Barbara Hannigan

Even as a young singer, Barbara Hannigan attracted attention with her virtuosic and sensitive interpretations of modern music: no role was too demanding for her; neither Bernd Alois Zimmermann nor György Ligeti pushed her to her limits. And as a conductor? Here, too, she impresses with cleverly conceived programmes and occasionally accompanies herself. This is also the case with Benjamin Britten’s colourfully transfigured song cycle ‘Les Illuminations’, with which he, having recently arrived in America, marked the beginning of a new life away from the turmoil of war in Europe. Just a few years earlier, Igor Stravinsky had also been in America, where he was commissioned to write the Baroque-inspired chamber concerto ‘Dumbarton Oaks’. It was his final work as a guest in America. Upon its completion, he too settled there permanently. Beethoven’s new creative direction, however, came without a geographical move. After two professionally less productive years – apart from the large number of love letters – he suddenly burst with creativity in 1806 and produced several masterpieces in quick succession. Among them is his groundbreaking Fourth Symphony. Barbara Hannigan presents three well-known names with three of their (relatively) less frequently performed works.