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INTERVIEWS/ARTICLES		  

Opera Canada ("Artists on Stage: Barbara Hannigan", written by Christopher Hoile, fall 2009)

Het Parool ("Voor sopraan Hannigan is niets onmogelijk", written bij Erik Voermans, January 2007)

Berliner Philharmoniker Magazine ("Die Kanadische Sopranistin Barbara Hannigan verfügt über gleich mehrere seltene Gaben", written by Jurgen Otten, January/February 2007)

Concertgebouw Magazine (Praeludium) ("Barbara Hannigan: ‘Het is een kwestie van fysiek geheugen’"
written by Henriette Posthuma de Boer)

Oxford University Press Newsletter ("Gerard Barry: The Performer's Perspective, written by Barbara Hannigan, winter 2007)



Praise for her performances of Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre
     
“Mysteries of the Macabre was performed here by the fearless soprano Barbara Hannigan. Wearing fishnet tights, spike heels and a leather trenchcoat, Ms Hannigan was a demonic presence. But even scarier was her uncanny ability to toss off the hysterical coloratura flights and nonsensical words… Ms Hannigan, Mr de Leeuw and the players were brought back for five bows by the audience.”
New York Times 01-17-06
United States
 
“To call Barbara Hannigan a soprano is like calling Robin Williams a public speaker; the term doesn’t begin to cover her fearless verve or elasticity…the 8 minute theatrical tour-de-force left her spent and the audience roaring. Who said the avant-garde can’t be fun?”
New York Newsday 01-16-06
United States
 
“The chamber orchestra served as accompaniment to one of the best vocal performances on a New York stage in quite some time…This is singing as an extreme sport, and Ms Hannigan was nothing short of electrifying.”
New York Sun 01-16-06
United States
 
  "The performance of Barbara Hannigan was frankly overwhelming, in Mysteries of the Macabre, a work based on three arias from Ligeti’s absurd opera Le Grand Macabre. Dressed in a long black leather coat, boots, and a black wig, Hannigan fired a virtuoso barrage of notes into the hall...what a concert!"
Trouw 11-2000
The Netherlands		  
     
  "The Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan delivered a captivating display of three arias from the opera Le Grand Macabre. She presented Ligeti's nonsense monologue in an overwhelming performance: impudent, witty, moving, and always perfectly coordinated with the ensemble. It was a totally astonishing achievement, that was given its deserved cheers."
Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger 27-10-03
Germany 		 
     
  "In a black leather outfit, soprano Barbara Hannigan, setting afire a breathtaking fireworks display of technique and tempo, went to the extremes of human expression, and doused the orchestra with boiling hot emotion."
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 8-5-2002
Germany 		 
     
  "Mysteries of the Macabre functioned as a flamboyant ending, an excerpt from Ligeti's opera Le Grand Macabre, in which soprano Barbara Hannigan, dressed up in a long black coat and matching wig, her voice achieving the most staggering gymnastic feats, in a faultlessly choreographed combination with the crazy somersaults of the ensemble."
de Volkskrant 26-05-03
The Netherlands 		 
 
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Reviews for Ligeti's opera Le Grand Macabre
   
  "On y distingue tout particulièrement la soprano Barbara Hannigan, qui non seulement chante toutes les notes du rôle impossible de Gepopo, le chef de la police, mais le fait en enchaînant roulades et galipettes tout en restant toujours musicale."
Le Figaro France, March 2009
   
  "The countertenor Brian Asawa was in splendid form as the sissified Prince Go-Go, and Barbara Hannigan excelled as Venus and as Gepopo, the chief of the secret police, whose warnings about Nekrotzar are obscured by barrages of sparkling coloratura."
New York Times April 8 2009
   
  "De opera werd gezongen in het Engels; Ligeti liet de uitvoerenden daarin vrij. Chris Merritt steelt de
show als een fantastisch krijsende Piet the Pot. Werner van Mechelen speelt en zingt een opvallende
Nekrotzar en de Canadees/Nederlandse Barbara Hannigan triomfeerde in haar schier onzingbare
paraderol van Gepopo."
Trouw Netherlands, March 2009
   
