Friends of Chamber Music (FCM) is pleased to announce it has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Grants for Arts Projects award of $10,000. This grant will support the Colorado premiere of African Queens, performed by world-renowned soprano Karen Slack. In total, the NEA will award 1,135 Grants for Arts Projects awards totaling more than $37 million as part of its second round of fiscal year 2024 grants.

“Projects like the one Friends of Chamber Music is undertaking exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are telling their stories, creating connections, and responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities—all through the arts,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “So many aspects of our communities such as cultural vitality, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, and the economy are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and the National Endowment for the Arts is committed to ensuring people across the country benefit.”

“It is an honor for Friends of Chamber Music to collaborate with the NEA, bringing to Colorado African Queens,” said Eli Wald, President of the Board of FCM, “and welcoming back to Denver Karen Slack, who was recently on our stage in a well-received recital with Pacifica Quartet in the 2023-2024 season.”

About African Queens
Friends of Chamber Music is committed to representing all voices in the classical music community.  is a thoughtfully curated program that showcases the work of both African and American composers, celebrating the history and legacy of seven African queens who were revered as rulers but not widely heralded in the Western world. The performance features new art songs by acclaimed composers Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, and Joel Thompson, who are part of a composer collective known as “The Blacknificent 7.” African Queens will be presented on October 2, 2024, in the beautiful Gates Concert Hall at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave., Denver.

African Queens has been commissioned by Friends of Chamber Music, along with the Aspen Music Festival, Boston Symphony Orchestra for the Tanglewood Learning Institute, Ravinia Festival, Washington Performing Arts, and New York’s 92nd Street Y.