Miller Theatre goes gospel with Damien Sneed

Gospel music, normally reserved for Sunday church services, will be performed for a different sort of congregation this week.

On Friday, classical, jazz, and gospel musician Damien Sneed will come to Miller Theatre as part of the venue’s Jazz Series. The Damien Sneed Gospel Extravaganza will include performances by nearly 50 professional instrumentalists and vocalists, including a choir of 20, eight musicians, 10 background vocalists, and 10 soloists.

Sneed has appeared at Miller twice before, with renowned musicians Wycliffe Gordon and Eric Reed. The pianist, organist, vocalist, guitarist, composer, and conductor now returns as the bandleader and will sing and play a host of his original songs, as well as one or two traditional gospel songs.

Sneed’s music is influenced by a variety of genres, including country, rock, jazz, and even opera. His open-mindedness toward music in virtually every form and style is informed by his equally eclectic background—he was born in Georgia and attended school in both Maryland and New York, where he currently lives. “Being in school was what allowed me to perform in different genres…I’m a city guy now, I love it,” Sneed said.

Despite his diverse history, one factor has been a constant in Sneed’s life—music. He picked up the guitar and piano at age three and began singing soon afterwards. Sneed was interested in classical music from a young age, and while he later branched out to appreciate nearly every genre, he still considers opera to be his favorite style of music.

Today, Sneed continues to share his long-standing passion for classical music with his students as a professor of music at Queensborough Community College in Queens. He is also a staff accompanist at The Juilliard School at Lincoln Center and the music director of the Greater Allen Cathedral of New York in Jamaica, Queens.

Sneed’s resume includes performances in 42 U.S. states alongside a variety of music legends, including Tanya Blount, Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and the Boys Choir of Harlem. He has composed commercial music for “American Idol” Fantasia Barrino and a Ford Motor Company commercial and made his conducting debut at Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2008 with Wynton Marsalis.

Sneed has several special guests lined up for the performance, including his own biological family, with whom Sneed was reunited after he wrote a song about his adoption. Their presence at the performance will make it all the more poignant for Sneed, who said he feels “honored to have so many friends who are willing to work with me.”

Additionally, every one of the singers and musicians performing with Sneed on Friday has worked with him in the past, so the show is truly an intimate affair. “All of these vocalists, I know them very well, I know their voices very well. I’ve worked with all of them before. That’s what’s really amazing,” said Sneed. “Everybody is going to come to the stage with such a level of excitement and excellence in their execution.”