Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Recital
Karen Slack, soprano
Miko Simmons, visual design
AFRICAN QUEENS
Karen Slack, soprano
Kevin Miller, piano
Miko Simmons, visual design
AFRICAN QUEENS
Sunday, March 9, 2025 / 7:30 p.m.
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Recital
“Not only one of the nation’s most celebrated sopranos, but a leading voice in changing and making spaces in classical music.” – Trilloquy
Karen Slack is an operatic virtuoso who debuted the role of Billie in the 2019 world premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, and who has amassed a body of work highlighting living composers. Simultaneously she has developed a career as sought-after curator and collaborator and now brings her new commissioning project, African Queens, to its regional debut. The evening-length vocal recital of art songs celebrates the history and legacy of seven African queens, revered as rulers but not widely heralded in the western world. The program weaves historical narrative through new works by acclaimed composers Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Fred Onovwerosuoke, Will Liverman, 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.
Washington Performing Arts is a project co-commissioner of African Queens. This performance is the third-annual Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Recital—a yearly performance honoring a dear friend of Washington Performing Arts and elevating new work of both established and renowned artists.
Presented in cooperation with the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts.
This performance is an external rental presented in coordination with the Kennedy Center Campus Rentals Office and is not produced by the Kennedy Center.
Program Details
Dave Ragland – Precatio
Carlos Simon – Behold, The Queen
Dave Ragland – The Queen of Sheba
Jessie Montgomery – The Song of Nzingah
Fred Onovwerosuoke – Luwah (Bitter Tears)
Shawn Okpebholo – A Letter From Queen Ufua
Fred Onovwerosuoke – Duniya (Mystic Universe)
Jasmine Barnes – I Am Not Your God
Will Liverman – A Prayer
Joel Thompson – Queen Nanny’s Lullabye
Damien Geter – Amanirenas
More About the Artist
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. 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.
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.
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.
“We artists need institutions that say, ‘We see and hear you and want to give you the space.’ I’ve been in the trenches. When you have someone support what you do, like Washington Performing Arts does, I’m grateful for that.”
– Karen Slack
Q&A
Q&A with Karen Slack
Washington Performing Arts spoke with award-winning soprano Karen Slack earlier this winter about her thoughts on developing African Queens from idea to the stage.
Q: How would you describe African Queens in your own words?
It’s an experience! The richness of storytelling along with the diverse soundscape of these gifted composers make it not your typical formal recital evening. I wanted to incorporate elements of Black artistic cultural staples including not just sung text but spoken. After being frustrated with my operatic role options as a singer, particularly for Black women, I wanted to create an evening of song that explores new subject matter that centers strong, powerful women who had accomplished extraordinary things throughout history.
Q: African Queens brings together a host of impressive composers and writers to develop the narratives of seven queens and explore their passion, power, and humility. However did you choose just these seven stories?! In what way has your collaboration with them full creative team surprised you?
In my own research I found there were thousands of queens throughout history and their stories were fascinating. Since these composers are in high demand, I wanted to make their jobs easier so my creative collaborator Jay St. Flono and I presented the with about 18 summarized stories. Six composers chose a queen that resonated with them from the list but Shawn Okpebholo chose to compose a piece about great-great Queen Ufua. What surprised me the most was how the entire creative team jumped at the opportunity to collaborate on this project. Everyone was excited and delivered beautiful work that reflects each of their gifts.
Q: How has working with Washington Performing Arts and our team as co-commissioning partners helped develop this new work from idea to performance?
Washington Performing Arts has been incredible. I was thrilled that you all immediately came onboard to support this project and found additional support for my desire to add visuals to further elevate the storytelling. Those of us artists and creatives who have had very traditional careers are now exploring multiple ways to create art in new ways on our own terms, it is imperative to have organizations like WPA to support but to also continue bringing unique, innovative and artists centered programming to their audiences.
Q: Please share a little about the visuals making their debut in D.C. How will these visuals add to the storytelling experience of the piece?
I first worked with Minneapolis-based visual artist Miko Simmons on a project for Minnesota Opera during the pandemic. Miko created beautiful designs for our virtual presentation. Last year he was the designer for a stunning production composed by Hannibal Lokumbe with Nashville Symphony and he I knew he was the right fit to begin my journey into adding this next level to African Queens. The visuals he’s created are to support the beauty of these women, their stories and to add another depth of creativity to this work. I want the audience to not only hear my voice but to see the beauty of the culture, continent and the power of these women.
Q: African Queens is the third-annual Washington Performing Arts Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Recital and Award—celebrating the Justice’s life, legacy, and love of music through the development of new music commissions and a prize for artists in the field of vocal and instrumental music. What does it mean to you to receive the 2025 award?
