Multi award-winning Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan is renowned for her commitment to contemporary music of her own time and has performed on over 85 first performances of works by composers such as Pierre Boulez, John Zorn, Henri Dutilleux, Gyorgy Ligeti, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Salvatore Sciarrino, Gerald Barry, Pascal Dusapin, Brett Dean, George Benjamin and Hans Abrahamsen.
Notable first performances in the concert halls around the world have included 'One' by Michel can der Aa (2002) and 'Auf der Suche Nach Meinem Gesicht' by Friedrich Gulda (2007). She has also sung the first performances of several pieces especially written for her, including the song cycle 'La Plus Forte' (2007) by Gerald Barry and 'Let Me Tell You' (2008) by Hans Abrahamsen.
Equally at home in the opera theatre as on the concert stage, Hannigan's operatic appearances have included roles in 'Lulu' by Alban Berg in both France and Germany, 'Pelléas et Mélisande' by Claude Debussy at the 2016 Aix-en-Provence Festival and in 'Die Soldaten' by Franz Zimmermann at the Bayerische Stattsoper. She was highly acclaimed in the role of Elle in Francis Poulenc's 'La Voix Humaine' at the Paris Opera in both 2015 and 2018. She premiered the roles of Agnes in George Benjamin's opera 'Written on Skin' (2012), Ophelia in Brett Dean's opera 'Hamlet' (2017), 'Isabel' in George Benjamin's 'Lessons in Love and Violence', at Covent Garden (and also reprised the role at the Dutch National Opera in 2018) and the title role in Michael Jarrell's opera 'Bérénice' at the Paris Opera in 2018.
Hannigan's most astonishing ability as a performer is when she combines her role of vocal soloist with that of conductor. The first album on which she performed both roles was 'Crazy Girl Crazy' (2017) which went on to win a plethora of awards the next year. Hannigan has also performed live as both singer and conductor simultaneously in various pieces, including as part of the LSO Portrait Series at the Barbican in 2019. She had the role of Principal Guest Conductor at the Gothenburg Symphony in 2019/20 and has conducted several other major orchestras including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, she released the recital album 'Vienna Fin de Siècle' with pianist Reinbert de Leeuw, which featured works for voice and piano by composers such as Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and Alma Mahler.
