RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
Rich@DallasVoice.com
This weekend, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra puts on a bit of Pride at the Meyerson. Not only will lesbian conductor Marin Alsop lead the orchestra in a performance of Strauss’ “Don Juan” and Brahms’ “Symphony No. 2.” The DSO will also present the world premiere of composer Kathryn Bostic’s “DRAG,” an homage to famed blues singer Gladys Bentley, the queer Black woman who dressed in male garb to achieve fame and fortune.
“I am delighted to create the music for the world premiere performance of DRAG with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra spotlighting the phenomenal life of Gladys Bentley,” Bostic said. “Helmed by the iconic conductor Maestra Marin Alsop, this new work breathes life into a thought-provoking and timely narrative. Initiated by Grammy award-winning soprano Karen Slack whose visionary outreach includes powerful text by librettist Lorene Cary.”
Slack was the driving force in telling the story of Gladys Bentley. Since learning her story, the opera singer saw something more in her legacy. That vision will come to life for the first time in Dallas this weekend.
“DRAG” premieres this Friday through Sunday, Nov. 7-9 in DSO’s Alsop Conducts Brahms performance.
The inception of this piece began five years ago.
“It was 2020 and people were creating so much content at the height of the pandemic, but it was also after the murder of George Floyd. We watched this whole murder play out on television,” Slack told the Dallas Voice. “On YouTube, this channel did some videos about unsung Black women and I was drawn to this one who wore a white suit with a top hat and tails and I just saw this big, beautiful woman of excellence.”
Slack initially connected with Bentley’s story first, since both hail from Philadelphia. But that was a smaller detail in comparison to the rest she learned about the blues artist.
“She went to New York during the Harlem Renaissance and became a star. She was one of the wealthiest Black women of her time and I was just fascinated that she did that by being this Black queer woman living out loud,” Slack said. “There are not enough stories in that community who have gone on to do extraordinary things. Whether you are queer or not, these are the mother of us all and deserve to be known in these days and times. I’m grateful to DSO for wanting to support this vision I had for a larger work celebrating her. ”
Slack has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Scottish Opera and many others. She made her New York Philharmonic debut in May 2024.
Earlier this year, she won the Grammy for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for Beyond the Years — Unpublished Songs of Florence Price.
She told one legend’s story in that album. And now another with Bentley in a different way.
What Slack saw was an opera in Bentley’s story and Slack was determined to honor Bentley on the lyric stage. Coincidentally, on that same YouTube channel, she discovered Bostic. Eureka!
“She’s this amazing Black woman composer and don’t ask me how I knew, but I felt a connection to her work and knew she was the right person to work on this,” she said.
Librettist Lorene Cary, also a native Philadelphian, entered the picture when Slack approached her about creating a larger text for “DRAG.”
Cary commented on this collaboration of women telling the story of one woman.
“From Gladys Bentley, whose story of triumph and trauma has been buried; to Grammy-winning Karen Slack who determined to unearth it in the concert hall; to the Academy’s Kathryn Bostic, who captures in music Bentley’s strength–and her sorrow; to Marin Alsop, the legendary, who draws from orchestras the biggest sounds and smallest detail to tell story–what a circle of brilliant women to work and play with for Dallas’ 145th anniversary year,” Cary stated in an email.
Slack is no stranger to the art of drag. The soprano opera singer is certainly serving up looks onstage and on the red carpet. In some ways, she can relate to that side of Bentley’s need to craft a look for the stage – albeit Slack prefers more glitz and glam.
“For some of us, it’s sheer survival to move through the world to protect yourself so I do believe we are all in drag. And some are more beautiful than others,” she said with a laugh.
Slack’s bond to Bentley was deep but for the singer, there was also an intersection as well as an allyship.
“Outside of being full figure beautiful Black women, we are who are both musicians, artists, singers. It wasn’t that long ago that Black people were not allowed to sing opera and here I am now,” she said.
Slack continued, “ if someone asked why I’m doing this story on a queer woman, I would say it’s because the story is of this Black woman with this big life who was a queen. Those are things that I play on the opera stage. But also, I am in support of the community. I may not be part of it, but I can celebrate the community and my Black community by telling these stories. We had this queer Black woman living out loud in the 1930s and ’40s and we need to know this story.”For tickets, visit DallasSymphony.org.
