Barbara Hannigan
Embodying music with an unparalleled dramatic sensibility, soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan is an artist at the forefront of creation. Her remarkable performances have been called “astonishing”, “phenomenal” and “fearless”, and she was named “une femme-caméléon” by Le Figaro.
As a singer and conductor, the Canadian musician has shown a profound commitment to the music of our time and has given the world première performances of over 90 new creations. Her artistic colleagues include Christoph Marthaler, Sir Simon Rattle, Sasha Waltz, Kent Nagano, Vladimir Jurowski, John Zorn, Andreas Kriegenburg, Andris Nelsons, David Zinman, Antonio Pappano, Katie Mitchell, Kirill Petrenko, and Krszysztof Warlikowski.
The 2023-24 season sees Hannigan give several world premieres as both soprano and conductor, from the likes of Salvatore Sciarrino, Jan Sandström and John Zorn, for whom she dedicates a number of concerts in celebration of the composer’s 70th birthday. She continues her numerous, high profile guest conductor and artist in residence roles, as well as her ongoing relationships with the likes of Cleveland Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic and Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and with festivals such as Winterthur and Spoleto.
In 2017 Barbara Hannigan created ‘Equilibrium Young Artists’, a mentoring initiative for young professional musicians. Equilibrium launched officially in 2018, with 21 participants hand-selected by Hannigan and with whom she worked intensively on, among other works, Mozart’s Requiem, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, and The Rake’s Progress.
In 2020 Barbara Hannigan launched the major new initiative MOMENTUM: Our Future, Now. MOMENTUM supports young, high quality, professional musicians in the first substantial phase of their career, offering them mainstage performance opportunities. It has already positively impacted on the careers of many young artists across the world.
Barbara Hannigan is Associate Artist of London Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Premiere Artiste invitée of Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.