Karen Slack performs at Babson College

Of Thee I Sing! Songs of Love and Justice is a critically acclaimed recital created by Slack in late summer 2020 during the height of the pandemic and just after the murder of George Floyd. The center of this moving program is the raw and powerful yet hopeful Langston Hughes poem, “Kids Who Die” (1938), and a commissioned setting of that riveting text by American composer Scott Gendel. Gendel’s stirring tour de force is presented alongside vocal masterworks by distinguished American composers from H.T. Burleigh to Clayton White, Undine Smith Moore, H. Leslie Adams, Ricky Ian Gordon, Adolphus Hailstork, and Jake Heggie. Curated by Slack with intention and care, this impactful program features songs exploring the themes of love and justice. Through these soaring melodies and beautiful texts, Slack offers a musical journey rooted in a shared understanding that without love there can never be liberty or justice for all. The performance is free and open to the public, walk-ins welcome, but registration encouraged.