Barbara Hannigan (born 8 May 1971) is a Canadian soprano and conductor, known for her performances of contemporary classical music.

Education

Hannigan's initial musical education came from music teachers in her hometown of Waverley, Nova Scotia, in Halifax. After growing up in Waverley, Hannigan moved to Toronto at the age of 17. She studied music at the University of Toronto, where her teachers included Mary Morrison. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1993 and a Master of Music degree in 1998. She continued her studies at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival, and the Centre d'arts Orford. She also studied for one year at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.

Career

Hannigan is known for her performances of contemporary music. Her advocacy of contemporary music began in her youth, and she sang her first world premiere at the age of 17. , she had premiered approximately 75 contemporary compositions. These include Written on Skin by George Benjamin (2017), La plus forte by Gerald Barry (2007) let me tell you by Hans Abrahamsen, Split the Lark (2022), Starcatcher (2022), and several other works by John Zorn. She gave the world premiere of Golfam Khayam’s Je ne suis pas une fable à conter for voice and orchestra in June 2023. Hannigan is particularly noted for her performances of György Ligeti's Mysteries of the Macabre (a concert version of a scene from his opera Le Grand Macabre); in 2011 she began to conduct the work in addition to singing the vocal part. Her work in contemporary opera has included singing in the premieres of Louis Andriessen's Writing to Vermeer, Gerald Barry's The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant and The Importance of Being Earnest, Jan van de Putte's Wet Snow, and Kris Defoort's House of the Sleeping Beauties. She has worked with choreographer Sasha Waltz on productions of Toshio Hosokawa's Matsukaze and Pascal Dusapin's Passion. Hannigan received critical acclaim for her performance in Alban Berg's Lulu, which included dancing en pointe. In 2014, Hannigan sang the role of Marie in Bernd Alois Zimmermann's opera Die Soldaten at the Bavarian State Opera. For her performance as Marie, she won the 2015 Der Faust (award) in Germany. Hannigan regularly performs in concert as both soprano and conductor. She has worked with the Berlin Philharmonic, Münchner Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Göteborgs Symfoniker, Prague Philharmonic, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Britten Sinfonia, Gulbenkian Orchestra, and The Cleveland Orchestra. She won the Ovatie 2014 award for her performance as soprano/conductor with her conducting debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Ludwig Orchestra, The Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne. In 2019, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (GSO) named Hannigan its Principal Guest Conductor. In December 2023, the GSO announced that her contract has been extended until the 2027–2028 season. Hannigan first-guest conducted the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2022. In May 2024, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra named her its next chief conductor and artistic director, for a three-year term beginning in 2026. She is also the Première Artiste Invitée of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Associate Artist of the London Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra (starting in the 2024/25 season).

Honors and awards

Memberships

Recordings

DVDs

Personal life

Hannigan was previously married to Dutch theatre director Gijs de Lange. Since 2017, she has lived in Paris, France. From 2015 to 2024, she was in a long-term relationship with French actor Mathieu Amalric.