Barbara Hannigan
Barbara Hannigan (born 8 May 1971) is a Canadian soprano and conductor, known for her performances of contemporary opera. 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 "One" by Michel van der Aa (2002), the song cycle ' by Friedrich Cerha (2007), and ' by Gerald Barry (2007), which the composer wrote specifically for her. Hans Abrahamsen wrote the  symphonic song cycle "let me tell you" for Hannigan. 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", Kris Defoort's "House of the Sleeping Beauties , and George Benjamin's Written on Skin". 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 on pointe. In 2014, Hannigan sang the role of Marie in Bernd Alois Zimmermann's opera "Die Soldaten" at the Bavarian State Opera, a production that was streamed live on the internet. 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 Symphoniker, 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. In 2016, Hannigan was made a Member of the Order of Canada, one of Canada's highest civilian honours. She was a recipient of the Rolf Schock Prize 2018 in the Musical Arts. The  jury commented: "Hannigan is an extraordinary and innovative performer with a dynamic and intensive approach to the music she performs, often pure virtuoso stage interpretations, in which she often simultaneously assumes both the role of soloist and conductor. Her repertoire covers an impressive field, with great interest in new music. For a number of years she has also run a unique mentoring project, Equilibrium Young Artists, which focuses on young and newly professional musicians around the world." Other awards include "Personalité Musicale de l'Année" (Musical Personality of the Year) (Syndicat de la Presse Française, 2012), Singer of the Year (Opernwelt , 2013), "Ehrenpreise", Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2018 and the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2020.<ref>