Miró Quartet with Karen Slack, soprano
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
7:30pm
Leo Rich Theater
This program is made possible in part through a collaboration with the Tucson Desert Song Festival (TDSF).
SAMUEL BARBER
String Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11
WILLIAM GRANT STILL
Songs of Separation (arr. John Largess)
TAMAR-KALI
New Work (World Premiere, AFCM Commission)
GEORGE WALKER
Lyric for Strings
FLORENCE PRICE
String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor
MARGARET BONDS
Creek-Freedman Songs
Notes on the Program
Heralded composer Tamar-kali, whose work spans contemporary pop, classical, and film music genres, has collaborated with the Miró Quartet and soprano Karen Slack to create this special celebration of the life, times, and works of composer and pianist Margaret Bonds. The first half of the program uses the Barber String Quartet to frame a general mid-twentieth-century context for Bonds’ work. Additional repertoire features works by her teacher, Florence Price, her friend William Grant Still, and her younger contemporary George Walker. These relationships are integral to telling a more complete story about Bonds’ life as well as painting a broader picture of the African-American classical music community during that era. Tamar-kali’s new work, co-commissioned by Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, sets texts centered in the inspirational poetry of women of the Harlem Renaissance. Tucson Desert Song Festival is proud to include this concert in its 2026 lineup.
Miró Quartet
Formed in 1995, the Miró Quartet was awarded first prize at several national and international competitions, including the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition. Deeply committed to music education, members of the Quartet have given master classes at universities and conservatories throughout the world, and since 2003, the Miró has served as the quartet-in-residence at the University of Texas at Austin Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music. In 2005, the Quartet became the first ensemble ever to be awarded the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Karen Slack
Praised for her “sizeable voice that captured all of the vacillating emotions” (The New York Times), Karen Slack is “not only one of the nation’s most celebrated sopranos, but a leading voice in changing and making spaces in classical music”(Trilloquy).
A recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, Slack is a sought-after collaborator, curator and artistic advisor known for her fiery charisma and groundbreaking approach to engagement. Her debut album, Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price on Azica Records, won the 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.
A major highlight of Slack’s 2024-2025 season is the nationwide tour of her new commissioning project, African Queens, an evening-length vocal recital of new art songs celebrating the history and legacy of seven African queens, revered as rulers but not widely heralded in the Western world. The program weaves this historical narrative through new works by acclaimed composers Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, and Joel Thompson along with carefully selected traditional repertoire–further illuminated through passages of spoken text and thematic artwork. Slack will perform the world premiere of African Queens at the Ravinia Festival, followed by performances at co-commissioners Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, 92NY, Washington Performing Arts, Denver Friends of Chamber Music, University of Toronto, and Newport Classical Festival.
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