Karen Slack
About
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).
Highlights of Slack’s 2024–2025 season included a nationwide tour of 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. She gave the world premiere of African Queens at the Ravinia Festival and performed it at the Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, 92NY, Washington Performing Arts, Denver Friends of Chamber Music, and Newport Classical Festival.
During the season, Slack performed in the world premiere of Damien Geter’s Loving v. Virginia with the Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony, reprised the role of Mama in Minnesota Opera’s production of The Snowy Day, and appeared as a soloist with the Fresno Philharmonic. In July 2024, she released a new recording project "Beyond the Years" in collaboration with ONEComposer and pianist Michelle Cann on Azica Records.
Slack 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 symphony orchestras, the Bergen Philharmonic, and 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 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 for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada. She was named Lyric Unlimited artist-in-residence at Lyric Opera of Chicago for the 2024–2025 season, as well as artist-in-residence at the leading entrepreneurial institution Babson College.
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.