Karen Slack
“...the feisty, rich-voiced soprano Karen Slack”
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She has received critical acclaim for her dynamic performances in both lead operatic roles and on the concert stage, and as a sought-after collaborator who is known as a leader and advocate, as a curator and artistic advisor, and for her ground-breaking approach to engagement.
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During the 2022-2023 season, Ms. Slack will give premiere performances of six new concert works written for her from chamber works by composers James Lee III, Tamar-kali, Shawn Okpebholo, and Adolphus Hailstork, to two new large-scale orchestral works by Hannibal Lokumbe.
Additional orchestral appearances include a performance at Carnegie Hall with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and a reprise of her solo role in Damien Geter’s Justice Symphony and Beethoven Symphony No. 9. Rounding out her concert stage performances will be featured roles in two major opera productions in the Canada and the US — the lead role in Tosca with Edmonton Opera and Freia in Das Rheingold with Dallas Opera.
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During the 2020-2021 season she served as the Co-Director for the Opera Program at the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts and as Co-Chair of the Women’s Opera Network with Opera America.
Opera Booking Engagements:
Bob Quintana
Quintana Artist Management
bob@quintanaartists.com
Praised for her “sizeable voice that captured all of the vacillating emotions” (The New York Times), Karen Slack is "not only one of the nation's most celebrated sopranos, but a leading voice in changing and making spaces in classical music" (Trilloquy). A recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, Slack is a sought-after collaborator, curator and artistic advisor known for her fiery charisma and groundbreaking approach to engagement.
A major highlight of Slack’s 2024-2025 season is the nationwide tour of her new commissioning project, African Queens, an evening-length vocal recital of new art songs celebrating the history and legacy of seven African queens, revered as rulers but not widely heralded in the Western world. The program weaves this historical narrative through new works by acclaimed composers Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, and Joel Thompson along with carefully selected traditional repertoire – further illuminated through passages of spoken text and thematic artwork. Slack will perform the world premiere of African Queens at the Ravinia Festival, followed by performances at co-commissioners Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, 92NY, Washington Performing Arts, Denver Friends of Chamber Music and Newport Classical Festival.
During the season, Slack will perform in the world premiere of Damien Geter’s Loving V. Virginia with the Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony; reprise the role of Mama in Minnesota Opera’s production of The Snowy Day; and feature as soloist with the Fresno Philharmonic. In July 2024, Slack released an ambitious new recording project, Beyond the Years, in collaboration with ONEComposer and pianist Michelle Cann on Azica Records. The album comprises the unpublished songs of Florence Price, highlighting Price’s affinity with themes of faith, nature, love and loss, and is accompanied by long-overdue published editions of Price’s music.
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During the 2023-2024 season, Slack made her solo debut with the New York Philharmonic, performing Beethoven’s Ah, Perfido! Op. 65 at David Geffen Hall, and debuted as a guest artist with Chamber Music Detroit, where she gave masterclasses and headlined two programs: performing as a soloist in Of Thee I Sing, curated by Slack as a call for racial justice and an appeal to the healing power of love, and appearing alongside the Pacifica Quartet in works by Beethoven, Price, and James Lee III – whose featured work, A Double Standard, was commissioned for Slack and the Quartet by Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Detroit, and Shriver Concert Series. In conjunction with Sparks and Wiry Cries, she performed in two productions of Songs in Flight, composer Shawn Okpebholo’s program exploring the stories of enslaved people who fled captivity, and she returned to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for selections from the Great American Songbook.
