(New York, NY – October 10, 2019) – Composer and pianist Damien Sneed will premiere his new opera, “Our Journey: 400 Years from Africa to Jamestown,” at Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage on Friday, October 11, 2019, at the Sphinx Organization Performance and Gala, sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Robert F. Smith.
Sneed will join fellow Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipients and the Metropolitan Opera’s J’Nai Bridges (mezzo-soprano) and Will Liverman (baritone),
along with Sneed’s chorus, Chorale Le Chateau, and the Sphinx Virtuosi
Orchestra, who will bring to life this overture from his ground-breaking
opera during the evening’s finale performance.
Composed
by Sneed, who also wrote the libretto, “Our Journey: 400 Years from
Africa to Jamestown,” showcases musical styles from the African American
diaspora from African rhythms to spirituals to gospel to jazz, all
interwoven in the classical genre.
Sneed
says the new opera highlights the plights Africans experienced being
forced into slavery and transported during the Middle Passage to America
and include an excerpt from Psalm 137, “We hung our harps on the
willows; for there, our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors
demanded songs of joy.”
“It’s
always a pleasure performing at Carnegie Hall,” says Sneed. “Out of the
many times I’ve performed at Carnegie Hall as a solo vocalist, pianist,
and conductor, this will be my third time performing a world premiere
there. In December 2012, I was the solo pianist with orchestra for my
friend Diogo Pereira’s composition Fiel Herzog and the second time in October 2017 accompanying baritone Justin Michael Austin on piano for my composition I Dream A World based on the poem by Langston Hughes.”
Sneed
was also commissioned to compose a new chamber opera titled MARIAN’S
SONG about the life of Marian Anderson for Houston Grand Opera, which
will have its world premiere on March 5, 2020, at the Cullen Theater at
the Wortham Center.
The
multi-genre recording artist has worked with jazz, classical, pop, and
R&B with legends including the late Aretha Franklin and Jessye
Norman, as well as Wynton Marsalis, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Ashford
& Simpson, and many others. He established his label, LeChateau Earl
Records, in 2009, which reflects his varied musical interests and
features critically-acclaimed artists from classical, jazz, gospel, and
other musical genres. He has released several CD projects, Jazz In Manhattan (September 2019), Damien Sneed: We Shall Overcome (January 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).
Damien Sneed recently joined the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music,
where he teaches graduate-level courses in conducting, African American
Music History, a singer/songwriter ensemble, a gospel music ensemble,
and private lessons in piano, voice, and composition. Sneed studied at
some of the finest conservatories and universities, including Howard
University, where he earned a Bachelor of Music – Piano Performance; the
Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University; New York University,
where he earned a Master of Music in Music Technology: Scoring for Film
and Multimedia; and the Manhattan School of Music. Sneed will also
graduate with his doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from USC in 2020.
Sneed was a member of the faculty at the Clive Davis Institute of
Recorded Music at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and
Nyack College. His other professional affiliations have included The
Juilliard School as a staff accompanist, Jazz at Lincoln Center as an
artistic consultant, and the City University of New York (CUNY) as a
professor of music. In 2015, Sneed established the Damien Sneed
Performing Arts Institute, a division of the Damien Sneed Foundation.
For more information on Damien Sneed and LeChateau Earl Records, go to www.damiensneed.com and www.lechateauearl.com.
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