A sought after pianist, organist, vocal coach, conductor, composer, arranger, lecturer, and producer, Damien Sneed is a native of Augusta, Georgia and a graduate of John S. Davidson Fine Arts School. He has studied at some of the finest conservatories and universities including Howard University (Bachelor of Music – Piano Performance), the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, New York University (Master of Music: Music – Music Technology: Scoring for Film and Multimedia), the Manhattan School of Music, and the Christian Bible Institute and Seminary (Honorary Doctorate of Sacred Music). Damien’s professional affiliations have included the City University of New York (CUNY) as a professor of music, The Juilliard School as a staff accompanist, the Martina Arroyo Foundation as an artistic consultant, Jazz at Lincoln Center as an artistic consultant, and YAMAHA as an endorsed Influential Artist.

He is now serving as the musical director for the hit Gospel singing competition television show, Sunday Best, on the Black Entertainment Television (BET) channel. Sneed has arranged more than 90 songs and collaborated with the show’s contestants, background vocalists, band members and executives as Musical Director for Season Four of the Sunday Best series. The television show, which was filmed in Atlanta garnered more than 1.1 million viewers during its third season debut, showcases the vocal talents of artists from across the country in a competition to become the next great gospel star. Sneed is surrounded by top-notch talent on the show which is hosted by gospel icon Kirk Franklin (“Melodies from Heaven”, “Stomp”), and judged by veteran gospel recording artist Donnie McClurkin (“We Fall Down”) and the award-winning contemporary gospel duo Mary Mary (“Yesterday”, “Walking”). And serving as the vocal mentor for the show is Kim Burrell, one of the greatest musical instruments alive today.

Damien recently completed his first LIVE recording project, Introspections LIVE, at Columbia University’s Miller Theater. The project, which takes the listener on a musical journey through his development as a performer includes classical, jazz and gospel music. Introspections was released January 2011.

March 13, 2010, marked his solo classical piano debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, where he accompanied a violist from the faculty of New England Conservatory and collaborated with a young, rising operatic soprano from Serbia, Dusica Bijelic. In November 2010, he accompanied Jessye Norman on the piano at the Avery Fisher Hall for a gala performance.

Damien’s conducting debut took place in April 2008 at Jazz at Lincoln Center where he conducted the world premiere of Wynton Marsalis’ Mass, a composition almost 2 hours in length, for the entire Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and a 150-voice choir. Those performances were aired on NBC, LIVE on XM Satellite Radio internationally and on WBGO in the New York City Area respectively. With a piece that he arranged and scored for the entire 64-piece New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Damien’s compositional debut took place in June 2008 along with American Idol Finalist Anwar Robinson and conductor Thomas Wilkins.

Damien performed and participated in “A Celebration of America” in the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater on the eve of President Barack Obama’s Inauguration and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The event was hosted by Angela Bassett, Courtney Vance, Wynton Marsalis, and retired US Supreme Court Chief Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. He performed along with guest artists including Dianne Reaves, Cassandra Wilson, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Jessye Norman, Dave Brubeck, Paquito D’Rivera, Roy Haynes, Wynton Marsalis, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and many more.

Damien has the ability to shift between different musical genres and styles: from classical to jazz to gospel to opera to Broadway and more. For example, Damien Sneed accompanied Jessye Norman on piano with 5 spirituals chosen by Ms. Norman that he arranged in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s Bicentennial at the Grand Opening of Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. Other guest artists for the evening included George Lucas, James Earl Jones, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Joshua Bell, Audra McDonald, and Jeffrey Wright. Then one week later, Damien conducted and arranged music for a combined orchestra of The Juilliard School & Manhattan School of Music students commemorating Black History Month.

Damien was recently nominated for a Grammy Award in the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards for Album of the Year in the Traditional Gospel music category for his work as co-producer, vocal arranger, background vocalist, music director, and keyboard player on Vickie Winans’ project, How I Got Over. The album also received two Stellar Awards.

He has served as Music Director for the following artists in the gospel music arena – Karen Clark-Sheard, Vickie Winans, Nikki Ross, Twinkie Clark, Melonie Daniels, Dorinda Clark-Cole, Kierra Sheard, the Clark Sisters, Richard Smallwood, Donnie McClurkin, Marvin Sapp, and others. In other genres, Damien has been afforded the opportunity to perform with many other musical legends and entertainment moguls such as Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, David Sanborn, Kenny Burrell, Hezekiah Walker, American Idol’s Fantasia Barrino, George Huff & Anwar Robinson, Ashford & Simpson, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Minneapolis Symphony, Darin Atwater & Soulful Symphony, Lorna Myers, Opera Ebony, Opera Noire, Wycliffe Gordon, Eric Reed, the Boys Choir of Harlem, the Oakwood College Aeolians, and many other notable world-class performers. His musical prowess has earned him performances in Europe, Japan, the U.S. Virgin Islands, South America and over 42 states in the US. Finally, Damien has recorded and produced several internationally distributed projects along with other Grammy-Award winning artists.

His forthcoming project, Kingdom Victory LIVE, is the long-awaited musical debut of Iona Locke.  Damien’s credits on the album include producer, writer, musical director, keyboards and vocals.  The double-disc recording will be available for purchase after its release date on August 17, 2011.