Damien Geter
Damien Geter is an acclaimed composer who infuses classical music with various styles from the black diaspora to create music that furthers the cause for social justice. Damien’s growing body of work includes chamber, vocal, orchestral, and now full operatic works. Upcoming, his song cycle Cotton will have its world premiere at Lyric Fest, as well as his motet for Emmanuel Music. He will also conduct his own piece An African American Requiem at Fort Worth Opera and ABSENCE: Terence Blanchard with Portland Opera. Future commissions include premieres at Seattle Opera and Emmanuel Music, and World Premiere full operatic productions in 2024, 2025, and 2026 at Seattle Opera, Virginia Opera, InSeries Opera, and Portland Opera. Geter will also have subsequent premieres at Richmond Symphony, where he is the composer in residence through 2025.
Recent highlights include commissions Cantata for a Hopeful Tomorrow for The Washington Chorus with subsequent performances at Pacific Chorale, Choral Arts Northwest, Bethune Cookman University, Northern Arizona University, Southwestern University, and Berkshire Choral International, with future performances at Minnesota Choral Artists, The Justice Symphony for the University of Michigan with subsequent performances with The Washington Chorus at the Kennedy Center, with future performances at Fort Worth Opera, Buh-roke for the Portland Baroque Orchestra which will have subsequent performances with the Seattle Symphony, Invisible for Opera Theater Oregon, and String Quartet No. 1, Neo-Soul for All Classical Portland and On-Site Opera. His piece 1619 also appeared with On Site Opera last fall as part of their presentation “What Lies Beneath.”
Geter had six premieres as a composer in 2022. His large work, An African American Requiem, premiered in Spring 2022 commissioned by Resonance Ensemble and presented in partnership with the Oregon Symphony and All Classical Portland with subsequent performances at the Kennedy Center. I Said What I Said for Imani Winds, co-commissioned by Anima Mundi Productions, Chamber Music Northwest, and The Oregon Bach Festival premiered in 2022 as well, in addition to his one-act opera Holy Ground for Glimmerglass Opera in July. Also premiering in July 2022 was his piece Elegy for the American Guild of Organists, his piece The Bronze Legacy for Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the chamber version of American Apollo for Des Moines Metro Opera.
Damien is an alum of the Austrian American Mozart Festival, as well as the Aspen Opera Center. He was a semi-finalist for the Irma Cooper Vocal Competition. In 2012, he toured with the prestigious American Spiritual Ensemble, a group that helps to promote the preservation of the American art form - the spiritual.
The book he co-authored, Music in Context: An Examination of Western European Music Through a Sociopolitical Lens is available on Amazon, or directly from the publisher, Kendall Hunt.
Damien currently serves as the Artistic Advisor for Resonance Ensemble and Portland Opera, where he is also Music Director.
He is the owner of DG Music, Sans Fear Publishing.