With a recent GRAMMY Award win for Classical Vocal Solo, soprano Karen Slack is on a tour with a new recital program titled African Queens. She’ll be at the University of Toronto in Toronto’s Walter Hall on March 20, 2025, joined by pianist Kevin Miller.
Slack’s GRAMMY win for her debut album Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price on Azica Records represents the first time the Best Classical Vocal Album prize has gone to an album of music entirely by a Black composer.
The Toronto performance is presented as part of the John R. Stratton Visitor in Music Recital series. The African Queens tour takes Slack from Washington D.C. to New York City, and finally Toronto from March 9 to March 20.
Karen Slack performs Idolatry by William Grant Still:
Soprano Karen Slack
A native of Philadelphia, Slack is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music. She has dedicated much of her musical practice to the work of living composers, including a focus on Black artists.
Slack made premiere digital performances with Houston Grand Opera, Madison Opera, and Minnesota Opera during the pandemic. She has performed on the stages of major opera companies across North America, in Australia and Europe, and made her New York Philharmonic debut in May 2024.
Karen holds a faculty position at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and has been named Lyric Unlimited Artist-in-Residence at Lyric Opera of Chicago for the 2024-2025 season.
African Queens
African Queens celebrates the history of seven African queens, whose stories are rarely told outside their homelands. The Queens they celebrate include Nandi, Queen Mother of the Zulu Nation; Amanirenas, Kingdom of Kush (Nubia, or modern day northern Sudan/southern Egypt); Ufua (Akhilomen) of Uromi in Esanland (southern part of Nigeria); Nzingha, Queen of Ambundu/Kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba (Angola); Queen of Sheba (antiquity biblical); Aminatu Zaria (Nigeria); and Nanny of the Maroons, Jamaica (born to the Asante/present day Ghana).
The program consists of new art songs written by leading contemporary Black composers, including the members of the composer collective Blacknificent Seven: Jessie Montgomery, Damien Geter, Carlos Simon, Joel Thompson, Dave Ragland, Jasmine Barnes and Shawn Okpebholo, along with Will Liverman.
Each song tells the story of a different queen. The performance incorporates texts by Du’Bois Akeen, Lorene Cary, Jay St. Flono, Alicia Haymer, Tsitsi Ella Jaji, and Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton, which are interspersed with the songs, and connect the stories.
Slack conceived of the project during the pandemic, hosting a Composers Roundtable on her YouTube show which was moderated by composer Terence Blanchard. The world premiere took place in August 2024 at the Ravinia Festival, and has subsequently been performed at the Aspen Music Festival and Friends of Chamber Music Denver, as well as Music Academy of the West.
Much of the song cycle was co-commissioned for Slack by a collection of organizations that include the Ravinia Music Festival, Boston Symphony Orchestra for the Tanglewood Learning Institute, Washington Performing Arts, and the Newport Classical Music Festival, among others.
Karen is also working on an orchestral version of African Queens for future performances.
- The March 20 Toronto performance is free of charge; more info [HERE].
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