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Damien Geter’s

Cantata for a More

Hopeful Tomorrow

JORDAN M. SHOMPER

Damien Geter’s Cantata for a More Hopeful To- director of Portland Opera. Geter’s works have
morrow is a contemporary social justice work that been performed by renowned orchestras, choirs,
charts an emotional journey from fear to hope and other musical organizations throughout the
in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Struc- United States. To date, his oeuvre includes over
tured in five powerful movements, the cantata two dozen works in the following genres: cham-
leads listeners from anxiety and uncertainty in ber, large-scale instrumental, small-scale vocal,
“Fear,” through the inward reflection of “The operatic, and choral.
Prayer” and “Breathe,” to the renewed optimism
of “The Resolve” and “Hope.” Geter recontex-
tualizes elements from historical works and com- Cantata for a More Hopeful Tomorrow
bines them with contemporary secular poetry The cantata was commissioned by Eugene
to create a piece that connects time periods and Rogers and The Washington Chorus in 2020,
communities. Scored for SATB choir with divi- in part to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of
si, chamber singers (SATB quartet), cello, and the chorus and Rogers’s first concert as director.
vocal soloist, Cantata for a More Hopeful Tomorrow The Chorus opened its 2020 fall season virtually
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is a technically compelling work and a powerful by streaming a twenty-three-minute short film
expression of resilience and transformation that created by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker
merits further study and performance. Bob Berg, which featured Cantata for a More Hope-
ful Tomorrow, The Washington Chorus, soprano
Aundi Marie Moore, and cellist Seth Parker
Biography Woods. Since its premiere, the cantata has been
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Damien Geter is a multi-faceted artist. A suc- programmed by many notable organizations
cessful opera singer, music director, conductor, ar- and university choirs.
tistic advisor, actor, author, teacher, and composer, Geter’s work focuses on COVID-19, specifi-
he also owns his own publishing company. He has cally the pandemic’s disproportionate impact
served on the music faculty at The Catlin Gabel on Black Americans. The composer summa-
School in Portland, Oregon, and co-authored the rized his approach, saying, “It is a fact that the
book Music in Historical Context: An Examination of pandemic has touched the Black community
Western European Music Through a Socio-political Lens in a much more aggressive manner than other
with Merrin Guice. Currently he works as music communities. To highlight this atrocity, I chose to
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CHORAL JOURNAL November/December 2025 Volume 66 Number 4 69