The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY), one of New York’s leading cultural venues, presents Karen Slack, soprano & Kevin Miller, piano: African Queens on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 7:30pm ET on the Buttenwieser Hall at The Arnhold Center and streaming online.

Internationally acclaimed soprano, Sphinx Medal of Excellence winner, and 2025 Grammy-Award winner Karen Slack offers the New York premiere of her new commissioning project African Queens. The original piece features new art songs exploring the legacy of seven powerful African queens throughout history who were revered as rulers but under-celebrated in the western world. Hailed for the rich beauty of her voice, her charismatic performances, and her passionate activism, Slack has captivated audiences in the Metropolitan Opera’s world premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, Tyler Perry’s film For Colored Girls, and much more.

Slack performs alongside pianist Kevin Miller in this brilliantly curated program, which reflects the beauty, humility, passion, and power of seven iconic queens. The program features eight new songs written for Slack by some of today’s most acclaimed African and American composers: Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, and Joel Thompson, a.k.a the Blacknificent 7, a musical collective that was the brainchild of Karen Slack herself, with special guest Will Liverman. Featured song texts are by Lorene Cary, Alicia Haymer, Tsitsi Ella Jaji, Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton, and creative collaborator for the African Queens project, Jay Saint Flono.

African Queens (92NY co-commission)

Dave Ragland “Precatio” *

Carlos Simon “Behold, The Queen” *

Dave Ragland “The Queen of Sheba” *

Jessie Nzingha Montgomery “The Song of Nzingha” *

Fred Onovwerosuoke “Luwah (Bitter Tears)”

Shawn Okpebholo “A Letter From Queen Ufua” *

Fred Onovwerosuoke “Duniya (Mystic Universe)”

Jasmine Arielle Barnes “I Am Not Your God” *

Will Liverman “A Prayer”

Joel Thompson “Queen Nanny’s Lullabye” *

Damien Geter “Amanirenas” *

*Commissioned for Karen Slack by the Ravinia Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School, Boston Symphony Orchestra for the Tanglewood Learning Institute, Denver Friends of Chamber Music, Washington Performing Arts, The 92nd Street Y, New York, and the Newport Classical Music Festival.

Praised for her “sizeable voice that captured all of the vacillating emotions” (The New York Times), GRAMMY® Award-winning soprano Karen Slack is celebrated as both an extraordinary performer and a change-maker in classical music.

Highlighting Slack’s 2024-2025 season is the nationwide tour of her new commissioning project, African Queens, a recital of new art songs by Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon and Joel Thompson. In July 2024, she released her debut commercial recording, Beyond the Years, alongside pianist Michelle Cann and ONEcomposer on Azica Records, and the project won the 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.

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, 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 the 2024-2025 season, she served as Artist-in-Residence at both Lyric Opera of Chicago and Babson College.

Tickets are available at https://www.92ny.org/event/karen-slack. Online streaming is also available for 72 hours following the performance.