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Damien Sneed is a pianist, vocalist, organist, composer, conductor, arranger, producer, and arts educator. His style spans jazz, classical, pop, and R&B. Sneed has received numerous awards during his career, including the 2014 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, which honors artists of color for "artistic excellence, outstanding work ethic, a spirit of determination and great potential for leadership.” Currently, Sneed is a professor at New York University and Manhattan School of Music, serves as president of LeChateau Earl Records Inc., and composes for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

His professional affiliations have included the City University of New York as a professor of music, The Juilliard School as a staff accompanist, YAMAHA as an endorsed Influential Artist and the Musical Director of Season 4 of Sunday Best, a BET television show.

Early Years and Education
Damien Sneed began learning piano when he was 3 years old. At age 5, he became one of the main pianists at Good Shepherd Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia. He started directing the seniors' choir at that church when he was 8 years old. His faith, instilled by parents who were both church musicians, remains an important inspiration for his work. Sneed graduated from the John S. Davidson Fine Arts School, a magnet school in Augusta, Georgia, in 1996.

Sneed was awarded his Bachelor of Music in piano performance from Howard University in 2000. Sneed earned his Master of Music in Music Technology: Scoring for Film and Multimedia from New York University. Sneed earned his doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from USC in May 2021. Sneed has also studied at Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University and the Manhattan School of Music.

Career
Chorale Le Chateau, Artistic Director

Sneed founded Chorale Le Chateau and serves as the group's Artistic Director. The vocal group performs Renaissance period pieces, art songs, jazz, spirituals, gospel, and avant-garde contemporary music. Ensemble members include professionals, Grammy Award winners, college professors, students, and ministers. Sneed conducted Chorale Le Chateau and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for the international tour and recording of Wynton Marsalis’ Abyssinian Mass, which had its London premiere at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics. In 2009, Sneed conducted the Chorale Le Chateau at “A Celebration of America” at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Art’s Eisenhower Theater on the eve of President Obama’s inauguration and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. On June 17, 2022, Sneed conducted a 50-piece orchestra and Chorale Le Chateau for Nathaniel Dett’s Ordering of Moses at Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, to commemorate the Harlem Renaissance centennial.

Outside his own group, Sneed also has experience as music director for Grammy Award-winning gospel artists The Clark Sisters, Richard Smallwood, Donnie McClurkin, Hezekiah Walker, Marvin Sapp, Karen Clark Sheard, Dorinda Clark-Cole and Kim Burrell, among others.

Piano

Sneed's career includes solo and collaborative piano performances. His solo classical piano debut at Alice Tully Hall was in March, 2010. There, he also accompanied New England Conservatory faculty violinist Joung Hoon Song and operatic soprano Dušica Bijelić. In December, 2012, Sneed was a featured soloist in Fier Herzog for Piano and Orchestra by composer Diogo Pereira, performed at Carnegie Hall. Sneed has accompanied the Boys Choir of Harlem and the Oakwood College Aeolians. Sneed has also collaborated extensively with Jessye Norman and Lawrence Brownlee.

Collaborations

Sneed has collaborated with opera singer Jessye Norman on several performances. Sneed arranged five spirituals, chosen by Norman in honor of President Abraham Lincoln, and accompanied her in the performance of them at the Grand Reopening of Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC on February 11, 2009. In November 2010, Sneed accompanied Norman for a gala performance at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. In 2012, he accompanied Norman for her performances at the International AIDS Conference Gala held at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, DC, and at the 10th Annual Jessye Norman School of the Arts Fundraising Gala at Augusta State University in Georgia. He is featured on Norman’s final recording, Bound For The Promised Land on Albany Records.

Sneed has collaborated with opera tenor Lawrence Brownlee for live performances and recordings as well. Sneed arranged spirituals for Brownlee's recital debut at Carnegie Hall. In March and April of 2013, Sneed was featured with Brownlee in several recitals of arias, art songs and spirituals at venues around the country, including the Cincinnati College-Conservatory in Ohio and the Asheville Opera in North Carolina. In January 2014, Sneed and Brownlee were featured in the Allen Room for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook, where they performed music from their project, Spiritual Sketches, which was produced by Sneed and released by his independent label, LeChateau Earl Records. The New York Times’ film and music critic, Stephen Holden, lauded Sneed and Brownlee for their resounding performance, writing that Sneed’s arrangements turned the traditional gospel tunes into “concert art songs.”

Conducting

Outside of his work as Artistic Director of Chorale Le Chateau, Sneed has conducted several choral groups and orchestras. In 2008, he conducted the world premiere of Wynton Marsalis’ Abyssinian Mass with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Abyssinian Baptist Church Choir. He was the musical director of Opera Noire in 2007. In 2008, he conducted and arranged music for a combined student orchestra of The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, commemorating Black History Month. On March 8, 2013, Sneed conducted the premiere of Nkeiru Okoye’s new opera, Harriet Tubman, at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Sneed was guest conductor for the University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra in June, 2013. During the Houston Grand Opera's 2018 – 2019 season, Sneed served as music director, composer in residence, and cover conductor.

