Damien Geter is an acclaimed American composer whose rapidly growing body of work includes chamber, vocal, orchestral, and full operatic works. Praised by The New Yorker for writing “beautifully for voices and elegantly for orchestra,” his “emotionally driven” (Opera) compositions are widely hailed for their “skillful vocal writing” (Wall Street Journal). Geter is Richmond Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence through 2026, and Composer-in-Residence for Fall 2025 at both Indiana State University’s Contemporary Music Festival and Ear Taxi Festival. He serves as Music Director for Portland Opera.

In the 2025-2026 season, Geter’s brand new opera, Delta King’s Blues, with a libretto by Jarrod Lee, will be premiered by IN Series in Washington, DC, and Baltimore. The first full opera commissioned by IN Series, it celebrates the legacy of legendary guitarist Robert Johnson with a “blues opera” that tells the Faustian story of the bargain he struck with the devil: selling his immortal soul to learn the language of the blues. Geter’s song Amanirenas, commissioned by soprano Karen Slack for her African Queens art song program, continues to tour nationally at the Portland and Piedmont Operas, as well as the Naples Philharmonic in its orchestral premiere. His song cycle COTTON will be performed by Justin Austin, J’Nai Bridges, and Laura Ward at La Jolla Music Society. Additionally, Richmond Symphony premieres his Loving v. Virginia Suite, the Chicago Philharmonic and Richmond Symphony present An African American Requiem, Ear Taxi Festival presents I Said What I Said, VocalEssence presents The Justice Symphony, and Fresno Philharmonic performs Sinfonia Americana.

As a conductor, Geter leads Portland Opera in Verdi’s Requiem, joins Symphony New Hampshire to lead their Holiday Pops concert, and conducts Redlands Symphony in works by Britten, Copeland, and Teresa Carreño.

Last season marked the world premiere of Geter’s critically acclaimed Loving v. Virginia, featuring a libretto by Jessica Murphy Moo, which concluded Virginia Opera’s 50th anniversary season. Based on the true story of Mildred and Richard Loving, the opera – hailed as “nothing short of a masterpiece” by Operawire and “one of the most successful new operas of the decade” by Washington Classical Review – was co-commissioned by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony, co-produced by Virginia Opera and Minnesota Opera. His commissioned song, Gentle lady, do not sing, was included on the Choral Scholars University College Dublin’s album, Music by James Joyce, Volume I (September 2024, Signum Classics). He conducted performances of 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.

In the 2023-24 season, Des Moines Metro Opera presented the full-length world premiere of Geter’s opera, American Apollo, to critical acclaim. 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.”

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.

Favorite highlights from recent seasons include: Chicago Symphony Orchestra programming his Annunciation; Richmond Symphony premiering Sinfonia Americana; COTTON’s premieres in Washington, DC, at The Kennedy Center, presented by Washington Performing Arts, and New York at the 92nd Street Y; Oregon Bach Festival presenting his new Bach transcription after Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C Minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier; the Recording Inclusivity Initiative recordeing String Quartet No. 1 “Neo-Soul”; conducting his own An African American Requiem at Fort Worth Opera; conducting at Portland Opera the performance ABSENCE: Terence Blanchard plus the West Coast premiere of Joel Thompson’s The Snowy Day; the commissions Cantata for a Hopeful Tomorrow for The Washington Chorus with subsequent performances at Pacific Chorale, Choral Arts Northwest, Bethune Cookman University, Northern Arizona University, Southwestern University, and Berkshire Choral International; The Justice Symphony for the University of Michigan with subsequent performances with The Washington Chorus at the Kennedy Center; Buh-roke for the Portland Baroque Orchestra; and Invisible for Opera Theater Oregon.

Geter has been recognized by the Library of Virginia with its honorary Patron of Letters degree, was honored at the 2025 Strong Men & Women in Virginia History awards presented by Dominion Energy and the Library of Virginia, and was selected as a 2025 BRAVO! honoree by the Chesterfield Education Foundation.

He 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 of the spiritual.

Damien Geter hosts the podcast ARTillery and 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.