Karen Fodor began her professional life as a translator and teacher of modern languages. Increasingly sought after as a singer, she left her post in Higher Education to pursue a career in music. She sings everything from Bach to cabaret songs, but specialises in contemporary music, Spanish repertoire and Jewish music, sometimes managing to combine all three in the same programme. She is also a skilled stage performer, encompassing a wide range of operatic roles, and an experienced recitalist.

She has given many world premieres, working closely with living composers in the UK and USA. Performances with the BBC Singers and London Voices have taken her all over Europe, from the festivals at Edinburgh, Avignon and Luzern, to Helsinki, La Scala Milan and the Roman Amphitheatre at Ephesus. She makes frequent recordings of everything from opera to film soundtracks, such as The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, and the latest works by Paul McCartney or Roger Waters.

Her specialist skills in coaching performers to sing in Spanish are increasingly in demand and her clients have included Katherine Jenkins, Kate Royal, Ailish Tynan, the BBC Singers and Polyphony. She is the Spanish language and repertoire coach at Trinity College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music, and for the Royal Opera House's Young Artists' Programme.

She has been teaching voice since the early 90s, working mainly with adult amateurs; she has built a reputation for putting her students at ease, helping them overcome vocal problems and inspiring them to realise their full potential. Her vocal exercises based on Italian food will make you laugh but keep you focused.