Recently Mr. Sulayman was presented by Carnegie Hall for a sold out solo recital debut followed immediately by the world premiere of his own multidisciplinary production, Unholy Wars, a baroque pasticcio centered around the Crusades and the Middle East, at Spoleto Festival USA. He’s also made recent debuts Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Stockholm’s Drottningholms Slottsteater, Houston Grand Opera, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, and the Chicago, National and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras. He debuted at Wigmore Hall in concerts of French chamber music with his frequent collaborators, the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, which The Arts Desk named to its “Best Performances of 2022.”
In summer 2025, Karim made his role debut as Pelléas in a new production of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande to immense critical acclaim at the Longborough Festival. This season he continues appearances with guitarist Sean Shibe on their Broken Branches tour in Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands, with future performances at Festival Aix-en-Provence and Wigmore Hall, and he reprises his celebrated portrayal of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in Houston. Other recent appearances include Ravinia Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Park Avenue Armory, Boston Celebrity Series, and debuts at Opera Philadelphia (Unholy Wars) and New World Symphony (Britten’s Nocturne). He made his role debut as Grimoaldo in Handel’s Rodelinda (Hudson Hall), created the role of Crow in the world premiere of Layale Chaker/Lisa Schlesinger’s Ruinous Gods (Spoleto Festival USA), and debuted at the Royal Opera House, reprising the title role of Sarah Angliss/Ross Sutherland’s Giant, a role he created for the Aldeburgh Festival. Last season, he debuted David T. Little’s highly anticipated monodrama, What Belongs to You, directed by Mark Morris, which was awarded Best New Opera from the Music Critics Association of North America. It is slated for future performances and a commercial recording release.
Mr. Sulayman won the 2019 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for his debut solo album, Songs of Orpheus (Avie Records), his original program of early Italian Baroque songs and arias. His second solo album, Where Only Stars Can Hear Us (Avie Records), a program of Schubert Lieder with fortepianist Yi-heng Yang, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart and has received international critical acclaim and was included in the New York Times’ Best Classical Music of 2020. His third album, Broken Branches (Pentatone) with Sean Shibe, debuted at #1 on the UK Classical Charts, was named one of the Best Classical Music Albums of 2023 by the New York Times, was nominated for the 2024 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal album, and was named one of the Best Recordings of the 21st Century by BBC Radio. He has recently received a 2026 GRAMMY® Award nomination for Best Opera Recording for his work in Mary Kouyoumdjian/Royce Vavrek’s Adoration.
