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

Recently, Slack has been on a nationwide tour for her critically-acclaimed African Queens, which
continues into her 25-26 season, including an orchestral version presented by the Naples Philharmonic in
Naples, 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, 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Slack’s Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price with pianist Michelle Cann in collaboration with ONEcomposer on Azica Records won the 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal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 2024-2025 season, she served as
Artist-in-Residence at both Lyric Opera of Chicago and Babson College.

A native Philadelphian, Slack is a graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, as well as the Adler Fellowship and the Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera. Learn more at
www.karenslack.com.

In 2025, Aristo Sham was awarded both the Gold Medal and Audience Prize at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Praised by critics as “a marvel of deft characterization”, “consistently authoritative,” and by the The New York Times as a pianist “whose playing combines clarity, elegance and abundant technique.” Sham has dazzled audiences across five continents. His performance of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No.2 in the final of the Van Cliburn was lauded for its “purpose, direction, structural awareness, technical finesse and mature artistry” by Gramophone.

In previous seasons, Sham has appeared with the London Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, English Chamber, Orchestre Chambre de Lausanne, Utah Symphony, and Minnesota orchestras with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Marin Alsop, Edo de Waart and Sir Raymond Leppard. His 2025/26 debut season as Cliburn winner includes a major tour of Asia through South Korea and China, and U.S. recitals for Aspen Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society/The Conrad, UCSB Arts and Lectures, and the Skyline Piano Artist Series at Northwestern University.

In 2009, Sham was featured in the documentary ‘The World’s Greatest Musical Prodigies’, broadcast by Channel 4 in the UK. He has also performed for royalty and dignitaries such as King Charles and the Queen of Belgium. In 2024, he recorded and hosted the complete Brahms solo piano music on RTHK4, Classical Radio in Hong Kong.

Sham first gained international recognition when he won First Prize in the Ettlingen International Piano Competition in Germany in 2006, and First Prize in the Gina Bachauer International Junior Piano Competition in 2008. He is the First Prize Winner of the 2018 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions and in 2023, he won the Grand Prix at the Monte-Carlo Music Masters. He is also the recipient of top prizes at the Casagrande, Vendome Prize at Verbier Festival, Dublin, Clara Haskil, New York, Saint-Priest, and Viotti International Piano Competitions.

Sham holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University and a Masters in Piano Performance from New England Conservatory. He continued his studies at the Ingesund School of Music in Sweden with Julia Mustonen-Dahlkvist before returning to the States to earn an artist diploma at The Juilliard School with Robert McDonald and Orli Shaham.