Activism

Sneed's 40-city North American tour, “We Shall Overcome: A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., featuring Damien Sneed,” celebrated the legacy of African-American music and civil rights activists. Sneed presented a blend of classical, jazz, and soul, interspersed with recordings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speeches.

Teaching

Damien Sneed has been a faculty member at the following schools and universities:


 * Manhattan School of Music (present): conducting, African American Music History, songwriting, gospel ensemble, private lessons in piano, voice, composition
 * Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University:
 * Michigan State University: artist-in-residence
 * Nyack College: professor of music, conductor
 * The Julliard School: staff accompanist
 * City University of New York: professor of music

Opera

Sneed has also composed several operas, which all showcase his mixed musical inspirations.

We Shall Overcome — Our Journey: 400 Years from Africa to Jamestown was first performed at Carneigie Hall for the Sphinx Organization Performance and Gala. Sneed wrote the libretto and composed music, which showcases styles from the African American diaspora—African rhythms, spirituals, gospel, and jazz—interwoven with the classical style. The premiere included mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges, baritone Will Liverman, Chorale Le Chateau, and the Sphinx Virtuosi Orchestra.

Sneed wrote MARIAN'S SONG, a chamber opera about the life of Marian Anderson. It was commissioned for Houston Grand Opera's 2018-2019 season, and premiered in 2020.

Sneed was also commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to compose a chamber opera, The Tongue & The Lash, imagining a post-debate conversation between James Baldwin and William Buckley. The Tongue & The Lash premiered on June 10, 2021. In 2022, Sneed was commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to compose a reimagined adaptation of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha for their 2023 Festival Season. Sneed and librettist Karen Chilton's adaptation of Treemonisha adds a prologue and epilogue that explore the relationship between Scott Joplin and his first wife, Freddie Alexander, and how that relationship shaped Joplin's Treemonisha.

Chamber Music

 * 2021 Musings On The Words of Pauli Murray for piano trio for piano, violin and cello
 * 2021 Tuskegee Airmen Rhapsody for piano, trumpet and violin
 * 2021 Moment for string quartet

Choral Music


 * 2009 God Bless America

Opera


 * 2023 Adaptation of Scott Joplin's Treemonisha
 * 2020 Marian's Song (a chamber opera)
 * 2018 The Tongue & The Lash
 * 2017 Empower

Orchestral Music

 * 2021 Tuskegee Airmen Symphony

Solo Instrumental

 * 2020 Sequestered Thoughts for solo piano
 * 2020 Elegy for solo clarinet

Vocal Music

 * 2021 The Earth Sings
 * 2020 This Little Light of Mine for soprano, mezzo-soprano, 2 tenors, baritone and bass-baritone
 * 2018 I Dream A World for baritone
 * 2018 Oh, Freedom for solo voice
 * 2016 Oh, Freedom for 3 baritones
 * 2013 Spiritual Sketches for tenor

Film & Television
Sneed is featured in the award-winning PBS documentary Everyone Has a Place. The film captures Sneed’s journey as the musical conductor of the historic performance of Marsalis’ “Abyssinian Mass.”

2020

Testament (60th Anniversary Tribute to ALVIN AILEY's REVELATIONS)

December 17, 2020

Film Score (Composer, Producer & Performing Artist)

2017

BET's Joyful Noise

Pilot Season (July 23, 2017)

Guest Artist

2014

BET's Bobby Jones Gospel

Season 21 (November 7, 2014)

Guest Artist

2011

BET's Sunday Best

Season 4

Music Director

2005

BET's Soul Train Music Awards

February 28, 2005

Producer for Karen Clark Sheard & Kierra Sheard

2005

BET's Celebration of Gospel

Season 4 (February 24, 2005)

Main Keys - Rickey Minor Band

Recordings
[In January 2020, Sneed released his debut classical album, Classically Harlem and We Shall Overcome Deluxe on his boutique label, LeChateau Earl Records, which was established in 2009 to reflect his varied musical interests. Previous recordings include Jazz In Manhattan (September 2019), The Three Sides of Damien Sneed: Classical, Jazz and Sanctified Soul (July 2018), Broken To Minister: The Deluxe Edition (March 2015), Spiritual Sketches (June 2013), and Introspections LIVE (January 2010).]
 * I Dream a World for solo voice and piano
 * Classically Harlem CD
 * Joy To The World EP
 * Bound for the Promised Land
 * Jazz in Manhattan
 * We Shall Overcome
 * Phillip Harris in Recital with Damien Sneed
 * The Three Sides of Damien Sneed
 * The Abyssinian Mass
 * God Advantage
 * God Bless America
 * Broken to Minister
 * Introspections
 * Spiritual Sketches
 * Elegy for solo Bb clarinet

Awards

 * 2020 Dove Award winner and 2021 NAACP Image Award winner for his work as a featured producer and writer on the Clark Sisters’ “The Return”
 * 2014 Sphinx Medal of Excellence