Portrait Christiane Karg

Christiane Karg

Soprano
© Gisela Schenker
Germany (Concert)

Christiane Karg is one of the most sought-after sopranos internationally. She studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Heiner Hopfner and in Wolfgang Holzmair's song class. While still a student, she made her highly acclaimed debut at the Salzburg Festival.

From 2008 to 2013, she was a member of the Frankfurt Opera ensemble. She successfully performed roles such as Pamina, Susanna, Zdenka, Mélisande, Sophie, and the title role in La Calisto at opera houses in Vienna (State Opera and Theater an der Wien), Berlin, Munich, Milan, London, Chicago, New York, Amsterdam, Antwerp, and others, as well as at festivals in Salzburg and Baden-Baden. At the Hamburg State Opera, where she began her career in the opera studio, she sang not only Mélisande and Pamina but also Daphne and Contessa, and at the Bavarian State Opera she sang Blanche (Dialogues des Carmélites) and Fiordiligi. She enjoyed great success as Rusalka in a new production of the opera of the same name at the Staatsoper unter den Linden.

On the concert stage, the multi-award-winning soprano regularly works with major ensembles and orchestras in Germany and abroad, as well as with conductors such as Ivor Bolton, Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph Eschenbach, Marek Janowski, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Klaus Mäkelä, Simone Young, Elim Chan, Pablo Heras-Casado, Antonello Manacorda, and Kirill Petrenko. 

Projects for the current season include Ravel's Shéhérazade with the Cleveland Orchestra under Elim Chan, Mahler's Rückertlieder with the orchestra and choir of La Scala Milan under Riccardo Chailly, Mahler's Fourth Symphony with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Andris Nelsons and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Daniel Harding, Mahler's Second Symphony with the Staatskapelle Berlin under Sir Simon Rattle, and a tour of Spain with the Gürzenich Orchestra under Andrés Orozco-Estrada with concertante excerpts from Richard Strauss' Capriccio. On the opera stage, Christiane Karg will also make her role debut as the Governess in Britten's The Turn of the Screw at the Staatsoper Berlin.

Christiane Karg cultivates her passion for song and chamber music projects in a special way. She is a regular guest at the Schubertiade in Hohenems and Schwarzenberg, as well as at London's Wigmore Hall, which dedicated a residency to the artist in 2019/2020. In addition to her numerous engagements, she conceives and oversees her own concert series in her hometown of Feuchtwangen as artistic director of the KunstKlang festival and is deeply committed to promoting music education among children and young people. Among her numerous recordings are “Parfum” with orchestral songs, ‘Erwartung’ with piano songs by Gustav Mahler, and “Licht der Welt/ A Christmas Promenade” (Harmonia mundi), as well as the aria recordings Amoretti and Scene! (Berlin Classic).

Christiane Karg's unmistakable voice can be heard on many CDs. Among others, the CD “Erinnerung” (Memory) with songs by Gustav Mahler was released by the Harmonia mundi label in fall 2020. Her recording of “Le nozze di Figaro” conducted by Y. Nézet-Séguin, her CD “Scene!” with the Arcangelo Baroque Orchestra conducted by Jonathan Cohen, and her song CD “Verwandlung - Lieder eines Jahres” have received several awards. Most recently, the CD “Licht der Welt - A Christmas Promenade” was released in 2021 and was highly praised by the press.




5. October 2025 - 16:00

Hohenems, Markus-Sittikus-Saal

-: Liederabend

Info & Tickets



18. October 2025 - 20:00

Mailand, Teatro alla Scala di Milano

Gustav Mahler: Fünf Rückert-Lieder

Info & Tickets



21. October 2025 - 20:00

Mailand, Teatro alla Scala di Milano

Gustav Mahler: Fünf Rückert-Lieder

Info & Tickets



  • "So bildete Christiane Karg mit dieser Konzert-Arie über eine von widerstrebenden Gefühlen geschüttelte Frau, die von ihrem Geliebten verraten wurde und die Götter um Mitleid anfleht, beim Beethoven-Abend des Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks unter Iván Fischer im Herkulessaal in jeder Hinsicht das Zentrum. Wie der junge Beethoven hier trotz aller Vorbilder von Gluck bis Mozart musikalische Expressivität und subtile Durchleuchtung des Textes miteinander verbindet, wird in der differenzierten Nachzeichnung durch Christiane Kargs ebenso schlank wie ausdrucksvoll geführten Sopran zum Ereignis."
  • "Vollkommen war die Kongruenz zwischen Solistin und Orchester, die faszinierende Harmonie in allen Ebenen, die klangliche Schönheit der Stimme mit ihren wechselhaften Ausdrucksmöglichkeiten, die atemberaubenden Höhen, die textgerechte Gestaltung, die nahtlosen Wechsel von Tutti und Solo auf vokaler Ebene." (Mozartfest Würzburg, Christiane Karg und das Ensemble „Il Giardino Armonico“)
  • "Als Liedgestalterin mit Sinn für kluge Zurückhaltung. Überdruck hätte diesen Liedern sofort die Luft zum Atmen genommen. Gestalterische Nuancen, subtile Textauskostung, ein Faible für das Fragile dieser Miniaturdramen, all das lag Karg bestens. Sie gurrte, litt, flirtete, schmachtete, und blieb dabei sicher in jenem halbplaudernden, beiläufigen Tonfall, der diese charmant verträumten Lieder auf kluge Distanz zur ernüchternden Realität hält."
    Hamburger Abendblatt
    Joachim Mischke, „Ein delikater Liederabend mit Karg und Quasthoff“, in: Hamburger Abendblatt, 18.06.2019



Elisabeth Ehlers

Elisabeth Ehlers

Director, General Management
e-mail
+49 89 44488790
Sophie Kurzbauer

Sophie Kurzbauer

e-mail
Assistant Artist Manager
+49 89 444887910

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