Karen Stone is Executive Director of Opera Europa. She studied singing and piano at the Royal Academy of Music, London and at the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia, Rome, Italy. She started her career as assistant director in Freiburg im Breisgau and went on to become staff producer at the English National Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London and the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Germany. In 1995 she became Opera Director and director of the Opera Studio in Cologne, Germany. In 2000 she was designated Generalintendant in Graz, Austria; subsequently becoming General Manager of The Dallas Opera, USA, where she was also part of the team working on the design and building of the new Winspear Opera House. In 2009 she returned to Germany as Generalintendant of the theatres and orchestra in Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt.
Karen Stone has been a member of the jury of several international singing competitions including the Toti dal Monte, Treviso, Italy; the Ferruccio Tagliavini, Deutschlandsberg, Austria; the AsLiCo competition, Milan and Como, Italy; the Giuseppe di Stefano, Sicily; Concorso di Canto, Spoleto, Italy; the Competizione dell'Opera, Dresden, Germany; the International Vocal Competition, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands; as well as the European Opera Directing Competition (EOP), and the Ring Award.
As a stage director Karen Stone has worked in many opera houses including Houston Grand Opera, USA, Los Angeles Opera, USA, New Zealand Opera, Opera de Colombia, Bogotá, Columbia, Opéra de Nice, France and the Opéra de Monte Carlo.
