated with Alistair Hay of the Irish company, Emerald Guitars, to conceive of and build the 15-string Extended Classical guitar. This is a classical nylon-string guitar with six double-courses, and three bass single courses. It also features a Multi-scale. This is known as the Kevin Kastning Signature Series 15-string Extended Classical guitar.

Awards and honors

Discography

All albums on Greydisc Records

As a solo artist

KastningSiegfried

With Sándor Szabó

With Mark Wingfield

With Sandor Szabo, Balazs Major

With Carl Clements

With Michael Manring

Other