Kevin Kastning

Kevin Kastning
Kevin Kastning with the 36-string Kevin Kastning Signature Double Contraguitar by Emerald Guitars
Background information
Origin	USA
Genres	modern classical, avante-garde acoustic, jazz
Instruments	36-string Double Contraguitar, 30-string Contra-Soprano guitar, 16- and 17-string Contraguitars, 12-string guitar, six-string guitar, fretless guitar, 12-string extended baritone guitar, 6-string bass-baritone guitar, 12-string alto guitar, mandolin, piano, bass
Years active	1979-present
Labels	Greydisc Records
Website	www.kevinkastning.com

Kevin Kastning (born December 26, 1961 in Wichita, Kansas) is an American guitarist, composer and musical instrument inventor. He plays the 36-string Double Contraguitar, 30-string Contra-Soprano guitar, 15-string Extended Classical guitar, twelve-string guitar, six-string guitar, fretless guitar, 12-string extended baritone guitar, 6-string bass-baritone guitar, alto guitar, the 14-string contraguitar, the 16-string contraguitar, the 17-string contraguitar, mandolin, piano and bass.

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.