09.08.2025

CHRISTIANE KARG with the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Festival

This summer marks Christiane Karg's debut with the Cleveland Orchestra in their summer home on the breathtaking open-air stage of the Blossom Music Centre. No stranger to Ravel’s Shéhérazade, she has revisited the masterpiece throughout her career, even recording it for her album entitled Parfum back in 2017 with David Afkham and the Bamberger Symphoniker - her performance acclaimed for its "gorgeous, intoxicating, liquid soprano". In this appearance, the work is paired with Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 under conductor Elim Chan, with whom Christiane Karg collaborated last season for concerts in Belgium for the composer’s ethereal soprano solo part in his Fourth Symphony.

Inspired by the exoticism of the East and the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, the set of three poems by Tristan Klingsor are blended by Ravel into a orchestration with sensual, impressionistic harmonies, evoking distant lands and dreamlike imagery. The opening song, "Asie," is expansive and hypnotic, while "La flûte enchantée" and "L’indifférent" offer more intimate, nuanced portraits. The piece is especially well-suited to Christiane Karg’s luminous tone, precise diction, and expressive nuance—qualities essential for conveying the sensuality and subtle shifts of colour throughout the work.

This combination of Ravel's dream-like soundscape surrounded by the rolling hills of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park sets the scene for what is sure to be an unmissable concert experience.