During the 2022-2023 season, Slack debuted with The Dallas Opera as Freia in Das Rheingold, and performed in the world premiere of Shawn Okpebholo’s Songs in Flight alongside singer and multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Kimmel Center. She appeared in two separate world premieres by Hannibal Lokumbe, performing as a soloist with the Nashville Symphony (The Jonah People) and Oklahoma City Philharmonic (Trials, Tears, Transcendence: The Journey of Clara Luper). She premiered Jasmine Barnes’ Songs of Paul, a tribute to Paul Robeson, with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and was featured soloist in the premiere of Damien Geter’s Justice Symphony with the Fresno Symphony and The Washington Chorus. Slack made her Houston Grand Opera debut in the world premiere of Joel Thompson and Andrea Davis Pinkney's A Snowy Day and, in January 2022, was appointed Creative Partner with Brooklyn’s National Sawdust. Slack debuted the role of Billie in the 2019 world premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones and made her film debut portraying the Opera Diva in Tyler Perry’s movie and soundtrack For Colored Girls. In addition, she has performed on the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Scottish Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Austin Opera, New Orleans Opera, Minnesota Opera, Vancouver Opera, Edmonton Opera, Sacramento Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Madison Opera, and Arizona Opera, among others.
When the pandemic limited live performances during the 2020-2021 season, Slack made premiere digital performances with Houston Grand Opera, Madison Opera, and Minnesota Opera. She also starred in a new production of the opera Driving While Black, presented by UrbanArias, and launched a digital talk show, #kikikonversations, drawing acclaim from Opera News and The New York Times. She co-created and performed in #saytheirnames – Women of the Movement, a film recital and production in partnership with Philadelphia’s Lyric Fest, performed in recital for Opera Philadelphia. Appearing alongside actor/narrator Liev Schreiber, she was featured in Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s Speaking Truth to Power program, hosted by livestream platform Idagio.
Throughout her illustrious career, Slack has performed Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder, and the Verdi Requiem with various orchestras throughout the United States. She was featured in her first performances of Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et la mer with the Omaha Symphony in collaboration with Opera Omaha. Abroad, she has appeared with the Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in celebration of the 80th birthday of conductor Yuri Temirkanov. Slack made her Carnegie Hall debut as Agnes Sorel in Tchaikovsky’s Maid of Orleans with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. She performed as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the world premiere of Hannibal Lokumbe’s Healing Tones with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Union Symphony Orchestra for Wagner’s Wesendonk Lieder.
Over recent seasons, Slack has amassed a body of work reflecting her dedication to premiering works by living composers, with particular focus on using her platform to elevate works by Black artists. Slack is an Artistic Advisor for Portland Opera, serves on the board of the American Composers Orchestra and Astral Artists, and holds a faculty position at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada. She has been named Lyric Unlimited Artist-in-Residence at Lyric Opera of Chicago for the 2024-2025 season as well as Artist-in-Residence at leading entrepreneurial institution Babson College.
A native Philadelphian, Slack is a graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, as well as the Adler Fellowship and the Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera. She is the winner of numerous competitions and awards – most notably the Montserrat Caballé International Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, George London Foundation Award, Marian Anderson ICON Award, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Rosa Ponselle International Vocal Competition, Portland Opera Lieber Award, Liederkranz Foundation Award and the Jose Iturbi International Competition for Voice. For more information, please visit www.sopranokarenslack.com.
August 2024 - Please do not edit without permission.
Videos
Programs & Repertoire
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Black History Month & Martin Luther King Jr. Day
William Grant Still: Serenade
John La Montaine: Songs of the Rose of Sharon, Op. 6
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George T. Walker: Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra
Damien Geter: Symphony No. 1, The Justice Symphony
John Carter: Cantata
INDEPENDENCE DAYFeaturing soprano soloist:
Samuel Barber: Knoxville, Summer 1915
Nkeiru Okoye: Songs of Harriet Tubman
John La Montaine: Songs of the Rose of Sharon, Op. 6
Selection of American songs: George Gershwin: The Man I Love
Someone to Watch Over Me
Summertime
I Got RhythmSelected songs to be mutually agreed in discussion:
Songs by Cole Porter, Rogers & Hammerstein
Songs by Florence Price
Traditional - spirituals and gospelOrchestral:
William Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony
Edmond Dede: Chicago
Damien Geter: Symphony No. 1, The Justice Symphony
Florence Price: Symphony No. 1 in E-minor
Florence Price: Andante moderato (for string orchestra)
Rick Robinson: Gitcha Groove On!
