Damien Geter

Composer

Appears on: An African American Requiem

A celebrated composer, Damien infuses classical music with various styles from the Black diaspora. His growing body of work includes chamber, vocal, orchestral, and full operatic works. Recent highlights include commissions Cantata for a Hopeful Tomorrow for The Washington Chorus, Invisible for Opera Theater Oregon, The Justice Symphony for the University of Michigan, Buh-roke for the Portland Baroque Orchestra, and String Quartet No. 1, Neo-Soul for All Classical Portland and On-Site Opera. His piece 1619 appeared with On Site Opera recently as part of their presentation “What Lies Beneath.”

Damien made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Undertaker in the Grammy award-winning production of Porgy and Bess. Other credits include: Angelotti in Tosca with Portland Opera, Sam in Trouble in Tahiti with the Reno Symphony, the title role in Errollyn Wallen’s Quamino’s Map with Chicago Opera Theatre, bass soloist in Darrell Grant’s Sanctuaries, and the bass soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony for the Richmond Symphony.

Composition premieres in 2022 include his large work, An African American Requiem, with Resonance Ensemble and the Oregon Symphony and I Said What I Said for Imani Winds. Damien looks forward to his second opera, Holy Ground, premiering this summer at the Glimmerglass Festival.