Karen Kamensek
Metropolitan Opera - Moby Dick
Heggie's newly staged Moby Dick lands triumphantly at the Met
Throughout the evening conductor Karen Kamensek ably supported the singers and led the great Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in a performance of great beauty and vibrance, while the magnificent all-male chorus – on-stage or off – continually impressed.
Bachtrack (March 12, 2025)Operawire (September 26, 2024)Season 2026/2027
BEETHOVEN ORCHESTRA BONN
Adams – Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Bernstein – The Age of Anxiety
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique”)
Oct 15/16
CALGARY PHILHARMONIC
Pärt – Fratres
Vaughan Williams – Dona nobis pacem
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6
Nov 6/7
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KUOPIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Clyne – This Midnight Hour
Korngold – Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
Mussorgsky / Ravel – Pictures at an Exhibition
Sep 10 (Kuopio), Sep 11 (Jyväskylä)BEETHOVEN ORCHESTRA BONN
Adams – Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Bernstein – The Age of Anxiety
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique”)
Oct 15/16CALGARY PHILHARMONIC
Pärt – Fratres
Vaughan Williams – Dona nobis pacem
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6
Nov 6/7UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Glass: Symphony No. 15 "Lincoln"
R. Strauss Four Symphonic Interludes from Intermezzo
Nov 18ORCHESTRE SYMPHONIQUE DE MULHOUSE/ L'ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE MULHOUSE
Pärt – Fratres
Dorman – Frozen in Time
Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade
Dec 11/12ORCHESTRE DE LA SUISSE ROMANDE
New Year's Concert
Overtures, Intermezzos and Opera Arias
Jan 13 (Geneva), Jan 14 (Lausanne)GERMAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BERLIN/ FESTIVAL “ULTRASOUND BERLIN” II
Huber – Protuberances. Three Little Pieces for Orchestra
Urquiza – Un désir démesuré d'amitié with Trio Catch
Mundry – Motions // The Double Gaze I–VII
Jan 24MALMÖ SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Adams – The Chairman Dances
Tanaka – Urban Prayer with Camille Thomas
Glass – Symphony No. 1 (“Low”)
Jan 28THE FINNISH NATIONAL OPERA
Ruders – The Handmaid's Tale
March 19/31, Apr 2/6/8/10/13/15/17/20/22/24CALGARY PHILHARMONIC
Maxwell Davies – An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise
Wallen – Concerto for Orchestra
Strauss – Also sprach Zarathustra
May 7/8OPÉRA NATIONAL DU RHIN
Donizetti – Lucie de Lammermoor
June 5/7/9/11/13 (Strasbourg), June 20/22 (Mulhouse)
Biography
Grammy Award-winning conductor Karen Kamensek’s expansive artistry and deep commitment to championing composers of the 20th and 21st centuries continue to define her work in both the opera house and on the concert stage.
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In the 2026/27 season, she continues as Principal Guest Conductor of the Calgary Philharmonic, while the operatic realm, Karen Kamensek makes her Finnish National Opera debut conducting Poul Ruders’s The Handmaid’s Tale and returns to the Opéra national du Rhin for Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Further engagements in 2026/27 include debuts with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Orchestre symphonique de Mulhouse and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; returns to the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and ultraschall berlin; a joint project with the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra and Jyväskylä Sinfonia; and a guest-conducting appearance at her alma mater, Indiana University.
In summer 2026, Kamensek made her Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood debut leading the world premiere of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 15, “Lincoln,” and conducted Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel at Longborough Festival Opera. Her 2025/26 operatic engagements included debuts at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona with Glass’s Akhnaten; at the Opéra national de Paris, leading the Paris Opera Orchestra with Anthony Roth Costanzo in a program juxtaposing works by Handel and Glass; and at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège with the world premiere of Benoît Mernier’s Bartleby and Poulenc’s La Voix humaine. She also returned to the Royal Swedish Opera for the Swedish premiere of Elena Langer’s Figaro Gets a Divorce. Further recent opera highlights include performances at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in Tosca; the Houston Grand Opera in La bohème; the Semperoper Dresden in Bernstein’s Candide; the San Francisco Opera in Ruders’s The Handmaid’s Tale; the Metropolitan Opera in Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, Akhnaten and Rigoletto; the English National Opera in Glass’s Akhnaten and Satyagraha; the Welsh National Opera in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking and Bernstein’s Candide; the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte; the Royal Swedish Opera in Victoria Borisova-Ollas’s Dracula; the Opéra national du Rhin in the world premiere of Glass’s ballet Alice; and Bernstein’s Wonderful Town with the Norwegian Opera. She has also appeared at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Opera Australia (Melbourne) and San Diego Opera, among others.
In 2025/26, Kamensek made her debut with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Netherlands Radio Choir in a concert performance of Glass’s Akhnaten at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. She opened the Calgary Philharmonic’s subscription season and returned for Verdi’s Requiem, alongside engagements with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra. Her recent work as a symphonic conductor has also brought her to the podia of such orchestras as the London Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, 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 Symphonieorchester and Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, among others.
Karen Kamensek served as the Music Director of the Staatsoper Hannover from 2011 to 2016. She has also held positions as First Kapellmeister at the Volksoper Wien (2000–2002), Music Director of 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).
2026/27
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