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Press Releases
Composer, Conductor & Bass-Baritone Damien Geter Announces 2024/2025 Season
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mallory McFarland | Morahan Arts and Media
mallory@morahanartsandmedia.com | 646.241.0899
Composer, Conductor & Bass-Baritone
Damien Geter Announces 2024/2025 Season
World Premiere of Loving v. Virginia,
Co-Commissioned by
Virginia Opera & Richmond Symphony,
Performances from April 25 to May 11, 2025
Amanirenas Performed by Soprano Karen Slack
at the Ravinia Festival, Aspen Music Festival,
Friends of Chamber Music Denver, Washington
Performing Arts, 92nd Street Y, New York, and
Nashville Symphony
Geter Returns to Portland Opera to Conduct
Paul Moravec & Mark Campbell’s The Shining,
March 16 to 23, 2025
Workshop of New Opera Delta King’s Blues,
Commissioned by IN Series,
World Premiere in Fall 2025
Several New Christmas Works
Commissioned by the Nathaniel Dett Chorale
Conducting Engagements at Carmel Symphony Orchestra Including Opening Night Beethoven Gala Celebration with Indianapolis Opera and The Nutcracker with Indiana Ballet Conservatory
Newly Commissioned Song Gentle lady, do not sing included on New Album from
Choral Scholars University College Dublin on Signum Classics
“If I had but one word to sum up composer and bass-baritone Damien Geter…
I’ll go with ‘major.’” – The Washington Post
New York, NY (August 21, 2024) — Acclaimed composer, conductor, and bass-baritone Damien Geter (“invigoratingly fresh”, Opera Today) announces his 2024/2025 season, which includes the world premiere of the new major opera Loving v. Virginia, a workshop of his opera Delta King’s Blues, performances of his song Amanirenas by soprano Karen Slack across the U.S., conducting The Shining at Portland Opera, leading multiple performances with Carmel Symphony Orchestra, and several newly commissioned pieces by the Nathaniel Dett Chorale. Geter also serves as composer-in-residence with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra through 2026 and Interim Music Director & Artistic Advisor at Portland Opera.
Co-commissioned by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony, Damien Geter’s new major opera, Loving v. Virginia, comes to audiences across Virginia next spring. Part of Virginia Opera’s 50th Anniversary season, this highly anticipated world premiere chronicles a young couple’s interracial marriage in 1958 that sparked a Supreme Court case and eventual victory for civil rights in the United States. This operatic retelling, with a libretto by Jessica Murphy Moo and directed by Denyce Graves, is based on the true story of Mildred and Richard Loving. Loving v. Virginia is co-produced by Virginia Opera and Minnesota Opera, conducted by Adam Turner, and stars Flora Hawk, Jonathan Michie, Troy Cook, Christian Sanders, Benjamin Werley, Adam Richardson, Tesia Kwarteng, Phillip Bullock, Karen Slack, and Alissa Anderson.
Performances of Loving v. Virginia take place at the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk, VA on Friday, April 25, 2025 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, April 27, 2025 at 2:30 PM; at the George Mason University Center for the Arts in Fairfax, VA on Saturday, May 3, 2025 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, May 4, 2025 at 2:00 PM; and at the Dominion Energy Center Carpenter Theatre in Richmond, VA on Friday, May 9, 2025 at 7:30 PM, Saturday, May 10, 2025 at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, May 11, 2025 at 2:30 PM. Learn more about the project here.
Soprano Karen Slack commissioned Geter to write a piece for her new commissioning project, African Queens, which serves as an evening-length vocal recital comprised of new art songs that celebrate the history and legacy of seven African queens who were revered as rulers but not widely heralded in the Western world. Geter’s new song is titled, Amanirenas, was performed by Slack on Thursday, August 1, 2024 at 7:30 PM at the Ravinia Festival and Wednesday, August 7, 2024 at 7:30 PM at Aspen Music Festival, and will have upcoming performances on Wednesday, October 2, 2024 at 7:30 PM at Friends of Chamber Music Denver; Sunday, March 9, 2025 at 7:30 PM at Washington Performing Arts; Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 7:30 PM at the 92nd Street Y, New York; and Sunday, March 16, 2025 at 7:30 PM at the Nashville Symphony.
Another new opera by Geter, Delta King’s Blues, commissioned by IN Series, will be workshopped on January 25, 2025 and later premiered in Fall 2025.
This season, Geter has also been commissioned by the Nathaniel Dett Chorale to write several new Christmas pieces. Premiere date to be announced.
Geter’s song, Gentle lady, do not sing, will be included on the Choral Scholars University College Dublin’s album Chamber Music by James Joyce, Volume I. The recording, featuring the Solstice Ensemble and Desmond Earley, will be released by Signum Classics (UK) on September 20, 2024. Earley commissioned eighteen composers from around the world in this collection. Geter’s brand-new composition features solo English horn behind the Choral Scholars and touches on themes of love, maturity, resignation, and acceptance of life’s ephemeral nature, based on Joyce’s poem Gentle Lady.
As a conductor, Damien Geter leads The Shining at Portland Opera with performances on Saturday, March 15 at 7:30 PM, Wednesday, March 19 at 7:30 PM, Friday, March 21 at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 2:00 PM. Audiences can experience an unnerving journey through madness and the supernatural in a gripping adaptation of Stephen King’s iconic novel. With a score by Pulitzer Prize and Grammy-winning composer Paul Moravec and a libretto by Mark Campbell, The Shining thrills while also including sweeping melodic moments.
Geter also joins Carmel Symphony Orchestra at The Palladium leading multiple performances including their Opening Night: Beethoven Gala Celebration with special guests from the Indianapolis Opera on Saturday, October 5, 2024, America the Beautiful on Saturday, November 16, 2024, and The Nutcracker featuring the Indiana Ballet Conservatory on Saturday, November 30, 2024 (two performances) and Sunday, December 1, 2024 (also two performances).
Damien Geter is an acclaimed American composer who infuses classical music with various styles from the Black diaspora to create music that furthers the cause for social justice. His rapidly growing and “invigoratingly fresh” (Opera Today) body of work includes chamber, vocal, orchestral, and full operatic works, with his compositions praised for their “skillful vocal writing” (Wall Street Journal). He is also a celebrated bass-baritone – “amazing to listen to. Possessed of a rolling, resonant voice even at the lowest register” (Northwest Reverb) – whose varied credits include performances from the operatic stage to the television screen. Called “superb” by The News Tribune, DC Theater Arts praises his “commanding presence and voice full of bass-baritone gravitas”. Geter is Richmond Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence through 2026 and serves as Interim Music Director & Artistic Advisor at Portland Opera.
Concert Information
African Queens
Wednesday, October 2, 2024 at 7:30 PM
Gates Hall, Newman Center | 2344 E. Iliff Ave. | Denver, CO
Link: https://friendsofchambermusic.com/event/karen-slack-soprano-and-kevin-miller-piano/
DAMIEN GETER — Amanirenas
Karen Slack, soprano
Kevin Miller, piano
________________________________________
Opening Night: Beethoven Gala Celebration with special guests from the Indianapolis Opera
Saturday, October 5, 2024
The Palladium at The Center for the Performing Arts | 1 Carter Green | Carmel, IN
Link: https://carmelsymphony.org/2024-25-concert-season/
________________________________________
America the Beautiful
Saturday, November 16, 2024
The Palladium at The Center for the Performing Arts | 1 Carter Green | Carmel, IN
Link: https://carmelsymphony.org/2024-25-concert-season/
________________________________________
The Nutcracker featuring the Indiana Ballet Conservatory
Saturday, November 30, 2024
Sunday, December 1, 2024
The Palladium at The Center for the Performing Arts | 1 Carter Green | Carmel, IN
Link: https://carmelsymphony.org/2024-25-concert-season/
________________________________________
Workshop of Delta King’s Blues
Commissioned by IN Series
Saturday, January 25, 2025
DAMIEN GETER – Delta King’s Blues
________________________________________
African Queens
Sunday, March 9, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater | 2700 F St NW | Washington, DC
Link: https://www.washingtonperformingarts.org/event/karen-slack-soprano/
Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Buttenwieser Hall at The Arnhold Center | 1395 Lexington Avenue | New York, NY
Link: https://www.92ny.org/event/karen-slack
Sunday, March 16, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Schermerhorn Symphony Center | 1 Symphony Pl | Nashville, TN
Link: https://www.nashvillesymphony.org/tickets/concert/2024-2025-season/african-queens-karen-slack/
DAMIEN GETER — Amanirenas
Karen Slack, soprano
Kevin Miller, piano
________________________________________
The Shining
Saturday, March 15, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Wednesday, March 19, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Friday, March 21, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Newmark Theatre | 1111 SW Broadway | Portland, OR
Link: https://www.portlandopera.org/performances-tickets/24-25-season/the-shining/
PAUL MORAVEC — The Shining
Libretto by Mark Campbell
Damien Geter, Conductor
________________________________________
Loving v. Virginia (World Premiere)
Co-commissioned by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony
Friday, April 25, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, April 27, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Harrison Opera House | 160 W Virginia Beach Blvd | Norfolk, VA
Saturday, May 3, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, May 4, 2025 2:00 PM
George Mason University Center for the Arts | 4373 Mason Pond Dr | Fairfax, VA
Friday, May 9, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, May 10, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, May 11, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center | 600 E Grace St Suite 400 | Richmond, VA
Link: https://vaopera.org/loving-v-virginia/
DAMIEN GETER – Loving v. Virginia
Libretto by Jessica Murphy Moo
________________________________________
World Premiere of several new Christmas works
Commissioned by the Nathaniel Dett Chorale
Premiere date TBA
DAMIEN GETER – New works
About Damien Geter
Damien Geter is an acclaimed American composer who infuses classical music with various styles from the Black diaspora to create music that furthers the cause for social justice, as well as a celebrated bass-baritone – “amazing to listen to. Possessed of a rolling, resonant voice even at the lowest register” (Northwest Reverb) – whose varied credits include performances from the operatic stage to the television screen. He is Richmond Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence through 2026 and serves as Interim Music Director & Artistic Advisor at Portland Opera.
