SOPRANO
Christiane Karg
Representation: World (except Concerts in Germany)
- Helga Machreich-Unterzaucher
- +43 (0)5 06 80-012
- machreich@machreich-artists.com
- Alexander Brunner
- +43 (0)5 06 80-011
- brunner@machreich-artists.com
GALLERY
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Feuchtwangen, Bavaria, soprano Christiane Karg completed her studies at the Mozarteum University Salzburg under Heiner Hopfner and in the lied class of Wolfgang Holzmair, where she was additionally awarded the Lilli Lehmann Medal for her master's degree in opera performance. While still completing her studies, she made her highly acclaimed debut at the Salzburg Festival.
Christiane Karg can be heard in the most celebrated roles of her fach, having performed at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Opéra national de Paris as Pamina, at the Lyric Opera Chicago and at the Met in New York as Susanna, at La Scala in Milan as Sophie and Euridice, at the Vienna State Opera as Mélisande, at the Hamburg State Opera as Pamina, Mélisande, Daphne and Contessa, at the Berlin State Opera as Micaëla, and at the Bavarian State Opera as Pamina, Blanche (Dialogues des Carmélites) and Fiordiligi. As Artist in Residence at the Graz Musikverein, Christiane Karg was heard for the first time as Rosalinde in a concert performance of Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus, and as Rusalka in Antonín Dvořák's eponymous fairy-tale opera she made her recent role debut at the Berlin State Opera.
The soprano is an equally sought-after performer on the international concert stage. Her musical partnerships to date have included names such as Ivor Bolton, Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph Eschenbach, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Iván Fischer, Daniel Harding, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Thomas Hengelbrock, Manfred Honeck, Mariss Jansons, Fabio Luisi, Marek Janowski, Christian Măcelaru, Antonello Manacorda, Andrew Manze, Klaus Mäkelä, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kirill Petrenko and Christian Thielemann. These have paved the way for collaborations with major orchestras such as the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Philadelphia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Bamberg and Vienna Symphony Orchestras and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.
Engagements in the current season include selected orchestral songs by Richard Strauss with the Japanese NHK Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi, Mahler's Rückert Lieder with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Mahler's Fourth Symphony on tour with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Andris Nelsons, Schumann's Szenen aus Goethes Faust with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Daniel Harding and - as part of the Johann Strauss Festival Year 2025 - a pasticcio with music, arias and duets from operettas by Johann Strauss II with the Vienna Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann. Christiane Karg will also take on the soprano part in Fauré's Requiem with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Lahav Shani and perform as a soloist in Mahler's Second Symphony with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer.
Christiane Karg continues to cultivate her passion for song and chamber music projects, with regular guest appearances at the Schubertiade in Hohenems and Schwarzenberg, as well as at London's Wigmore Hall, where she was artist in residence for the 2019/2020 season. She has also given numerous recitals at the Vienna Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin and at the Salzburg Festival. In addition to a recital dedicated to works by Clara Schumann and others at the Vienna Musikverein, Christiane Karg will also appearing in lied recitals at Tokyo's Oji Hall, at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, at the International Hugo Wolf Academy in Stuttgart and the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg during the current season.
Off stage, Christiane Karg is the leader and creator of her own concert series in her hometown of Feuchtwangen as artistic director of the KunstKlang festival, while spearheading the project "Be part of it! - Music for All", championing music education for children and young people. For her services, she received the Brahms Prize of the Brahms Society of Schleswig-Holstein, the Bavarian Culture Prize in the category of art, and the Bavarian Order of Merit.
In spring 2017, Christiane Karg released her critically acclaimed solo CD Parfum with settings of texts by Charles Baudelaire, Leconte de Lisle, Paul Verlaine, Tristan Klingsor and Victor Hugo on the Berlin Classics label. She also received the coveted Echo Klassik for her recording of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro under Yannick Nézet-Séguin in the category Opera Recording of the Year. Her additional discs Scene! with the Arcangelo Baroque Ensemble under Jonathan Cohen as well as her first lied disc Verwandlung - Lieder eines Jahres were honoured with the renowned music prize in the category Solo Recording. Her recordings Amoretti with arias by Mozart, Christoph Willibald Gluck and André Grétry, and Heimliche Aufforderung with songs by Richard Strauss are also available on the Berlin Classics label. The Harmonia Mundi label, where Christiane Karg is now an exclusive artist, released Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Choral Fantasy with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under Pablo Heras-Casado, followed by her solo album Erinnerung (Memory) with lieder by Gustav Mahler. Her latest recording Das Licht der Welt - A Christmas Promenade, on which she is accompanied by Gerold Huber at the piano and the Bavarian Radio Choir under Howard Arman illuminates enchanting rarities of the Christmas repertoire. Excerpts from the disc she has taken to the stage of the Vienna Musikverein. As a soloist in Mahler's Second Symphony with the Czech Philharmonic under Semjon Bychkov and in Haydn's Creation with the Dresden Philharmonic under Marek Janowski, she can also be heard in two recordings recently released on the Pentatone label.
2024 | 2025
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorized by the artist’s management.
DISCOGRAPHY
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2
Christiane Karg, Elisabeth Kulman
Czech Philharmonic und Prague Philharmonic Choir
Semyon Bychkov, conductor
Label: Pentatone | 2023
Licht der Welt | A Christmas Promenade
Christiane Karg, soprano
Gerold Huber, piano
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Howard Arman, choir director
Label: Harmonia Mundi | 2021
Gustav Mahler - Erinnerung
Gustav Mahler: Lieder
Christiane Karg, soprano
Malcolm Martineau, piano
Label: Harmonia Mundi | 2020
Johannes Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem
Christiane Karg, Matthias Goerne
Swedish Radio Choir & Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Daniel Harding
Label: Harmonia Mundi | 2019
VIDEOS
CALENDAR
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Overture to »La clemenza di Tito«, K. 621
Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 93 in D major, Hob. I:93
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Great Mass in C minor, K. 427
Liv Redpath, soprano I
Christiane Karg, soprano II
Manfred Honeck, conductor
Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Danish National Radio Choir
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Overture to »La clemenza di Tito«, K. 621
Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 93 in D major, Hob. I:93
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Great Mass in C minor, K. 427
Liv Redpath, soprano I
Christiane Karg, soprano II
Manfred Honeck, conductor
Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Danish National Radio Choir
Claude Debussy: »Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune«
Gustav Mahler: Fünf Lieder nach Gedichten von Friedrich Rückert
Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique op. 14
Christiane Karg, soprano
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor
Bamberger Symphoniker
Claude Debussy: »Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune«
Gustav Mahler: Fünf Lieder nach Gedichten von Friedrich Rückert
Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique op. 14
Christiane Karg, soprano
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor
Bamberger Symphoniker
Claude Debussy: »Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune«
Gustav Mahler: Fünf Lieder nach Gedichten von Friedrich Rückert
Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique op. 14
Christiane Karg, soprano
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor
Bamberger Symphoniker
CONTACT
Representation: World (except Concerts in Germany)
- Helga Machreich-Unterzaucher
- +43 (0)5 06 80-012
- machreich@machreich-artists.com
- und Alexander Brunner
- +43 (0)5 06 80-011
- brunner@machreich-artists.com
