Karen  Kamensek Conductor

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 2026/27 season underscores her remarkable versatility as she leads a diverse array of productions and concerts across the globe.

Ms. Kamensek’s opera engagements this season include two important debuts: at the Finnish National Opera, conducting Poul Ruders’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and at the Opéra National du Rhin in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. She also makes her debut conducting the finals of the 59th International Vocal Competition in ‘s-Hertogenbosch with the South Netherlands Philharmonic.

On the concert stage, Ms. Kamensek makes debuts with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and returns to her alma mater, Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where she conducts the school’s Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time since her studies there.

In her second season as Principal Guest Conductor of the Calgary Philharmonic, Ms. Kamensek leads the Canadian premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s Concerto for Orchestra, a co-commission with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, along with collaborations with the Calgary Philharmonic Chorus and bagpipe player Kevin Ponte. Other welcome returns this season include the Orchestra National de Mulhouse and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, where she conducts a program culminating in Glass’s Symphony No. 1 (Low). She also returns to the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin for Ultraschall Berlin: Festival for New Music.