Biography – JAYSON KEETON

Jayson Keeton

Biography

Jayson Keeton

Jayson Keeton is an American organist, conductor, collaborative pianist, arranger, and arts administrator based in Charleston, West Virginia. He serves as the Director of Music and Organist at First Presbyterian Church, where he founded the Music at First Presby concert series. He is also the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Charleston Civic Chorus and the accompanist for the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus.

Equally at home in the concert hall, church, and theatre, his work spans solo performance, choral and instrumental conducting, orchestration, and musical theatre. Keeton has performed throughout the United States and Europe, including appearances at several notable cathedrals including Westminster Abbey in London, Notre Dame, St. Eustache, Chartres, and Rouen in France, St. Stephen’s in Vienna, and the Basilica of San Marco in Venice.

A frequent collaborator in musical theatre, he has collaborated with composer Stephen Schwartz and has appeared in performances led by Jason Robert Brown and Susan Stroman.

Career Highlights

Jayson Keeton

Creating meaningful musical experiences through performance, collaboration, and artistic leadership.

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Areas of Work

Contact

Phone

315 945 3356

Email

contact@jaysonkeeton.com

Location

Charleston, West Virginia, USA

© 2026 Jayson Keeton · Charleston, West Virginia

Jayson Keeton is a versatile American musician whose career encompasses performance, conducting, orchestration, accompaniment, and arts leadership. Based in Charleston, West Virginia, he serves as the Director of Music and Organist at First Presbyterian Church, where he founded the Music at First Presby concert series, presenting free performances by local, national, and international artists while supporting the church’s mission partners. He is also the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Charleston Civic Chorus and accompanist for the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus.

Beginning his musical journey as a church musician at the age of nine, Keeton has held professional church music positions in New York, Illinois, North Carolina, and West Virginia. His work as an organist, conductor, collaborative pianist, and arranger reXlects a lifelong commitment to musical excellence across sacred, concert, and theatrical settings.

Beginning his musical journey as a church musician at the age of nine, Keeton has held professional church music positions in New York, Illinois, North Carolina, and West Virginia. His work as an organist, conductor, collaborative pianist, and arranger reXlects a lifelong commitment to musical excellence across sacred, concert, and theatrical settings.

As a recitalist and chorister, Keeton has performed throughout the United States and Europe in many of the world’s most celebrated sacred spaces, including Westminster Abbey in London; Notre Dame, St. Eustache, Chartres, and Rouen Cathedrals in France; St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna; and the Basilica of San Marco in Venice. In 2022, he played the historic organ of St. George’s Church in Eisenach, Germany. This is the church where Johann Sebastian Bach was baptized and where Keeton’s ninth-great-grandfather, Johann Christoph Bach, served as organist.

His appearance as a solo recitalist at Westminster Abbey in July 2025 marked a signiXicant milestone in his performing career. As a chorister, he has also appeared at Carnegie Hall and David Geffen Hall (Lincoln Center) in New York City, performing major choral-orchestral repertoire with distinguished conductors and ensembles.

Beyond the concert stage and church, Keeton maintains an active career in musical theatre. He has served as music director, conductor, orchestrator, arranger, keyboardist, and pit musician for productions ranging from community theatre to professional engagements in New York City. In collaboration with Academy Award and Grammy Award-winning composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell), he conceived, produced, and created the musical arrangements for Dreamscape, the Xirst revue of it’s kind celebrating Schwartz’s music. His New York credits include performing in Jason Robert Brown’s Parade conducted by the composer, and the 25th Anniversary Concert of Crazy for You, directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Susan Stroman.

As an arranger and orchestrator, Keeton creates original works and custom adaptations for choirs, orchestras, vocalists, and theatrical productions. His orchestrations are recognized for their practicality, stylistic authenticity, and sensitivity to both performers and audiences, and his work continues to be performed in concert, worship, and theatrical settings.

Recent engagements include serving as Musical Director for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tell Me on a Sunday and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, singing John Rutter’s Requiem under the composer’s direction at Carnegie Hall, and presenting a solo organ recital at Westminster Abbey. Upcoming appearances include collaborations with cabaret artists, performances with Seraphim, Boston’s premier professional choral ensemble, and conducting his Westminster Abbey Suite at Carnegie Hall with the New England Symphonic Ensemble and a festival chorus of singers from across the United States. He will also return to London in the summer of 2027 to play a solo organ recital on the Grand Organ of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Whether at the console of a historic organ, on the podium, in the theatre, or at the piano, Keeton is dedicated to creating performances that combine artistic excellence, thoughtful collaboration, and meaningful connection with audiences