Kamna Gupta

Kamna Gupta is an American Prize-winning conductor experienced in operatic, orchestral, and choral repertoires. In the 2022-2023 season, Ms. Gupta made her Vancouver Opera debut, conducting Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles, and her Dartmouth Hopkins Center for Arts and Stanford Live debuts, conducting the world premiere of The Ritual of Breath is the Rite to Resist (Berger / Reily / Francis). She also made her PROTOTYPE Festival debut as the conductor for In Our Daughter’s Eyes, returned to Mannes Opera to conduct La Calisto, returned to the International Contemporary to conduct their Composer Portraits at Miller Theatre, and joined Atlanta Opera as assistant conductor and chorusmaster for their production of Candide. In the summer, she returned for her fifth season to The Glimmerglass Festival to conduct the word premiere of The Rip Van Winkles (Morris / Fuentes). Several premieres also mark the upcoming 2023-24 season: Ms. Gupta leads the Trinity Church Wall Street Choirs and NOVUS in Luna Pearl Woolf‘s new oratorio Number Our Days (part of the inaugural season of New York’s newest venue, the Perelman Performing Arts Center), and she returns to Spoleto Festival to conduct the world premiere of Ruinous Gods (Chaker / Shlesinger). In addition to these, Ms. Gupta makes her Washington National Opera debut as the conductor for Songbird, and she returns to Tapestry Opera to conductor Rocking Horse Winner, which she recorded to much acclaim during the pandemic and which was featured on CBC’s Music’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera.

Ms. Gupta marked the 2021-2022 season with several debuts and world premieres. She made her debuts at LA Opera conducting In Our Daughter’s Eyes (Du Yun / McQuilken) and with the International Contemporary Ensemble leading A Cockroach’s Tarantella and Zolle (Du Yun) at the Skirball Center for Performing Arts. She returned to The Glimmerglass Festival to conduct the world premiere of Jungle Book (Sankaram / O’Rourke), will return to work with Beth Morrison Projects for their Next Generation Competition, and joined Spoleto Festival USA, conducting their Music in Time series, cover conducting Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and as an assistant conductor for their production of La bohème. Recent season highlights include engagements with the Seattle Opera, American Lyric Theater, the Royal Opera in Versailles, Beth Morrison Projects, Sarasota Opera, and Opera Saratoga.

Active internationally, Gupta’s orchestral credits include performances in Germany, Russia, and the Czech Republic; leading the Leipzig Barockorchester in an all-Bach program was a special highlight. Additional highlights include her work with the New York Youth Symphony as an apprentice conductor and as a Conducting Fellow at the Atlantic Music Festival, where she recorded many contemporary works by living composers.

Gupta’s passion for education has also led her to work with education departments at the New York Philharmonic and the Castleton Festival. Based in New York City, she is active as a pianist and harpsichordist in addition to conducting. Gupta received her Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from Arizona State University and her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Princeton University, where she graduated cum laude.