Barbara Hannigan

Embodying music with an unparalleled dramatic sensibility, soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan is an artist at the forefront of creation. Over more than three decades, she has forged extraordinary artistic partnerships with the world’s foremost musicians, directors, and choreographers, including John Zorn, Simon Rattle, Sasha Waltz, Katie Mitchell, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Kirill Petrenko. The late conductor and pianist Reinbert de Leeuw has been an extraordinary influence and inspiration on her development as a musician.

In the 2025–26 season, Hannigan returns to The Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, l’Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Munich Philharmonic, and Iceland Symphony Orchestra (where her position as chief conductor and artistic director will begin in the 2026–27 season). She will make her New York Philharmonic conducting debut, performing her unique version of Poulenc’s La voix humaine, in which she both sings the role of Elle and conducts the orchestra. Her recital tour with Bertrand Chamayou also continues, with performances in Lausanne, Amsterdam, Gothenburg, Brussels, Madrid, Vienna, Prague, and London, and she embarks on another European tour alongside the Quatuor Belcea, singing the soprano part in Schoenberg’s Second String Quartet. In addition, Hannigan will give the world premiere of Laura Bowler’s The White Book for soprano and orchestra with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and Copenhagen Philharmonic, conducted by Bar Avni.

Hannigan’s awards and honors include being named the 2025 Polar Music Prize Laureate, Musical America’s Artist of the Year in 2025, and an Accademico Onorario (Honorary Academician) at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. Other honors include the Order of Canada, France’s Officier des Arts et des Lettres, Gramophone’s 2022 Artist of the Year, Germany’s Faust Award, Sweden’s Rolf Schock Prize for Musical Arts, the Stena Foundation’s 2021 Cultural Scholarship, the Dresdener Musikfestspiele Glashütte Award, Denmark’s Léonie Sonning Music Prize, and Canada’s De Hueck and Walford Career Achievement Award.