Karen Hayden is a versatile performer with a passion for new chamber music. She premiered chamber works with Rhymes With Opera’s Pocket Opera Workshop in the summers of 2014 and 2015. She also performed excerpts from George Lam’s Heartbreak Express with RWO in November 2014, and is thrilled to return now for the full opera’s premiere. As an advocate for new American song, Karen produced a concert of art songs composed by Philip Hayden at The National Opera Center in January 2015. Operatic roles performed include Miss Todd in The Old Maid and the Thief, Mrs. Nolan in The Medium, Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Lisetta in Haydn’s Il mondo della luna, and Madama Rosa in Donzetti’s Il campanello di notte. She also participated in the southeast premiere of Ned Rorem’s Our Town, as well as the Act I workshop premiere of Kirke Mechem’s Pride and Prejudice. Karen has performed with Piedmont Opera, Greensboro Opera, Capitol Opera Raleigh, the Eastern Music Festival, and the Magnolia Baroque Festival. She received an MM from UNC Greensboro and a BM from UNC School of the Arts.