← Back to The Diamonstein-Spielvogel Youth and Contemporary Music Initiative

Karen Slack
Artist Mentor

Known for performances that “ripped the audience’s hearts out” (Opera News), Karen Slack is “not only one of the nation's most celebrated sopranos, but a leading voice in changing-making spaces in classical music” (Trilloquy). A recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, 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. Highlights of Slack’s 2023-2024 season include her debuts with the New York Philharmonic and two performances as guest artist at Chamber Music Detroit, plus are turn to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, a return to the Festival Internacional de Música Sacra Bogotá in Colombia, and a performance with the Pacifica Quartet in Denver. Slack embarks upon an ambitious new recording project in collaboration with ONE Composer and pianist Michelle Cann, to be released on Azica Records, and debuts her new commissioning project African Queens, an evening-length vocal recital of new art songs by acclaimed composers Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, and Joel Thompson. Slack has amassed a body of work that reflects her dedication to elevating works by living composers, particularly Black artists. In recent seasons, she has premiered programs including Songs in Flight at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, two separate compositions by Hannibal Lokumbe with the Nashville Symphony and Oklahoma City Philharmonic; Jasmine Barnes’ Songs of Paul with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall; Damien Geter’s Justice Symphony with the Fresno Symphony and The Washington Chorus; and Joel Thompson and Andrea Davis Pinkney's A Snowy Day with Houston Grand Opera. When the pandemic limited live performances, Slack launched an acclaimed digital talk show, #kikikonversations. She has performed on the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Scottish Opera, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and many others. She has appeared with the Melbourne and Sydney symphonies, the Bergen Philharmonic, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, made her Carnegie Hall debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and performed as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the world premiere of Hannibal Lokumbe’s Healing Tones led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. A native Philadelphian, Slack is a graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music and the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program. For more information, please visit www.sopranokarenslack.com