Juilliard School Ensemble, Royal Academy of Music & Barbara Hannigan
Biography Juilliard School Ensemble, Royal Academy of Music & Barbara Hannigan
Barbara Hannigan
Embodying music with an unparalleled dramatic sensibility, soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan is an artist at the forefront of creation. Her artistic colleagues include John Zorn, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Sir Simon Rattle, Sasha Waltz, Kent Nagano, Vladimir Jurowski, Andreas Kriegenburg, Andris Nelsons, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christoph Marthaler, Sir Antonio Pappano, Katie Mitchell and Kirill Petrenko. The late conductor and pianist Reinbert de Leeuw has been an extraordinary influence and inspiration on her musical development.
The Canadian musician has shown a profound commitment to the music of our time and has given world premiere performances of over 90 new creations. Hannigan has collaborated extensively with composers including Boulez, Zorn, Dutilleux, Ligeti, Stockhausen, Sciarrino, Barry, Dusapin, Dean, Benjamin and Abrahamsen.
Hannigan has held the post of Principal Guest Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra since 2019, and other posts include Associate Artist with the London Symphony Orchestra, Première Artiste Invitée of l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Principal Guest conductor of Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. She will become Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2026. Ongoing musical collaborations include the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, and appearances at festivals in Spoleto, Oslo, Copenhagen, Hanover, Ludwigsburg and Aix-en-Provence.
On record, Hannigan’s fruitful relationship with Alpha Classics began in 2017 with the release of Crazy Girl Crazy, which won the 2018 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal album. Five critically acclaimed recordings followed, including Vienna: fin de siècle with pianist Reinbert de Leeuw, La Passione, featuring works by Nono, Haydn and Grisey, and Infinite Voyage, joining the Emerson String Quartet for its final album in works by Schoenberg, Hindemith, Berg and Chausson. Spring 2024 brought the release of the ecstatic vocal works of Messiaen with pianist Bertrand Chamayou.
Hannigan’s commitment to the younger generation of musicians led her to create the mentoring initiatives Equilibrium Young Artists (2017) and Momentum: our future, now (2020), offering guidance and performing opportunities to young professional artists. She was recently named the Reinbert de Leeuw Professor of Music at the Royal Academy of Music.