  "Et mention toute spéciale pour Vénus puis Le chef de la police secrète (Barbara Hannigan),
brillamment cataclysmique ou déesse suave, qui, même seconds rôles, apporte une fraîche énergie, limpidité vocale, au lourd ensemble des ivrognes, nymphomanes, et fantoches…"
ResMusica March 2009
   
  "De cast is in goede doen. Werner Van Mechelen vertolkt Nekrotzar met een ongewone sereniteit, als het type van de droeve August. Aan het andere eind van het spectrum vind je Barbara Hannigan als Gepopo, de chef van de geheime politie. Op scène is ze de zenuwpees. Als ze zingt, klinkt ze als een stemacrobate die onwaarschijnlijke nonsens kan uitkramen op de allerhoogste noten."
De Standaard Belgium, March 26, 2009
   
  "Qu'elle personnifie Vénus ou Gepopo, le chef de la police secrète, Barbara Hannigan est formidable, musicienne exceptionnelle qui affronte avec désinvolture les vocalises les plus escarpées, actrice non moins remarquable à la silhouette de sirène."
Les Echos France March 26, 2009
   
  "Zum Fürchten komisch die Koloratursopranistin Barbara Hannigan als Oberscherge Gepopo und
als flatterhafte Venus - eine vokal wie darstellerisch brillante Doppelleistung."
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung March 2009
   
  "Glanzpunkt der Produktion ist aber die kanadische Sopranistin Barbara Hannigan, welche die halsbrecherischen Koloraturen des Geheimdienstchefs Gepopo bis ins Letzte ausreizt."
Neue Zuricher Zeitung March 2009
   
  "...la formidable colorature Barbara Hannigan, Vénus sexy à la chevelure rose, ou Gepopo, le chef de la police secrète, affrontant, à la limite de la transe, des vocalises de folie."
Le Monde March 2009
   
  "Die amerikanische Sopranistin Barbara Hannigan als Venus und Chef der Geheimpolizei schwebt und springt durch Breughelland wie ein Zeichentrick-Proteus und legt dabei sicher, präzise und leicht die irrwitzigsten Solopassagen hin."
Deutschland Radio, March 25, 2009
 
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Critical acclaim for Britten's Les Illuminations
 
  "Then Barbara Hannigan waltzed in wearing a shimmering, cobalt blue satin gown, curtsied gracefully, her dress swirling around her like a water lily, and began to sing. Hannigan is an exception, one of the few heroes who prevent a lightning bolt from heaven from shattering the crumbling "classical music business": a singer blessed with an amazing soprano voice and full artistic incorruptibility, devoted with equal intensity to baroque and modern music. Glittering detours and the finest nuances characterised her performance of Britten; a single example must suffice to portray the finesse that she together with van Steen brought out as if transformed into all the shades of the shimmering string instruments of the Konzerthausorchester: at the line "Les sauvages dansent sans cesse la Fête de la Nuit", her voice so closely resembled the frenetic swirl of pizzicati and string instrument notes, it was as if all verbal thoughts and meanings dissolved into an excess of pure sound through "the savages dance ceaselessly the festival of the night". What a singer! Or to quote Rimbaud: "O Rumeurs et Visions!" - O Tumult and Visions!??"
Berliner Zeitung Dec 1, 2008
Britten's Les Illuminations with the Konzerthausorchester, Berlin
   
  "Storgards relinquished his baton to shape the exquisite and resourceful string scoring of Britten’s Les Illuminations, a work contemporaneous with the riches of the Frank Bridge Variations, also for string orchestra. Barbara Hannigan was the soprano soloist here, communicating Rimbaud’s texts with convincing engagement, and delivering Britten’s searching coloratura effects with triumphant panache."
Birmingham Post June 8, 2009
Britten's Les Illuminations with The CBSO, conducted by John Storgards
   
