Guest ArtistsGast Waltzing, conductor

Grammy® Award winner Gast Waltzing was born in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; his defining passion has always been music. The man and his career are the best embodiment of the word éclectisme, as Mr. Waltzing is a trumpeter, conductor, composer and arranger. At the age of seven he began his studies at the Conservatoire de Luxembourg, continuing his classical training at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles and completing his studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris. “I am always a musician” he states, “it is not like I wake up and decide where to schedule music in. It is always present.”

The 2016 album Sings, featuring the Beninese-born singer Angélique Kidjo, himself as conductor, arranger and orchestrator, and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, received the Grammy® Award (a first ever for a Luxembourg production) for best World Music Album. This disc, merging African rhythms with classical arrangements, was fully created in Luxembourg, with Gast Waltzing coming up with the concept and conducting the OPL during the recording sessions. Most of the arrangements were also created by him.

Gast Waltzing regularly conducts the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and the Orchestre National de Jazz Luxembourg. He is also the Artistic Director of the Jazz section of the Echternach Festival in Luxembourg and he won the “Export Artist 2015” prize awarded by the Luxembourg Music Export.