Barbara Hannigan
Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan studied at the University of Toronto with Mary
Morrison, at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Meinard Kraak, and privately with
Neil Semer.
A frequent guest of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Ms. Hannigan has also performed with the
London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, The
Cleveland Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre
National de France, Opéra national de Paris, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern,
and Asko | Schoenberg.
Ms. Hannigan has worked with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Pierre Boulez, Sir Simon
Rattle, Thomas Adès, Kurt Masur, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Alan Gilbert, Susanna Mälkki, Oliver
Knussen, Michael Gielen, and Peter Eötvös. She has also had the privilege of working with
composers Louis Andriessen, Pascal Dusapin, Gerald Barry, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and the
late Henri Dutilleux.
György Ligeti's compositions carry special weight in Ms. Hannigan's repertoire. She has
performed Mysteries of the Macabre at the Salzburg Easter Festival, Lincoln
Center, Berliner Philharmonie, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, and Vienna's Konzerthaus. Ms.
Hannigan performed Ligeti's Aventures and Nouvelles aventures in her 2003
BBC Proms debut with the London Sinfonietta; the composer's Requiem with the Bamberg
Symphony, Berliner Philharmoniker, and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; and Le Grand
Macabre at La Monnaie and Lincoln Center.
Ms. Hannigan's operatic roles include Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia, Belinda in
Dido and Aeneas, Despina in Così fan tutte, Anne Trulove in The
Rake's Progress, Dalinda in Ariodante, and the title role in Janáček's
The Cunning Little Vixen. She sang in the world premieres of Dusapin's
Passion, Andriessen's Writing to Vermeer, Jan van de Putte's Wet
Snow, Michel van der Aa's solo opera One, Luca Mosca's Signor
Goldoni, and Barry's The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Barry also
specifically composed La plus forte for Ms. Hannigan-a full setting of
Strindberg's play for soprano and orchestra.
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