""Queens was about eight years in the making," said Slack via Zoom. "The program was born out of frustration with the types of opera roles that are fairly standard for women. In opera, you're someone's mom, someone's wife, someone's girlfriend. It's never your story. Even in modern operas, you're often a victim of some man's not very bright decision.""
""I found all these incredible stories about African queens," said Slack, "There were women who had gone on to do extraordinary things. I started with the Aba Women's War in Nigeria and 1929. Then I started looking into women on the continent and going back into antiquity. That's how the concept for a concert program was born.""
""Some of the composers didn't know each other, but they really enjoyed the opportunity to talk," recalled Slack. "They thanked me for bringing them together. So I mentioned that I had an idea for an evening of song in which each composer would choose a queen and write about her. So that's where the 'African Queens' program began.""
Grammy-award-winning soprano Karen Slack created a program titled "African Queens" featuring seven new arias that celebrate fearless women from across Africa, including Amanirenas. The program emerged from frustration with stereotypical female roles in opera and grew from research into historical figures such as leaders involved in the Aba Women's War and figures from antiquity. During the pandemic Slack hosted KikiKonversations on Facebook, which brought together young African-American composers and moderators like Terrance Blanchard. Each composer selected an African queen to inspire an original aria, and the resulting concert will be presented at the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts.
Read at Oregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
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