Town Hall to Host BLACK HISTORY MONTH CHORAL FESTIVAL Featuring Damien Sneed
Damien Sneed curates a celebration of African American musical heritage at The Town Hall
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Feb. 20, 2026
The Town Hall will present the return of the Black History Month Choral Festival, featuring 250 students from NYC School Choirs. The celebration will take place on Thursday February 26, 2026 at 11:00am at The Town Hall. The event will also be livestreamed on The Town Hall's YouTube channel @TownHallNYC.
This year, students from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts Gospel Choir and Band, Stuyvesant High School Oratorio Choir, and Talent Unlimited High School Concert Choir will present a selection of songs that honor the legacy of Black history and the work of living composers. The Festival will culminate in a joint-choir performance of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing,” widely regarded as the Black National Anthem, directed by award-winning composer and multi-disciplinary artist Damien Sneed. In the weeks leading up to the performance, Sneed has led workshops with the selected school choirs in preparation for the students' Town Hall performance.
The Town Hall's annual Black History Month Program invites schools and educational organizations from the greater New York City area to participate as performers and audience members. The annual event serves as a tool for students to recognize and appreciate the legacy of Black and African American artistic traditions and creative contributions. In previous years, the program showcased poetry, dance, music, and more. Watch last year's BHM Choral Festival here.
ABOUT DAMIEN SNEED
As a multi-genre recording artist and instrumentalist, Damien LeChateau Sneed is a pianist, vocalist, organist, composer, conductor, arranger, producer, and arts educator whose work spans multiple genres. He has worked with jazz, classical, pop, and R&B legends, including the late Aretha Franklin and Jessye Norman, Wynton Marsalis, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Ashford & Simpson, Jennifer Holliday, Denyce Graves, Lawrence Brownlee, and many others. Sneed is also the founder and artistic director of Chorale Le Chateau, which has gained a global reputation for its vivid interpretations of vocal literature, from Renaissance period pieces to art songs to jazz, spirituals, gospel, and avant-garde contemporary music.
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