Critics call American soprano Karen Frankenstein “compelling”, “first rate” and “the chief delight”. She joined the roster at the Staatsoper Hannover (Hannover Opera House) for the 2006-2007 season, where she made her debut as Gilda in Rigoletto. Just prior to her Hannover debut, she stepped in at the last minute to sing Gilda at the Mannheim Nationaltheater, and made her German debut. Her roles in Hannover in the 2006-2007 season included Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Le Feu in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and Elvira in L’Italiana in Algeri. Ms. Frankenstein's roles in the 2007-2008 season will range from Ernestine in Offenbach's Salon Pitzelberger (M. Choufleuri restera chez lui) to Musetta in La Boheme, and she will sing the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in May 2008.
In the 2005-2006 season she sang at New York City Opera, covering La Contessa di Folleville in Rossini’s comedy Il Viaggio a Reims, as well as covering roles in The Little Prince and Lysistrata. Selected for the prestigious Trinity Church Concerts at One recital series in Manhattan, Ms. Frankenstein presented Hope, a program of songs by composers who emigrated to the United States, with Daniel Hobbs, pianist, in November 2005.
In the 2004-2005 season, Ms. Frankenstein appeared as Belinda in the New York Chamber Opera production of Dido and Aeneas. She debuted at El Paso Opera as Despina in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, and she joined the roster at New York City Opera as the cover for Lisette in Puccini's La Rondine. In 2003, Ms. Frankenstein received a rave review for her first Violetta in La Traviata and made her Carnegie Hall debut as the soprano soloist in the Mozart Requiem and John Rutter’s Gloria. She appeared with Tulsa Opera as Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and sang Mimi in Puccini’s La Boheme at the Festival Lyrique en Mer in France. In 2002 she performed the role of Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto at Lyrique en Mer, shortly after winning critical acclaim in the San Francisco Bay area for her interpretations of Mimi and Gounod’s Marguerite in Faust.
Ms. Frankenstein won the Premier Grand Prix Opéra in the Concours International de Chant de Paris in 2001, presided over by Mme. Mady Mesplé. She was a prize winner in the Concours International d’Opéra de Marseilles that same year, and she was a National Finalist at both the Chicago Lyric Opera Center for American Artists competition (2000) and the Fredrich Schorr Memorial Performance - Prize in Voice (1999). She has performed Antonia in the Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Greta Fiorentino in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene and Adèle in Die Fledermaus with Central City Opera. Other roles performed include a televised performance of Norina in Don Pasquale, as well as Alexandra in Marc Blitzstein’s Regina, and Blondchen in Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail.
Ms. Frankenstein, the granddaughter of the late distinguished music and art critic Alfred Frankenstein, is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and an alumna of the young artist programs at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Virginia Opera and the Tanglewood Music Center. Ms. Frankenstein particularly enjoys concert and oratorio work, and has given recitals in locales ranging from Hong Kong to New York. Other concerts include the Tremplin Jeunes Chanteurs in France at the Opera d’Avignon, the Concerts in the Parks series in New York City, as well as the Mozart Requiem with the Mineola Choral Society and the Mozart Mass in C minor in New York.
Her solo CD was released in February 2003 by the French magazine Classica, which featured her as Artist of the Month.
