(Credit: Kia Caldwell Photography)

Few sopranos have managed to build as diverse a career as Karen Slack has over the past few years.

Throughout the pandemic, Slack made numerous premiere digital performances with such companies as the Houston Grand Opera, Madison Opera, and Minnesota Opera. She launched her digital talk show “#kikikonversations.” She’s been a massive advocate for new works, starring in major premieres for “Driving While Black,” “Songs of Paul,” the “Justice Symphony,” “A Snowy Day,” “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” “Songs in Flight,” and “A Double Standard,” among others. Meanwhile, she has appeared at such major stages as 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 in both new and traditional works.

And Slack’s just getting started. Next season she will be in the world premiere of “Loving V. Virginia” and was recently named Artist-in-Residence at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Babson College.

And she’s launching her new project “African Queens,” a recital featuring new art songs that celebrate the history and legacy of seven African Queens. The showcase includes music by Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, and Joel Thompson. The world premiere of the project is set to take place in just a few weeks (as of this writing) at the Ravinia Festival.

OperaWire caught up with Slack prior to the premiere to talk about the project and her hopes for “African Queens.”

OperaWire: What excites you most about performing at the Ravinia Festival this summer? 

Karen Slack: Performing at the Ravinia Festival has always been a dream of mine since I was a participant in the Steans Program back in 2007. It is one of the premiere summer festivals in America that brings out music lovers of all genres from all over the country. What excites me most is that this recital will be heard not just by classical music lovers but hopefully by an audience who just loves great music and has an appreciation for the voice!

OW: You will be presenting “African Queens,” a program that you are currently touring. Tell me about the inception of “African Queens.” What inspired you?

KS: Part of my inspiration came out of frustration of not being able to tell the stories of women that I wanted to tell in addition to not finding more repertoire that specifically spoke to the subject matter! Powerful African women who did extraordinary things in history. Being put in a box in opera is a real thing not just for singers and as a black soprano it has its own challenges. As an artist, performing roles that I felt were one dimensional and never brought much insight into who these women truly were unless it was tied to a man’s story just doesn’t feed me. I wasn’t going to wait to be asked to do a project like this because I knew for a fact that wasn’t going to happen. I dreamt about it, developed it and my management team went to work to get the support we needed to make it all happen. Cleopatra and Nefertiti yes but we have Queen Nzingah, Amina, Makeda, Nanny, etc. So many more stories to tell throughout the diaspora! 

OW: What were the major challenges of creating this program?

KS: Singularly premiering so many different new works by different composers in one evening!! Nine newly commissioned works and several pieces that are new in my repertoire!! WHOOSH!

OW: The program includes eight new songs written for you. How did you go about finding the composers you wanted to collaborate with on this project? What was your role in shaping or developing the individual pieces? 

KS: There was the episode of #KikiKonversations that Terence Blanchard moderated that brought six out of the seven in the Blacknificent 7 together. After the episode, they became a group and Carlos Simon was brought in. I approached them about an idea that I had (“African Queens”) and they all immediately said yes. I’ve been dreaming of this subject for at least eight years and this was the right time with the right artists. I had an idea of which Queens I wanted to present, visuals, themes, etc. I brought in counter-tenor, librettist Jay St. Flono to work with me to research and lock down several Queens throughout history to present to the composers. Jay’s poetry is fabulous!! The pieces written by Jessie Montgomery and Carlos Simon are Jay’s with a few additional spoken throughout the recital. When I saw that baritone Will Liverman adding composer to his already stacked resume I texted him and asked if he would bless me with a song and he agreed. Collaboration is the name of the game! 

OW: A crucial component of the recital is the collaborator, in this case Kevin Miller. How long have you worked together and why is he the one you chose to create this program with? 

KS: This is our first collaboration together but I’ve known Kevin for more than 10 years. I was first introduced to him by baritone Kenneth Overton who was then Artistic Director of Opera Noire of NYC where he would play concerts for the organization. Early on I would ask Kevin to play some auditions in New York so that he could get his feet wet in the repertoire and that administrators could hear him play! Kevin is a dear friend, a gifted pianist, and has an immense passion for opera, vocal technique, and singing. When I was dreaming up the evening and what I wanted this whole project to look like, my first thought was that I had to have a Black pianist with tremendous skill to collaborate. Someone whom I trusted, I knew cared for me because this is a difficult endeavor, and loved the challenge of playing all types of music, not just standard repertoire. 

OW: What do you hope audiences take away from the experience of “African Queens?”

KS: I hope they go straight to Google and deep dive into the tremendous stories of these Queens! I hope operas, concertos, and symphonies are written about them and other WOMEN who were extraordinary humans! I  hope these composers get more exposure and opportunities and that even more composers and librettists of color get support to create stories outside of the box!

OW: What are some other upcoming projects you are looking forward to?

KS: “Beyond the Years” is my upcoming album that releases on July 26th on Azica Records with the tremendous pianist Michelle Cann. It’s all unpublished songs by the great American composer Florence Price. Looking forward to touring that in addition to several dates of African Queen across America. There are some additional projects to be announced in 2025-26 that are very exciting so stay tuned for those!