Kevin Scott: Fanfare G.A.F.: An American Overture
William Grant Still: Afro-American SymphonyHOLIDAY AND WINTER PROGRAMMING
Featuring soprano soloist (traditional):
Charles Gounod: Messe solennelle en l’honneur de Sainte-Cécile
G.F. Handel: Messiah, HWV 56
Felix Mendelssohn: Elijah (oratorio)
Sergei Rachmaninoff: The Bells, Op. 35
Camille Saint-Säens: Christmas Oratorio (Oratorio de Noël), Op. 12Featuring soprano soloist (contemporary):
Ernest Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer (Poem of Love and the Sea), Op. 19
John La Montaine: Songs of the Rose of Sharon, Op. 6
Sir Michael Tippett: A Child of Our Time
Five Spirituals
Ralph Vaughan-Williams: Dona Nobis PacemSelection of American songs:
George Gershwin: The Man I Love
Someone to Watch Over Me
Summertime
I Got RhythmSelected songs to be mutually agreed in discussion:
Songs by Cole Porter, Rogers & Hammerstein
Songs by Florence Price
Traditional - spirituals and gospelInSTILLness: WORKS OF WILLIAM GRANT STILL
Featuring soprano soloist:
William Grant Still: Wailing Woman
Grief
Citadel
Here’s OneSelected arias from the operas of William Grant Still:
In Ages Past, from A Bayou Legend
Golden Days, from Costaso
This Strange Awakening, from MotaTo be programmed alongside orchestral works by William Grant Still
AMERICAN OPERA ARIAS IN CONCERT
Samuel Barber: “Give Me My Robe” from Antony and Cleopatra, Op. 40
Samuel Barber: “Do Not Utter A Word” from Vanessa
Carlisle Floyd: “Ain’t it a Pretty Night” from Susannah
Tania León: “Oh Yemanja” from Scourge of Hyacinths
Missy Mazzoli: “Strange Dreams” from Proving Up
Dan Shore: “I been tryin’ to get to Jackson for three days” from Freedom Ride
Dan Shore: “So, Clayton, you think I ain’t got the guts?” from Freedom Ride
William Grant Still: “In Ages Past” from A Bayou Legend
William Grant Still: “Golden Days” from Costaso
William Grant Still: “This Strange Awakening” from Mota -
Bach
St. Matthew’s PassionBarber
Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Andromache’s Farewell*
Cleopatra - scenes & selectionsBartók
Bluebeard’s CastleBeethoven
Ah, Perfido!*
Egmont
Mass in C*
Missa Solenem*
Symphony 9Berg
Altenberg Lieder*
Sieben Frühe Lieder*Berlioz
Death of Cleopatra*
Les nuits d’été*Brahms
Ein Deutches RequiemBritten
War Requiem*Bruckner
Requiem*Chausson
Poemes de l’amour et la merDETT
The Ordering of Moses**Dvořák
Requiem*
Stabat Mater*
Te Deum*Gershwin
Porgy and Bess SuiteGeter
Justice Symphony**Gounod
Christmas Oratorio*Lokumbe
Healing Tones
The Jonah People**
Trials, Tears, Transcendence: The Journey of Clara Luper**Mahler
Das Lied Von Der Erde
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen*
Rückert-Lieder*
Symphony 2, 4 and 8* (Sop II)Mendelssohn
Elijah*
Lobegesang (Sop I)Moore
Scenes from the Life of a Martyr**Mozart
Concert arias
Requiem*Ravel
Chanson Madecasses
Sheherazade*Rossini
Stabat Mater*Saint-Säens
Christmas Oratorio*Schoenberg
GurreliederR. Strauss
Orchestra songs
Vier Letzte LiederSzymanovsky
Stabat MaterTippett
A Child of Our TimeVaughn-Williams
Dona Nobis PacemVerdi
RequiemWagner
Wesendonck Lieder
Liebestod from Tristan und IsoldeZemlinsky
Lyric Symphony**-denotes in preparation or studied
**- denotes new work in 22-23 season -
PROGRAM I - OF THEE I SING
Clayton White: Over My Head
Undine Smith Moore: Let The Wind Cry...How I Adore Thee
