Coming Soon,
Barbara Hannigan's debut disc as singer and conductor
We hear that the chameleonic Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan has recorded her first disc in her dual capacities as singer and conductor – featuring music by Berg, Berio and Gershwin, ‘Crazy Girl Crazy’ will be released on Alpha in October 2017 and has been described by the label as ‘an evocative musical portrait’ of an artist whose magnetic, sensual stage-presence, immaculate technique and tireless musical intelligence have made her a compelling advocate for some of the most challenging vocal music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. (Recent triumphs have included the Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen’s luminous orchestral song-cycle Let me tell you (winner of the Contemporary category at last month’s Gramophone Awards), which was written for Hannigan and the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2013, and the role of Agnés (a Mélisande-like, initially submissive young wife who’s jolted into self-discovery and ultimately self-destruction by the mysterious artist whom her husband tasks with illustrating his family history) in George Benjamin’s 2012 opera Written on Skin, widely acclaimed as one of the greatest new operas of the past few decades).
For this project, Hannigan will direct the Amsterdam-based ensemble LUDWIG, with whom she’s collaborated on a regular basis since its inception in 2013 – their recent performances together have included works by Stravinsky, Ligeti, Mozart and Haydn, with the Dutch magazine Het Parool describing Hannigan’s conducting debut with the group as ‘nothing less than a miracle’. The programme will centre on excerpts from one of Hannigan’s signature roles, Berg’s Lulu (Opera Magazine described her 2012 performance at La Monnaie as ‘irresistable…as sexy as it is vocally incandescent’), plus a new arrangement of Gershwin’s Girl Crazy Suite by the American composer Bill Elliott, and Luciano Berio’s hugely demanding Sequenza III for solo voice.
Barbara Hannigan returns to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden to reprise her role as Agnés in Written on Skin in January. You can read Katherine’s exclusive interview with Hans Abrahamsen about his collaboration with Barbara on Let me tell you here.
Recent and related recordings featuring Barbara Hannigan
'Hannigan sings the songs of Erik Satie as if she’s sitting next to you, whispering and cooing across the kitchen table with sufficient breathiness, soft edges and exquisite spaciousness to match Reinbert de Leeuw’s sweet-melancholy piano chords' (The Guardian).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Gerald Barry: The Importance of Being Earnest
Barbara Hannigan, Peter Tantsits, Joshua Bloom, Katalin Károlyi, Hilary Summers, Alan Ewing; BCMG, Thomas Adès
'It’s a true ensemble effort, though if pushed to pick a stand-out performance, the pyrotechnics of soprano Barbara Hannigan as Cecily are pretty unbeatable' (Opera Now).
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
George Benjamin: Written on Skin (CD)
Christopher Purves, Barbara Hannigan, Bejun Mehta, Rebecca Jo Loeb, Allan Clayton; Mahler Chamber Orchestra, George Benjamin
Hannigan sings the role of the repressed wife Agnès (which was written for her) in Benjamin's dark erotic masterpiece, captured here in a live recording of the work's world premiere at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in summer 2012.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
George Benjamin: Written on Skin (DVD)
Christopher Purves, Barbara Hannigan, Bejun Mehta, Victoria Simmonds, Allan Clayton; Royal Opera House, George Benjamin
The following spring, the work was staged and filmed at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, again with Purves and Hannigan as the conflicted husband and wife: 'The cast is excellent, especially Barbara Hannigan as the wife, combining vocal trapeze-work with a thoroughly modern dramatic intensity' (Gramophone).
Available Format: DVD Video
Also available on Blu-ray.
Berg: Lulu
Barbara Hannigan, Dietrich Henschel, Natascha Petrinsky, Tom Randle, Dietrich Henschel, Charles Workman); Orchestre Symphonique de la Monnaie, Paul Daniel
Hannigan sang the title-role in this 2012 performance from La Monnaie, prompting BBC Music Magazine to write that 'It's a comparatively rare occurrence to encounter a performance on the opera stage that has such a magnetic visual and physical impact as Barbara Hannigan's portrayal of Berg's tragic heroine...Her absolute vocal mastery is marvellous'.
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
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