Karen Stone was brought up in London. While still at school she attended Junior College at the Royal College of Music. After finishing school, she went on to study piano and singing at the Royal Academy of Music, London and then attended the postgraduate Opera Course at the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia, Rome. After an initial career as a singer in the theatres of Hagen and Frankfurt in Germany she changed direction to become an assistant director at the theatre in Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany. Subsequently she worked as a staff producer at the English National Opera and then the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; there then followed 5 years as resident producer at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. In 1995 Karen Stone joined the Cologne Opera as Director of the Opera Studio and deputy Director of Opera advancing to Director of Opera. From 2000 to 2003 she was the General Manager of the Theatres and Orchestra of Graz, Austria. From 2003 to 2008 she was the General Manager of The Dallas Opera in Texas. Since September 2009 she has been living in Magdeburg where she is the General Manager of the Theatres and Orchestra. Karen Stone has been a Board Member of Opera America. She is an active member of Opera Europa and is also a member of the Chambre Professionnelle des Directions d'Opéra. As a stage director, Karen Stone has worked in many theatres including: Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Brighton Festival, New Zealand Opera, Opéra de Nice, Teatro Colon de Bogotà, Opéra de Monte Carlo, Savonlinna Festival, Finland and Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Karen Stone has also been on the jury for a number of international singing competitions including: Giuseppe di Stefano, Sicily, A. Belli, Spoleto, AsLiCo, Milan and Como, Toti dal Monte, Treviso, Competitzione dell'Opera, Dresden and Linz, Siemens Competition, Istanbul, and the Leyla Gencer Competition, Istanbul.

photo Uli Lücke