I Want to Die While You Love Me
Ricky Ian Gordon: My People
Scott Gendel: Kids Who Die
H. Leslie Adams: Prayer
Jake Heggie: Eleanor Roosevelt: Marian Anderson’s Mink Coat
From Iconic Legacies: First Ladies at The Smithsonian
Adolphus Hailstork: Songs from Love and Justice
(Text by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Decisions
Love[Optional] Selection of Spirituals: To be announced from the stage
PROGRAM II
M. Ravel: Melodies hébraïques
I. Kaddish
F. Schubert: Die liebe hat gelogen
Der tod und das Mädchen Gretchen am Spinnrade
R. Strauss: Wir beide wollen springen
Schlectes Wetter
Wiegenlied
Morgen
Zuiegnung
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J. Turina: Poemes en Forma de Canciones, Op. 19
I. Dedicatoria
II. Nunca olvida
III. Cantares
IV. Los dos miedos
V. Las locas por amor
G. Gershwin: Summertime
The Man I Love
Duke Ellington: Sophisticated Lady
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
arr. M. Bonds: Lord I Just Can’t Keep From Crying
arr. Zenobia Powell Perry: De Angles Done Bowed Down
arr. Jaqueline Hairston: Don’t Feel No Ways TiredPROGRAM III
Ravel: Deux Mélodies Hébraïques
I. Kaddish
II. L’enigme éternelle
Brahms: Von Ewiger Liebe
Feldeinsamkeit
Meine Liebe ist Grün
Barber: Hermit Songs
I. At Saint Patrick’s Purgatory
II. Church Bell at Night
III. St. Ita’s Vision
IV. The Heavenly Banquet
V. The Crucifixion
VI. Sea-snatch
VII. Promiscuity
VIII. The Monk and His Cat
IX. The Praises of God
X. The Desire for Hermitage
arr. M. Bonds: You Can Tell The World
arr. D. Ragland: Rockin Jerusalem
Bright Mansions
arr. S.Okopeblo: Steal Away
arr. H. Johnson: WitnessPROGRAM III (2025-26) - DREAM VARIATIONS
Undine Smith Moore: Dream Variation
Gustav Mahler: Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft
Alban Berg: Sommertage
Michel LeGrand: The Summer Knows
Hugo Wolf: Er ist'sHector Berlioz: Vilianelle
George Gershwin: Love Walked In
Richard Strauss: Lob des Liedens, Op. 15, No. 3
Harold Arlen: Stormy WeatherJosef Marx: Und gestern hat er mir Rosen gebracht
Hugo Wolf: Bedeckt mich mit Blumen
Reynaldo Hahn: L’Heure exquise
Undine Smith Moore: Lyric for Truelove*****
Johannes Brahms: Es träumte mir
Graham Lyle (arr. Terry Britten): What's Love Got To Do With It?
Franz Schubert: Die Liebe hat gelogen
Francis Poulenc: Les Chemins de l'amourTraditional folk song: Cotton-Eyed Joe
David Del Tredici: Acrostic Song Richard Wagner: TräumePrograms must be approved by the Karen Slack. Repertoire subject to change.
Projects
#KikiKonversations
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#KikiKonversations
Created by Karen Slack, this weekly show features discussions with artists and creators in the Opera, classical music and broadway field, and beyond.
Stephanie Blythe, Mezzo-soprano episode 18 of #KikiKonversations
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![]()
#KikiKonversations
Created by Karen Slack, this weekly show features discussions with artists and creators in the Opera, classical music and broadway field, and beyond.
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![]()
#KikiKonversations
Created by Karen Slack, this weekly show features discussions with artists and creators in the Opera, classical music and broadway field, and beyond.
Afton Battle, General Director of the Fort Worth Opera ep. 28 of #KikiKonversations
