LWer gets a visit from a Grammy-winning conductor

Taylor Swift didn’t show, but Leisure World still had a Grammy winner within its walls last month.

Karen Kamensek, who won the Best Opera Recording Grammy in 2022 for conducting the Metropolitan Opera’s U.S. premiere of Philip Glass’ “Akhnaten,” came to Leisure World to celebrate her Sept. 12 Hollywood Bowl debut leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Kamensek visited her high school choral teacher, Mutual 5 President Linda DeRungs, to rest from a grueling flight from Australia, where she conducted at the famous Sydney Opera House before her Bowl concert. Kamensek spent three days at Leisure World, then returned to her home in southwest France.

Kamensek studied with DeRungs for three years at her performing arts high school before being accepted into Indiana University’s renowned music school, then nurturing her career in Europe.

Next year, Kamensek is slated to conduct London’s Royal Philharmonic, the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, as well as orchestras in the United States, Canada and nine European countries.

DeRungs herself is an international music honoree. She was the soprano soloist for the Ars Femina chamber ensemble, one of whose Baroque recordings the BBC placed on its 10-Best Recordings of the Year. Her husband, GRF vice president William Thompson, also has performing arts experience. Before starting his college teaching career at age 29, Thompson was the University of Missouri Conservatory of Music’s assistant director. He is still the youngest person to hold a director’s position in the institution’s nearly 120-year history.

Despite her duties as Mutual 5’s president, DeRungs is involved in Leisure World’s music scene. She is the newly named assistant conductor of the Leisure World Orchestra, headed by Kyu-Sam Kim.

Kamensek’s Hollywood Bowl concert, which included works by Gustav Holst and Philip Glass, as well as Adam Schoenberg’s world premiere memorializing Los Angeles’ iconic mountain lion, P-22, will be rebroadcast Oct. 22 on KUSC radio at 7 p.m.

—William Thompson