Multi-genre artist Damien Sneed will join the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Urban League partnership as composer in their multi-year endeavor Empower Youth! Igniting Creativity through the Arts.  The goal of Empower Youth! is to create a multidisciplinary afterschool program that will culminate in the presentation of a fully-staged youth-centric opera based upon real-life experiences of approximately 30 high-school students drawn from Chicago communities.

Maestro Damien Sneed will be joined in this endeavor by poet and librettist Patricia Smith. 

Damien Sneedis a multi-genre recording artist who is widely admired for his range of musical talents and extraordinary achievements in his burgeoning career. A 2014 recipient of the prestigious Sphinx Medal of Excellence Award, which is presented annually to emerging Black and Latino leaders in classical music, Sneed has garnered attention in a wide range of musical genres, including gospel, jazz, pop, and R&B. A pianist, organist, conductor, composer, producer, arranger, vocal coach, and arts educator, Sneed has worked with jazz, classical, pop, and R&B legends such as Wynton Marsalis, Jessye Norman, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Carlos Santana, and Ashford & Simpson. Sneed is an Artist-in-Residence at Nyack’s Christian College in New York City.