Karen Slack Will Perform Two Concerts, With Pacifica SQ and in Solo Recital

Karen Slack will be a featured performer in two Detroit concerts in October, both part of her debut as guest artist with Chamber Music Detroit during its 80th anniversary season. A recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, Slack is known for her fiery charisma and ground-breaking approach to engagement as she continues to amass a body of work that reflects her dedication to premiering works by living composers. Her recitals feature mostly composers of color and demonstrate Slack as a prominent advocate in creating more inclusive environments.

On Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 8:00pm, Slack performs as a guest soloist with the renowned Pacifica Quartet at Michigan's Seligman Performing Arts Center in a program that includes a new work by Baltimore-based composer James Lee III, written for the quartet and Slack through a co-commission from Carnegie Hall, Shriver Hall, Chamber Music Cincinnati, and Chamber Music Detroit. The Pacifica's program also includes works by Florence Price, Louis Gruenberg, and the String Quartet No. 15 in a minor, Op. 132 by Ludwig van Beethoven.

On Sunday, October 15 at 3:00pm, Slack will appear at Oakland University's Varner Recital Hall to perform her critically-acclaimed recital, Of Thee I Sing! Songs of Love & Justice with pianist Casey Robards. Curated by Slack in the summer of 2020, during the height of the pandemic and just after the murder of George Floyd, this deeply moving program was built around Langston Hughes' raw and powerful, yet hopeful 1938 poem, The Kids Who Die. Musical works include Scott Gendel's Kids Who Die, written for Slack in 2017, alongside songs by fellow American composers H.T Burleigh, Clayton White, Undine Smith Moore, H. Leslie Adams, Ricky Ian Gordon, Adolphus Hailstork and Jake Heggie. This impactful recital features songs around the themes of love and justice as a reminder that no matter race, ethnicity, or politics, we are all human. Through these soaring melodies and beautiful text, Slack will guide the audience on a musical journey, expression and shared understanding that without love there can never be liberty or justice for all.

Program Details
Chamber Music Detroit Presents Pacifica Quartet & Karen Slack, soprano
Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 8:00pm
Seligman Performing Arts Center | Beverly Hills, MI
Tickets: $10-75
Link: www.chambermusicdetroit.org/2023-24/pacifica-slack

Program:
Florence Price - String Quartet No. 1 in G Major
Louis Gruenberg - Four Diversions for String Quartet, Op. 32
James Lee III - A Double Standard (Co-Commissioned by Chamber Music Detroit)
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132

Chamber Music Detroit Presents Of Thee I Sing! Songs of Love and Justice
Sunday, October 15, 2023 at 3:00pm
Varner Recital Hall - Oakland University | Rochester, MI
Tickets: $10-50
Link: www.chambermusicdetroit.org/2023-24/karen-slack

Program:
Clayton White - Over My Head
Undine Smith Moore - Love Let the Wind Cry... How I Adore Thee
Undine Smith Moore - I Want to Die While You Love Me
H.T. Burleigh - Lovely Dark and Lowly One
Ricky Ian Gordon - My People
Scott Gendel - Kids Who Die
H. Leslie Adams - Prayer
Jake Heggie - "Eleanor Roosevelt: Marian Anderson's Mink Coat" from Iconic Legacies: First Ladies of the Smithsonian
Adolphus Hailstork (Text by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) - Songs from Love and Justice
i. Decisions
ii. Love
Traditional - Selection of Spirituals

Karen Slack, soprano
Casey Robards, piano

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