Damien Sneed Celebrates Dr Martin Luther King Jr with Multi City Tour
Multi-genre recording artist Damien Sneed embarks on a 36-city North American tour, “We Shall Overcome: A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” The Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient will bring his brand of classical, jazz, and gospel music to concert halls and universities in the U.S. and Canada. The tour kicked off at the Empire Center on Friday, January 11, 2019, at The Egg in Albany, NY, and will conclude on March 3 at the Gallo Center for the Arts in Modesto, CA.
This year marks the 35th Anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which was signed into law and made a federal holiday in 1983. The “We Shall Overcome” tour will continue through Black History Month and the early part of Women’s History Month.
Sneed adds, “I look forward to honoring the life and legacy of the great civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in my upcoming tour as well as many other great artists and public figures who used their voices and their art to let the world know that one day we will truly overcome.”
Joining Sneed on tour is an ensemble of multi-genre vocalists and instrumentalists including Chenee Campbell (vocalist), Markita Knight (vocalist), Anitra McKinney (vocalist), Alicia Peters-Jordan (vocalist), Annalisha Jacobs (vocalist), Tekesha Russell (vocalist), Linny Smith (vocalist), Aaron Chisholm (vocalist), along with special guest artist, and jazz newcomer Camille Thurman, and classical recording artists Patrice Eaton, Audrey DuBois Harris, Brandie Sutton, and Kierra Hogan, who will all appear on select tour dates. The musicians include Mark Clark (drums), John Matthew Clark (bass), and Marquéz Cassidy (organ and keyboard).
Damien Sneed is a pianist, organist, conductor, composer, producer, arranger, vocal coach, and arts educator whose work spans multiple genres. Sneed has worked with jazz, classical, pop, and R&B legends including the late Aretha Franklin, Wynton Marsalis, Jessye Norman, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Ashford & Simpson, Lawrence Brownlee, and many others.
Sneed’s boutique label, LeChateau Earl Records, established in 2009, reflects Sneed’s varied musical interests and features critically-acclaimed artists from classical, jazz, gospel and other musical genres. He has released several CD projects including his forthcoming album, Damien Sneed: We Shall Overcome (January 2019). Other releases include 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).
Sneed is the founder and artistic director of Chorale Le Chateau, which has gained a global reputation for its vivid interpretations of vocal literature, from Renaissance period pieces to art songs to jazz, spirituals, gospel, and avant-garde contemporary music. He is featured on the recording of Wynton Marsalis’ Abyssinian Mass as a conductor, with Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Chorale Le Chateau.
A graduate of John S. Davidson Fine Arts School, Sneed has 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 2019.
Sneed recently joined the acclaimed staff of the Houston Grand Opera (HGOco) as Music Director and Composer in Residence and serves as cover conductor for HGO mainstage productions under Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director. He has been commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera to compose a new opera, which will have its world premiere on March 5, 2020, at the Cullen Theater.
Sneed was recently named a 2019 Artist-in-Residence at the Carr Center in Detroit, MI, along with Debbie Allen, George Shirley and Savion Glover.