  “The soloist in both works on this occasion was the elegant and accomplished Barbara Hannigan, the young Canadian soprano currently making a name for herself abroad, especially in England and Holland. Hannigan was lovely in both works, but particularly in the Britten with its vividly varied poetry. Here, her vocal clarity and security, her impeccable pitch, her strong sense of rhythm and her ability to recognize and fulfill the phrased arabesques of Britten's vocal line...”
Globe and Mail, Toronto, March 15, 2008
Britten’s Les Illuminations and Mahler 4th Symphony, with the Toronto Symphony, conducted by Peter Oundjian
   
  "At the heart of the evening's program sat the crowning glory, recognized immediately by the reaction of the public: Les Illuminations for voice and string orchestra...the contribution of Barbara Hannigan was extraordinary, with her purest soprano voice in the upper register, able to follow Britten in all his adventurous panorama: the recitative-like tones, lyric lines reminiscent of Mussorgsky and Berlioz' Nuits d'ete, the baroque moments of Purcell, the intimacy of Faure, the ambiguous sweetness of the future "Circle of life", leaving no emotional traces but of a true and proper theatrical part: it would be wonderful to someday find Hannigan in the lead role of Schoenberg's Erwartung."
La Stampa (November 2007)
Britten Les Illuminations with the RAI Orchestra of Torino conducted by John Storgards
Italy
   
  “Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan nearly walked away with the concert with her eloquently sensuous reading of the text. She sang with a plush sound, alluring languor and varied color, soaring with ecstasy in some poems and floating alluring pianissimos in others.”
Detroit Free Press, March 15, 2008
Britten’s Les Illuminations and Mahler 4th Symphony, with the Toronto Symphony, conducted by Peter Oundjian
   
  "Here, the evening's showpiece was a deliciously styled account of Mahler's Symphony No. 4 in G major. But no less a delight, and perhaps the more to treasure for its rarity, was a gorgeous performance of Britten's 1939 song-cycle "Les Illuminations" with Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan in the solo role.
Hannigan and the Toronto Symphony delivered the sum of poet and composer with consummate finesse. Applying a seemingly limitless vocal technique and an unfailing sense of color, Hannigan tapped to the core of Rimbaud's resonant language. Her words were clear, her musical textures as gauzy and seductive as sea-spray.
The (Mahler Fourth) symphony's otherworldly finale, a child's innocent ideal of heaven, once more brought Hannigan into the spotlight, and again she sang with a winning combination of technical aplomb, warmth and understanding.
Detroit News, March 15, 2008
Britten’s Les Illuminations and Mahler 4th Symphony, with the Toronto Symphony, conducted by Peter Oundjian
 
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Reviews for the world premiere tour of Pascal Dusapin's opera Passion
   
  "Dans cet écrin modal et chromatique, la vocalité brûlante de la soprano Barbara Hannigan et du baryton Georg Nigl s'insère de façon magique: chaque mot et sculpté, modulé, projeté avec une expressivité qui captive au-delà de toute velléité de faire sens."
Liberation July 9, 2008
   
 

"Barbara Hannigan, qui stupéfie par la maîtrise de sa très exigeante partie (suraigus en exclamations) et Georg Nigl, chantent et habitent Passion comme s'ils étaient dans une partition connue."
Le Monde July 3, 2008
   
 

""Elle" c'est la soprano Barbara Hannigan, souple silhouette de sirène, voix puissant et agile, au timbre argenté, engagement scénique époustouflant; l'une de ces artistes que l'on découvre et qu'on a aussitôt envie de réentendre."
Les Echos July 1, 2008
   
 

"Incantation madrigalesque d'une heure et demie, cet opéra va à merveille à la soprano Barbara Hannigan."
Le Figaro July 1, 2008
   
 

