BY ELIZABETH CHORNEY-BOOTH
As She Prepares for an Epic Requiem, Karen Kamensek Reflects on her Role as Calgary Phil Principal Guest Conductor
As much as any orchestra is about more than any one person, with musicians, administration, and artistic leadership coming together to create a singular creative entity, there still must be someone standing at the front with a baton in hand, both literally and figuratively. This year at the Calgary Philharmonic some of that responsibility lies with the much-celebrated Karen Kamensek, who is serving in the newly created role of Principal Guest Conductor.
Kamensek’s role injects a new creative spark into the Calgary Phil as the Orchestra works to fill the Music Director job, left vacant when the great Rune Bergmann ended his tenure at the end of last season. Like any guest conductor, Kamensek’s new position involves helming concerts, including the upcoming performance of Verdi’s Requiem in March, but she also offers vision and artistic guidance behind the scenes.
“I equate it to a fine and well-established restaurant that brings in a guest chef every once in a while, to change up the menu a bit or to prepare the specials,” Kamensek says. “One still has the general menu and structure that everyone is familiar with, but then you hear ‘Oooh, yes, she is in the kitchen tonight!’ from the clients.”
The American-born Grammy Award winning conductor’s name will be familiar to avid Calgary Phil fans: she first took the stage with the Orchestra in 2022 to conduct the Karen Gomyo: Virtuoso Violin concert, returned in 2023/2024 to lead Brilliant Bassoon, and this past September she made her debut as Principal Guest Conductor at Gil Shaham Plays Beethoven. Calgary has been enticing to Kamensek since her first visit to the Banff Centre 30 years ago near the beginning of her career and she already feels like she’s clicking well with the Orchestra and its players.
“I have greatly enjoyed working with the Calgary Phil since the first moment we met, and the fact that they have invited me to be their Principal Guest Conductor signals to me the feeling is mutual,” Kamensek says. “I feel a great sense of openness, adventure, and humour between us during our rehearsals, and even with the challenging programs I tend to be known for, they have always risen to the occasion. I always have the feeling we also have fun together.”
Kamensek certainly comes to the role with an impressive resumé and her decades of experience brings fresh energy to the Calgary Phil that keeps both the musicians and audiences on their toes. She has stood in front of major orchestras as a guest conductor in London, Los Angeles, Stockholm, and other great music cities around the world, and has also held key positions with the Staatsoper Hannover, the Volksoper Wien, and the Theater Freiburg, among other prestigious artistic organizations.
While Kamensek has put in significant hours working with symphonic orchestras, she also has a deep love for and a lifetime of experience working with opera houses. Guest conducting stints with some of the world’s best opera companies with works by Giacomo Puccini, Phillip Glass, and Leonard Bernstein gives Kamensek a unique perspective in terms of her upcoming Verdi concert. While the Requiem isn’t an opera — there are no characters, costumes, or staging — it certainly possesses the dramatic quality of an operatic work and has a strong vocal element, including a full operatic scena from the soprano in the final 15 minutes of the piece.
The Requiem marks the first time that Kamensek will work with the Calgary Philharmonic Chorus, who will appear alongside four solo vocalists. Given her love for the piece, experience with conducting Giuseppe Verdi’s actual operas, and general affection for the combination of choral and orchestral music, the performance is bound to be a highlight of the season for both the Phil and Kamensek herself.
“Endeavoring to understand Verdi’s compositional development, as well as his place in musical and cultural history will naturally influence and assist me in developing a collective interpretation with the Calgary Phil and its Chorus and soloists,” she says. “I’m very excited, as I discovered the Requiem very early in my musical life, yet, some 30 years into my conducting career, I am conducting it for the first time!”
In addition to being able to work with the Chorus and continue to have an artistic impact on the Calgary Phil, Kamensek relishes the opportunity to spend at least a little bit of time in Calgary to get to know the city. With an upcoming trip to Brazil later this year to conduct the São Paulo Symphony and plenty of other projects on the go, Calgary can serve as a bit of a regular stop while she digs into her new role.
“I enjoy being in the city and getting to know the audience, and something new about the city itself each time,” she says. “Every time I have been in Calgary the weather has been optimal in every way. People laugh when I say that I am hoping to experience some heavy snow sometime when I am in town!
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