Karen Slack

Praised as “one of opera’s strongest voices at present—both as a singer and a shaper of its culture” (Washington Post), Grammy Award-winning soprano Karen Slack is celebrated as both an extraordinary performer and a changemaker in classical music.

Recently, Slack has been on a nationwide tour for her critically acclaimed African Queens, which continues into her 2025–26 season, including an orchestral version presented by the Naples Philharmonic in Florida. Slack’s season engagements include world premieres of Tamar-kali’s new work with the Miró Quartet for the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s presentation of Kathryn Bostic’s Drag, and Brittany J. Green’s Letters to America, part of American Composers Orchestra’s program Hello, America: Letters to Us, from Us. She also appears with the Orlando Philharmonic, Chamber Music Cincinnati, the Iris Collective, and Spivey Hall.

Slack’s Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price with pianist Michelle Cann in collaboration with ONEcomposer on Azica Records won the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. In 2025, Slack was featured on Shawn Okpebholo’s album Songs in Flight, released with Cedille Records.

Slack has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Scottish Opera, and many others. In concert, her credits include the Melbourne and Sydney symphonies, Bergen Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall, and Philadelphia Orchestra. She made her New York Philharmonic debut in May 2024.

A recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence and 2025 MPower Artist Grant, Slack is an artistic advisor for Portland Opera, serves on the board of the American Composers Orchestra, and holds a faculty position at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. In the 2024–25 season, she served as artist in residence at both Lyric Opera of Chicago and Babson College.

A native Philadelphian, Slack is a 2002 graduate of Curtis Institute of Music, as well as an Adler Fellow of the Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera. She joined the Curtis faculty in 2025.