Karen Kamensek (born January 2, 1970, in Chicago) is an American orchestral and opera conductor.
Karen Kamensek (born January 2, 1970, in Chicago) is an American orchestral and opera conductor.
Her parents came from Kamnica pri Mariboru, Slovenia. Kamensek received degrees in orchestral conducting and piano performance from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. [1]
Kamensek has served as the 1st Kapellmeister of the Volksoper Wien from 2000 to 2002. She was Generalmusikdirektorin (General Music Director) of the Theater Freiburg from 2003 to 2006, the first female conductor in the Freiburg past. She has served as Interim Music Director at the Slovenian National Theatre in Maribor from 2007 to 2008, and Associate Music Director at the Staatsoper Hamburg from 2008 to 2011. [2] In 2011, she was named Generalmusikdirektorin and principal conductor of the Staatsoper Hannover, the first female conductor to hold the Hannover posts. She relinquished the GMD title in 2015 [3] and remained as principal conductor through 2016. [4] [5] [6]
Kamensek made her English National Opera (ENO) conducting debut in March 2016 with Philip Glass's Akhnaten . [7] [8] [9] Kamensek has frequently collaborated with Glass [10] and conducted the 2005 Orange Mountain Music recording of the composer's Les Enfants Terribles . [11] In 2017, Kamensek gave her debut concert at The Proms, with Britten Sinfonia, conducting the first full live performance of Philip Glass's and Ravi Shankar's Passages , with Shankar's daughter Anoushka Shankar as soloist. [12] She returned to ENO for their 2018 revival of Glass' Satyagraha. [13]
In November 2019, Kamensek made her Metropolitan Opera conducting debut with Akhnaten. [14] On 23 November 2019, Kamensek conducted the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD performance and cinema transmission of Akhnaten, [1] the second female conductor ever to be featured in the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series. The recording of Akhnaten subsequently won a 2022 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.
Philip Glass is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive phrases and shifting layers. Glass describes himself as a composer of "music with repetitive structures", which he has helped to evolve stylistically.
Akhnaten is an opera in three acts based on the life and religious convictions of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, written by the American composer Philip Glass in 1983. The libretto is by Philip Glass in association with Shalom Goldman, Robert Israel, Richard Riddell, and Jerome Robbins. According to the composer, this work is the culmination of a trilogy including his two other biographical operas, Einstein on the Beach and Satyagraha. These three people were all driven by an inner vision which altered the age in which they lived: Akhenaten in religion, Einstein in science, and Gandhi in politics.
Hanover State Opera is an opera company in Hanover, the state capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. The company is resident in the Hanover Opera House, and is part of a publicly-funded umbrella performing arts organisation called Hanover State Theatre of Lower Saxony, or simply Hanover State Theatre.
Satyagraha is a 1979 opera in three acts for orchestra, chorus and soloists, composed by Philip Glass, with a libretto by Glass and Constance DeJong.
Symphony No. 1 (Low) is a symphony by Philip Glass based on David Bowie's 1977 album Low.
The Staatsoper Stuttgart is a German opera company based in Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Staatsorchester Stuttgart serves as its resident orchestra.
Keri-Lynn Wilson is a Canadian conductor of operatic and symphonic repertoire. She is the founder and music director of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra.
Johannes Wolfgang Zender was a German conductor and composer. He was the chief conductor of several opera houses, and his compositions, many of them vocal music, have been performed at international festivals.
Michail Vladimirovich Jurowski was a Russian conductor who worked internationally, based in Germany for most of his career. He was particularly interested in the works of Dmitri Shostakovich, in concerts and recordings.
Milagro Vargas is an American mezzo-soprano known for her distinctive voice and stage presence. She has appeared as an international soloist in operatic, orchestral, chamber music and recital settings.
Julia Jones is a British conductor.
Richard Bernstein is an American bass. He is currently a member of the Metropolitan Opera; 2023–24 is his 28th consecutive season with the company; he has sung over 500 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, and has been a part of more than 125 international live broadcasts with the company.
Phelim McDermott is an English actor and stage director. He has directed plays and operas in Britain, Germany, Spain, the United States, and Australia. McDermott was a co-founder of the Improbable theatre in 1996.
Astrid Schirmer is a German operatic soprano and an academic teacher. She sang mostly dramatic roles at major German opera houses and appeared at the Bayreuth Festival.
Joana Mallwitz is a German conductor and pianist.
Anja Bihlmaier is a German conductor.
Rihab Chaieb is a Tunisian-Canadian mezzo-soprano.
Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg is the symphony orchestra of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, founded in 1887. It plays concerts in the Konzerthaus Freiburg and opera in the Theater Freiburg.
The Hanover State Symphony Orchestra is based in Hanover, the state capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. It serves as the orchestra of the Hanover State Opera, and primarily performs its symphony concerts at Hanover Opera House.
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