Karen Kamensek

Grammy Award-winning conductor Karen Kamensek’s expansive artistry coupled with her deep commitment for championing composers of the 20th and 21st century is reflected in her work in both the opera house and on the concert stage. The 2024/25 season underscores her remarkable versatility as a musician, as she makes several important debuts, including productions of La Bohème at the Houston Grand Opera and Candide at Semperoper Dresden, alongside symphonic debuts with the Baltimore Symphony, the Kraków Philharmonic, and the Edmonton Symphony. Elsewhere this season she will return to the San Francisco Opera with The Handmaid’s Tale, to the Metropolitan Opera with Moby Dick, and to the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra for a joint project with the Arctic Philharmonic.

Frequently in demand as a guest conductor with many of today’s most prominent opera companies, Ms. Kamensek’s recent opera highlights include her performances at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in Puccini´s Tosca; the English National Opera in Glass’ Akhnaten and Satyagraha; Welsh National Opera in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking and Bernstein’s Candide; the Metropolitan Opera in Glass’ Akhnaten and Verdi’s Rigoletto; the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte; the Royal Swedish Opera in Victoria Borisova-Ollas’ Dracula”; the Opéra National du Rhin in the world premiere of Glass’ ballet Alice choreographed by Amir Hosseinpour and Johnathan Lunn; and in Bernstein’s Wonderful Town with the Norwegian Opera & Ballet. 

Ms. Kamensek’s recent work as a symphonic conductor has brought her to the podia of such orchestras as the London Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Vancouver Symphony, Brussels Philharmonic, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Orquesta Sinfónica RTVE in Madrid, Colorado Symphony, Norrköping Symphony, Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, Calgary Philharmonic, Tiroler Symphonierorchester, and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano among others.

Ms. Kamensek served as the Music Director of the Staatsoper Hannover from 2011-2016. She has also served as 1st Kapellmeister at the Volksoper Wien (2000-2002), Music Director of the Theater Freiburg (2003-2006), Interim Music Director at the Slovenian National Theatre in Maribor (2007-2008), and Associate Music Director at the Staatsoper Hamburg (2008-2011).

2024/25

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