Barbara Hannigan, a daring singer and maestro who has constructed a fame for modern programming, will turn into the chief conductor and inventive director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2026, the ensemble introduced on Wednesday.
It is going to be the primary full-time conducting submit for Hannigan, 53, a uncommon artist who started her profession as a soprano however lately has made a reputation as a conductor.
Hannigan stated in an interview that she was drawn to the inventiveness of the Iceland Symphony, which she first performed in 2022 in a program of Ives, Schoenberg, Berg and Gershwin.
“These persons are working in a type of shimmering inventive realm that resonates very a lot with my very own,” she stated. “I spotted I may do issues with them and ask issues of them that they took so naturally.”
Lara Soley Johannsdottir, the Iceland Symphony’s managing director, known as Hannigan a “one-of-a-kind” artist. In a press release, Johannsdottir stated, “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 go away her submit 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. However 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 turn 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 stated she was wanting to document and tour with the Iceland Symphony and that she would work to champion Icelandic composers. She stated the orchestra would additionally fee works that may enable her to sing and conduct from time to time.
“The orchestra may be very adventurous,” she stated, “and so is the viewers.”
Hannigan, who’s at the moment at work on a recital program that includes Scriabin, Messiaen and Zorn, stated that she would proceed to carry out broadly as a soprano. She stated that she by no means envisioned taking a full-time conducting submit however felt a particular connection to the Iceland Symphony, calling it “probably the most inventive orchestras on the market.”
“I do know they will enrich my life so much,” she stated, “and I hope that I’m enriching the inventive life in Iceland.”
