"Executed to perfection"

"...On Friday evening, the soprano Karen Parks made a selection of [Harry T.] Burleigh's arrangements of spirituals and some of his art songs the centerpiece of a program entitled "Nobody Knows" at Weill Recital Hall/Carnegie Hall. Her artistic collaborators were the pianist Wayne Sanders and cellist Seth Woods. The house was sold out.

Of special interest were Burleigh's seldom-heard art songs "Oh! Rock me, Julie" and "His Helmet's Blaze" and a transcription of his setting of the spiritual "Nobody Knows" for voice and cello by Carlos Simon.  Parks not only sang these works beautifully, but offered highly individual interpretive insights into the texts.

The program also included arrangements of spirituals and art songs by [other African-American composers]. These were executed to perfection by Parks and her remarkable pianist, Sanders.

Deserving of special mention was the handling of the dialect in the spirituals which always poses a problem for concert artists.  Parks brought authenticity to her pronunciation of texts. Nothing sounded artificial. The audience, which included a number of singers, rewarded her with much applause throughout the evening."

-Raoul Abdul, Reading The Score 

"Splendid singing"

"...splendid singing...soprano Karen Parks made an especially strong impression."

-J.R. Oestreich, The New York Times

"Conveys deep emotional content"

"...lovely treatment and strong range successfully conveys the deep emotional content of the material" 

-P. Stewart, Global Citizen

"Like lilting honey"

"...As Joe's neglected Cindy Lou (Carmen Jones) she makes a song like 'My Joe' flow like lilting honey." 

- M. Shulman, Evening Standard

"Moving performance"

"Moving performance... ended in a standing ovation from a very large crowd... Soprano Karen Parks' high, ethereal tones were like a lullaby." 

-W. Glackin, The Sacramento Bee

"An artist to keep an eye on"

"Ms. Parks has a rich and creamy voice, strong intonation and diction, and a highly developed sense of drama and phrasing.  These performances communicate a clear understanding of the relationship between text and music in both the spirituals and the songs. She also illuminates the differences between the genres without erecting an artificial aesthetic wall between them. This debut [CD] reveals Karen Parks as an artist to keep an eye on."

-Steve Hicken, Sequenza 21/

"Interprets perfectly"

"Karen Parks, a classically trained, South Carolina-born soprano who turned up on last year's compilation Song of America, interprets Burleigh's music perfectly. These fifteen performances, recorded in Nashville with pianist Wayne Sanders and strings from ALIAS Chamber Ensemble, illustrate a synthesis of humble material and refined execution. Burleigh's conception and immaculate taste shine through on this collection, and the production and engineering are first-rate."

-Edd Hurt, Music Magazine