to the homepage
to the homepage
biography
repertoire
engagements
press and photos
recordings
contact
 

click to see Barbara's portraits click to see photos of Barbara's performances
   
 

INTERVIEWS/ARTICLES		  

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 		 
   
  ^ back to top  
     
     
Critical acclaim for Britten's Les Illuminations:
   
  “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
 
   
  ^ back to top
   
   
Other recent reviews:  
     

"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
 
 
   
     
Solo opera ONE, by Michel van der Aa  
     
  "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		  
 
  ^ back to top