Geter’s rapidly growing and “invigoratingly fresh” (Opera Today) body of work includes chamber, vocal, orchestral, and full operatic works, with his compositions praised for their “skillful vocal writing” (Wall Street Journal). In the 2024/2025 season, the world premiere of Geter’s new major opera, Loving v. Virginia, concludes Virginia Opera’s 50th anniversary season. Based on the true story of Mildred and Richard Loving, the opera is co-commissioned by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony, co-produced by Virginia Opera and Minnesota Opera, and features a libretto by Jessica Murphy Moo, Denyce Graves as director, and Adam Turner conducting. Another new opera of Geter’s, Delta King’s Blues, commissioned by IN Series, will be workshopped in January 2025 and premiered later that year. His song, Amanirenas, commissioned by soprano Karen Slack for her African Queens art song program, tours at Washington Performing Arts, the Ravinia Festival, Aspen Music Festival, 92nd Street Y New York, the Nashville Symphony, and Friends of Chamber Music Denver. His newly commissioned song, Gentle lady, do not sing, is included on the Choral Scholars University College Dublin’s album, Music by James Joyce, Volume I (September 2024, Signum Classics).
As conductor this season, he leads Paul Moravec’s opera The Shining, based on Stephen King’s iconic novel, at Portland Opera, and Carmel Symphony Orchestra’s Opening Night Gala, America the Beautiful concert, and The Nutcracker featuring the Indiana Ballet Conservatory.
Future commissions include world premieres with the Richmond Symphony and Nathaniel Dett Chorale, plus a new operatic production at Portland Opera in 2026.
In the 2023/2024 season, Des Moines Metro Opera presented the full-length world premiere of Geter’s opera, American Apollo, starring Justin Austin, William Burden, and Mary Dunleavy, with a libretto by Lila Palmer and David Neely conducting. Opera Now proclaimed Geter’s orchestrations created “a kaleidoscopic ‘American Impressionism’, with borrowings from other genres of the time, creating a diverse palate to accommodate the vivid characters” and Opera Today stated the composer’s “sound palette and approach is very much his own distinct amalgamated voice”. Last season, Chicago Symphony Orchestra programmed Geter’s Annunciation on the concert Montgomery and the Blacknificent 7; Richmond Symphony premiered Sinfonia Americana; his song cycle COTTON saw its New York premiere at the 92nd Street Y, starring Denyce Graves and Justin Austin; Oregon Bach Festival presented his new Bach transcription after Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C Minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier; and the Recording Inclusivity Initiative recorded his String Quartet No. 1 “Neo-Soul”.
In 2022, Geter had six premieres as a composer, including his large work, An African American Requiem, in partnership with Resonance Ensemble and the Oregon Symphony 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; his one-act opera Holy Ground for Glimmerglass Opera; Elegy for the American Guild of Organists; The Bronze Legacy for Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and the chamber version of American Apollo for Des Moines Metro Opera.
Called “superb” by The News Tribune, DC Theater Arts praises his “commanding presence and voice full of bass-baritone gravitas”. Last season, Geter portrayed the role of abolitionist and historian William Still to great critical acclaim in Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec’s oratorio Sanctuary Road, presented by Virginia Opera, and based on the writings of Still, who is credited with helping nearly 800 enslaved African Americans escape to freedom. He also joined Auburn Symphony Orchestra in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony and Rembrandt Chamber Musicians in The Wayfarer’s Melodies: A Musical Journey, singing the John Ireland Songs of a Wayfarer cycle.
Recent season highlights include Geter’s Metropolitan Opera debut in the Grammy award-winning production of Porgy and Bess as the Undertaker. He performed the title role of Quamino in the world premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s Quamino’s Map with Chicago Opera Theatre; as Angelotti in Tosca with the Portland and Eugene Operas; as Archibald Craven in The Secret Garden with Hawaii Opera Theatre; and as Sam in Reno Symphony’s Voices of a Nation: Trouble in Tahiti. In concert, Geter performed as the bass soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Richmond Symphony and Fresno Philharmonic, Handel’s Messiah with North Carolina Symphony, and in the role of William Still in Sanctuary Road with the Oakland Symphony.
On television, Geter made his TV debut as John Sacks on NBC's Grimm and was seen in Netflix's Trinkets. Musical theater credits include Kevin Rosario in Lin Manuel-Miranda's In the Heights and Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar.
Geter is an alumnus of the Austrian American Mozart Festival and the Aspen Opera Center, and was a semifinalist for the Irma Cooper Vocal Competition. He toured with the prestigious American Spiritual Ensemble, a group that helps promote preserving the American art form the spiritual.
He is the owner of DG Music, Sans Fear Publishing. Music in Context: An Examination of Western European Music Through a Sociopolitical Lens, the book he co-authored, is available on Amazon, or directly from the publisher, Kendall Hunt.
Learn more at www.damiengetermusic.com.
Photo at top of release by Rachel Hadiashar
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