What a tremendous honor to receive this award and to have African Queens be the recital to represent a women who in her lifetime did extraordinary things. RBG was a trailblazer and fierce leader who never waited for permission to create change. Like myself and the women that we are honoring in this recital, her legacy lives through all of us who aspire to break barriers, defy odds and share the gift of music with all.
Q: What do you hope audience take away from the experience of hearing these pieces and histories, and during Women’s History Month?
My hope is that the audience continues to support these tremendous composers throughout their careers. In addition, I hope that they are inspired by the small piece of these women’s stories and do more research on their own. The stories of powerful African warrior women on and off the diaspora who lead nations are rarely ever told in the classical space so that suggests that these stories with don’t exist or aren’t relevant. Neither is the case.
Washington Performing Arts spoke with award-winning soprano Karen Slack earlier this winter about her thoughts on developing African Queens from idea to the stage.
Q: How would you describe African Queens in your own words?
It’s an experience! The richness of storytelling along with the diverse soundscape of these gifted composers make it not your typical formal recital evening. I wanted to incorporate elements of Black artistic cultural staples including not just sung text but spoken. After being frustrated with my operatic role options as a singer, particularly for Black women, I wanted to create an evening of song that explores new subject matter that centers strong, powerful women who had accomplished extraordinary things throughout history.
Q: African Queens brings together a host of impressive composers and writers to develop the narratives of seven queens and explore their passion, power, and humility. However did you choose just these seven stories?! In what way has your collaboration with them full creative team surprised you?
In my own research I found there were thousands of queens throughout history and their stories were fascinating. Since these composers are in high demand, I wanted to make their jobs easier so my creative collaborator Jay St. Flono and I presented the with about 18 summarized stories. Six composers chose a queen that resonated with them from the list but Shawn Okpebholo chose to compose a piece about great-great Queen Ufua. What surprised me the most was how the entire creative team jumped at the opportunity to collaborate on this project. Everyone was excited and delivered beautiful work that reflects each of their gifts.
Q: How has working with Washington Performing Arts and our team as co-commissioning partners helped develop this new work from idea to performance?
Washington Performing Arts has been incredible. I was thrilled that you all immediately came onboard to support this project and found additional support for my desire to add visuals to further elevate the storytelling. Those of us artists and creatives who have had very traditional careers are now exploring multiple ways to create art in new ways on our own terms, it is imperative to have organizations like WPA to support but to also continue bringing unique, innovative and artists centered programming to their audiences.
Q: Please share a little about the visuals making their debut in D.C. How will these visuals add to the storytelling experience of the piece?
I first worked with Minneapolis-based visual artist Miko Simmons on a project for Minnesota Opera during the pandemic. Miko created beautiful designs for our virtual presentation. Last year he was the designer for a stunning production composed by Hannibal Lokumbe with Nashville Symphony and he I knew he was the right fit to begin my journey into adding this next level to African Queens. The visuals he’s created are to support the beauty of these women, their stories and to add another depth of creativity to this work. I want the audience to not only hear my voice but to see the beauty of the culture, continent and the power of these women.
Q: African Queens is the third-annual Washington Performing Arts Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Recital and Award—celebrating the Justice’s life, legacy, and love of music through the development of new music commissions and a prize for artists in the field of vocal and instrumental music. What does it mean to you to receive the 2025 award?
What a tremendous honor to receive this award and to have African Queens be the recital to represent a women who in her lifetime did extraordinary things. RBG was a trailblazer and fierce leader who never waited for permission to create change. Like myself and the women that we are honoring in this recital, her legacy lives through all of us who aspire to break barriers, defy odds and share the gift of music with all.
Q: What do you hope audience take away from the experience of hearing these pieces and histories, and during Women’s History Month?
My hope is that the audience continues to support these tremendous composers throughout their careers. In addition, I hope that they are inspired by the small piece of these women’s stories and do more research on their own. The stories of powerful African warrior women on and off the diaspora who lead nations are rarely ever told in the classical space so that suggests that these stories with don’t exist or aren’t relevant. Neither is the case.
Our Partners
Washington Performing Arts’s presentation of this project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
This event was also made possible through the generous support of the following sponsors: Kerrien Suarez; Mr. and Mrs. Michael Sonnenreich.
Washington Performing Arts’s classical music performances this season are made possible in part through the generous support of Betsy and Robert Feinberg and the Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts.
Washington Performing Arts also thanks the dozens of donors to the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Award and Recital Fund who helped make this concert possible.
Special thanks to the following lead supporters of Washington Performing Arts’s mission-driven work: Jacqueline Badger Mars and Mars, Incorporated; D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities; the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs Program and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; and Events DC.
Join us before the show!
Before the African Queens program, join us for Take Note – a free educational pre-concert conversation with scholars, artists, and leading arts education experts who will explore the music and historical narratives behind this unique performance, blending compositions by acclaimed composers with spoken word.
Space is limited. RSVP required.
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