"Dusapin composed the solo roles specifically for Hannigan and Nigl, strikingly integrated with the instrumental ensemble. Vocal and instrumental lines took over from one another in a magical way. Nigl and Hannigan sang and acted perfectly - he beautifully thoughtful, sad and hopeful, with much falsetto, her with faultlessly placed, glimmering high notes and a touching vulnerability."
NRC Handelsblad June 11, 2009
 
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Other recent reviews  
     
"Late in the opera, Barbara Hannigan (Despina) is dazzling in one of the most virtuoso coloratura arias this reviewer has ever heard."
Opera News, September 2009, review of DVD of Signor Goldoni by Luca Mosca
 
"Barbara Hannigan, the faultless soprano in (Luigi Nono's) A Floresta, had prefaced it with one of the unaccompanied songs from Nono's 1962 Canti di Vita e d'Amore, perfectly poised and authentically Italianate in its lyricism."
Guardian, London, Nov 7, 2007
 
"Als vokalen Nachklapp gab es auch noch sechs dodekaphonische Georg Trakl-Lieder des Meisters, abwechselnd aufs sparsamste umspielt und umwispert von vier Instrumentalisten, die alles Erdenkliche versuchten, sich kein nachhaltiges Gehör zu verschaffen. Was ihnen auch sehr erfolgreich gelang. Miss Hannigan nahm reichen Beifall mit großen Gesten sublimster Grazie entgegen.
Berliner Morgenpost, April 2008
Webern Op 14 with Simon Rattle and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
 
"Nimmt man die Aufführungen der Lieder op. 8 und op. 14 und der Orchesterstücke op. 10 für sich, dann scheint Rattle als Webern-Interpret in der Boulez-Nachfolge zu stehen: Vieles klingt sinnlich-delikat ausgehört, wenig entfaltet gestisches Espressivo. Die kanadische Sopranistin Barbara Hannigan sang mit warmem, lyrischem Ton."
Berliner Zeitung, April 2008
Webern Op 8 and 14, with Sir Simon Rattle and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
 

"Sie bekrönte als Schlussstück den ungewöhnlichen Konzertabend, in dessen Mitte, schier unübertrefflich, die kanadische Sopranistin Barbara Hannigan die anrührenden "Sieben frühen Lieder" von Alban Berg (in der glücklichen Bearbeitung für Kammerensemble von Reinbert de Leeuw) vortrug: eine Artistin auf dem Hochseil der Singkunst."
Berliner Morgenpost, April 2008
Berg Sieben Fruhe Lieder and Webern Op 18, with Berlin Philharmonic's Scharoun Ensemble, conducted by Pierre Boulez
 

"Der Sängerin Barbara Hannigan verlangen die Lieder Unglaubliches ab. Die Stimme wird in riesigen Sprüngen geführt, vermeidet jegliche kantable Linie. Dagegen wirken Alban Bergs sieben frühe Lieder noch wie melancholische Abschiedsgesänge auf die Spätromantik, es sind die Wohlfühlstücke des Abends. Schönbergs Kammersinfonie schließt die Lücke zwischen Romantik und Abstraktion – schöner Abschluss eines Jubiläumskonzerts."
Berlin Tagesspiegel, April 2008
Berg Sieben Fruhe Lieder and Webern Op 18, with Berlin Philharmonic's Scharoun Ensemble, conducted by Pierre Boulez
 

"In the middle part of the piece, as if in a vacuum, time stood still as soprano Barbara Hannigan crept through Mallarme's text with a few percussionists and harp. The virtuoso Hannigan sang with beautiful colours that ranged from cool French to warm Viennese tones. She held her own courageously in those parts where Boulez deliberately allows the voice to be submerged by the instruments, hit the highest notes with an ease as only Hannigan can, and finally breathed Mallarme's last word, whispering "mort"...the jam-packed (Concertgebouw) went into raptures of long and loud applause."
Trouw (June, 2007)
Boulez Pli selon pli with the ASKO and Schoenberg Ensembles conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

