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 2025/26 season underscores her remarkable versatility as she leads a diverse array of productions and concerts across the globe. She makes several important debuts, including Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, conducting Philip Glass’s Akhnaten; Opéra national de Paris to lead the Paris Opera Orchestra at the Palais Garnier, presenting a program that juxtaposes works by Handel and Glass; and the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège to conduct a double bill that includes the world premiere of Benoît Mernier’s Bartleby and Francis Poulenc’s La Voix humaine. She will also return to the Royal Swedish Opera, where she conducts the Swedish premiere of Elena Langer’s Figaro Gets a Divorce.

This season on the concert stage, Ms. Kamensek makes her debut with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Netherlands Radio Choir, conducting a concert performance of Glass’s Akhnaten at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. Recently appointed the Calgary Philharmonic’s Principal Guest Conductor, she also opens their subscription in this newly-created role and returns later in the year to lead performances of Verdi’s Requiem. Additional engagements this season include concerts with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra.