EGN NEWS DESK
Barbara Hannigan, a daring singer and maestro who has constructed a status for revolutionary programming, will develop into the chief conductor and inventive director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2026, the ensemble introduced on Wednesday.
It would be the first full-time conducting put up for Hannigan, 53, a uncommon artist who started her profession as a soprano however in recent times has made a reputation as a conductor.
Hannigan mentioned in an interview that she was drawn to the inventiveness of the Iceland Symphony, which she first carried out in 2022 in a program of Ives, Schoenberg, Berg and Gershwin.
“These individuals are working in a type of shimmering inventive realm that resonates very a lot with my very own,” she mentioned. “I noticed I might do issues with them and ask issues of them that they took so naturally.”
Lara Soley Johannsdottir, the Iceland Symphony’s managing director, referred to as Hannigan a “one-of-a-kind” artist. In a press release, Johannsdottir mentioned, “Experiencing the belief between her and the musicians and the way they create and go on an journey collectively is extraordinarily inspiring.”
Hannigan will lead the ensemble for an preliminary three-year time period, succeeding Eva Ollikainen, a Finnish conductor whose tenure started in 2020. The Iceland Symphony introduced final month that Ollikainen had determined to depart her put up when her contract expires on the finish of the 2025-26 season.
Hannigan, who was born in Canada, emerged on the cultural scene as a soprano. But in 2011, when she was 40, she started a profession as a conductor, showing with prime ensembles just like the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Cleveland Orchestra. Since 2019, she has served as principal visitor conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden.
She has develop into identified for virtuosic performances by which she each sings and conducts from the rostrum. In April, for instance, she led the Iceland Symphony in a efficiency of Poulenc’s one-act opera for soprano and orchestra “La Voix Humaine,” singing the soprano half.
Hannigan mentioned she was desperate to file and tour with the Iceland Symphony and that she would work to champion Icelandic composers. She mentioned the orchestra would additionally fee works that will enable her to sing and conduct every now and then.
“The orchestra may be very adventurous,” she mentioned, “and so is the viewers.”
Hannigan, who’s presently at work on a recital program that includes Scriabin, Messiaen and Zorn, mentioned that she would proceed to carry out extensively as a soprano. She mentioned that she by no means envisioned taking a full-time conducting put up however felt a particular connection to the Iceland Symphony, calling it “one of the inventive orchestras on the market.”
“I do know they’ll enrich my life quite a bit,” she mentioned, “and I hope that I’m enriching the inventive life in Iceland.”