 
"(Boulez) would have been more than pleasantly surprised by the contribution of soloist Barbara Hannigan, who sang the absurdly whimsical soprano part, in which the voice is treated as an autonomous instrument, with an ease, flexibility, and musicality that dulled all existing recordings of the piece."
Het Parool (June, 2007)
Boulez Pli selon pli with the ASKO and Schoenberg Ensembles conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
 

Alone onstage, Barbara Hannigan poured forth her remarkably clear, direct soprano, leaving no emotion unturned in the words and cries of a freedom fighter brutally raped during Algeria's war of independence. Direct human contact was instantly achieved.
The Times, London, (November 2007)
Luigi Nono Djamila Boupacha for solo voice, at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London
United Kingdom
 
"There was no better soprano than Barbara Hannigan to interpret the part of the capricious and carefree Allegro. Brilliant coloratura, enormous ease of tone in the high register, and articulate presence made this performance a captivating event."
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 22-5-2002
Händel L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderator with the Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra
Germany
 
"Hannigan conjured the full power - and humanity - of the enchantress. Aided by her wonderful connection to the musicality of the words - not to mention her dazzling virtuosity - Hannigan drew out the nuances of Händel's oft-praised characterization: the fiery, sexy temperament and touching vulnerability in her illicit and unrequited love for the enemy Rinaldo."
The National Post 29-04-04
As Armida in Händel's Rinaldo with Opera in Concert
Toronto, Canada
 
"...it was above all Barbara Hannigan in the part of first soprano, with all its ornamentation, so much allure had that the other parts paled by comparison. With her porcelein sound she took hairpin turns as if they were nothing, and defied the highest heights: a vocal alpiniste who climbs without the necessity of life insurance!"
Leeuwarder Courant 22-02-03
Mozart C minor Mass with the Noord Nederlands Orkest
The Netherlands
 
“Barbara Hannigan as Petra’s daughter Gabriele vaults impressively through vocal acrobatics that put Strauss’s Zerbinetta in the shade.”
Irish Times 19-09-05
Gerald Barry The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, at English National Opera
United Kingdom
 
“The Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan was imported to sing Petra’s daughter, and let fly a voice that hit high notes with a Queen of the Night’s brilliance and power.”
Times Literary Supplement 23-09-05
Gerald Barry The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, at English National Opera
United Kingdom
 
“Barbara Hannigan was convincing in her school uniform as Petra’s daughter, on the threshold between child and woman.”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 26-09-05
Gerald Barry The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, at English National Opera
United Kingdom
 
"Soprano Barbara Hannigan enticed the audience to laughter as Lieschen, and transported with flawless, slender perfection in the aria "Ei! Wie schmeckt der Coffee susse", where vocal ornaments unrolled like sensual sighs."
NRC Handelsblad 13-05-03
Bach Secular Cantatas with Combattimento Consort Amsterdam
The Netherlands
 
"...but the most exciting moment came in the Friday night Sinfonietta concert when that startlingly blonde, butter-wouldn’t-melt soprano Barbara Hannigan flung herself with indecent gusto into the sexy vocal games of Gyorgy Ligeti’s Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures. It was like seeing the Catherine Deneuve of Belle de Jour suddenly turn savage and foul-mouthed. The Proms don’t come much more “impure” than that."
Daily Telegraph London 11-08-03
Ligeti , BBC Proms
United Kingdom
 
"Then came the formidable soprano Barbara Hannigan onstage. The first minutes she sang only one tone. Later she had rhythmic and melodic lines to sing at breakneck speed, tasks she completed with unimaginable technical ease and enormous musicality. You had to be there to believe it."
Het Parool 13-01-03
Frascati, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
   
     
  “Whoever has seen this performance can only confirm that it is Hannigan’s unparalleled virtuosity and overwhelming concentration, both “live” and on film, that carries the performance. She has completely internalized the piece; she is One. It is questionable as to whether anyone else could ever sing these notes, written for her unique vocal capacities.”
NRC Handelsblad June 2006
Holland Festival, Amsterdam, The Netherlands		  
     
     
     
     
 
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