KAREN SLACK:
AFRICAN QUEENS
PATRICIA RESER CENTER FOR THE ARTS
SEPTEMBER 13 & 14, 2025
Dear Friends,
Welcome! After four years of eager anticipation, we are finally welcoming home our Artistic Ambassador, the incomparable Karen Slack.
Karen is so much more than a Grammy Award–winning soprano of international acclaim—she is family. Since first joining us as Artistic Advisor, she has shared her vision, her generosity, and her spirit with us in ways that words can barely capture. Even when distance and circumstance kept her from our stage, her presence has continued to inspire and guide our community.
Tonight, that long wait comes to an end. To see Karen here, to hear her artistry in person, feels like the homecoming we have all been hoping for. At the heart of this evening is her extraordinary, curated program, African Queens—a powerful work created by nine different composers, each paying homage to seven real-life queens whose stories embody strength, resilience, and beauty.
This tapestry of music is both personal and universal. It celebrates history, uplifts voices too often unheard, and invites us to see ourselves reflected in the courage and grace of these remarkable women. It is music that speaks to who we are as a community— and who we aspire to become.
This concert is not just a performance—it is a dream fulfilled, a reunion, and a moment of profound gratitude. We are so glad you are here to honor Karen, to welcome her with open arms, and to share in this extraordinary celebration together.
Sue Dixon Portland Opera General Director
Credit: Kia Caldwell
KAREN SLACK
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). Her debut album, Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price on Azica Records, won the 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.
In the high point of her 2024-2025 season, Slack embarks on a nationwide tour of her new commissioning project, African Queens, an eveninglength 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. Featuring new works by acclaimed composers Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon and Joel Thompson Slack performs 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, University of Toronto, and Newport Classical Festival. Beyond the Years, her debut recording project featuring unpublished songs by Florence Price, developed in collaboration with ONEcomposer and pianist Michelle Cann, was released on Azica Records in August 2024.
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. 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 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.
Karen 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, Austin Opera, New Orleans Opera, Minnesota Opera, Vancouver Opera, Edmonton Opera, Sacramento Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Madison Opera and Arizona Opera, among others. Abroad, she has appeared with the Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestras, and St. Petersburg Philharmonic. Slack 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 with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. She made her New York Philharmonic debut in May 2024.
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 has been named Lyric Unlimited Artistin-Residence at Lyric Opera of Chicago for the 20242025 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. For more information, please visit www.sopranokarenslack.com
KEVIN MILLER
GRAMMY ® Award-nominated American pianist and collaborator Kevin J. Miller is acclaimed for his dynamically artful performances. Recent collaborations include recitals with international artists, Lawrence Brownlee, Joseph Calleja, Nadine Sierra, John Holiday, Will Liverman, and Leah Hawkins. Mr. Miller also prepared soprano Jessye Norman for performances of Laura Karpman’s production of Ask Your Mama, which was performed at Carnegie Hall. He can be heard on piano on the recording Been in da Storm So Long, which features baritone Kenneth Overton. He can also be heard on Lawrence Brownlee’s recent release Rising.
Mr. Miller studied at the Mannes College of Music, where he received a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano. He continued his studies at the University of Michigan School of Music where he received both a Master of Music degree and the Artist Diploma in Collaborative Piano under the tutelage of Martin Katz.
Mr. Miller has held music staff positions at major opera houses across the country including The Metropolitan, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, Washington National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Cincinnati Opera, and Opera Theater St. Louis.
Soprano
KAREN SLACK
Piano
KEVIN MILLER
PROGRAM
Precatio*
DAVE RAGLAND (b. 1978)
Behold, the Queen*
CARLOS SIMON (b. 1986)
The Queen of Sheba*
DAVE RAGLAND (b. 1978)
The Song of Nzingah*
JESSIE NZINGA MONTGOMERY (b. 1981)
Luwah (Bitter Tears)
FRED ONOVWEROSUOKE (b. 1960)
A Letter From Queen Ufua*
SHAWN OKPEBHOLO (b. 1981)
INTERMISSION
Duniya (Mystic Universe)
FRED ONOVWEROSUOKE (b. 1960)
I Am Not Your God*
JASMINE ARIELLE BARNES (b. 1991)
A Prayer
WILL LIVERMAN (b. 1988)
Queen Nanny’s Lullabye*
JOEL THOMPSON (b. 1988)
Amanirenas*
DAMIEN GETER (b. 1980)
* Commissioned for Karen Slack by Denver Friends of Chamber Music along with the Ravinia Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School, Boston Symphony Orchestra for the Tanglewood Learning Institute, Washington Performing Arts, The 92nd Street Y, and the Newport Classical Music Festival
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