A two-thirds-page photo of Barbara Hannigan conducting and a headline, “Barbara Hannigan and the fantastic symphony », in the OSM’s season brochure: it was enough to imagine finally witnessing the debut of the Canadian musician on a podium in Montreal. But on closer inspection, it is Rafael Payare who will conduct the concert and the Fantastic by Berlioz. Barbara Hannigan will be in front of the public in her singer’s clothes to perform Djamila Boupacha by Luigi Nono and LonelyChild by Claude Vivier.
A bit like the pianists András Schiff or Christian Zacharias, who now conduct their concerts, we no longer even imagined Barbara Hannigan going somewhere to “simply sing”. Her debut as a conductor in Montreal has been awaited for years, so “Barbara Hannigan and the fantastic symphony it sounded damn good.
“When I started conducting, I only went to orchestras that I already knew as a singer. I’ve never been to the OSM, Montreal invited me and I suggested lonely Child of Vivier. It’s an extraordinary work that I don’t get to sing so often and I wanted to meet Rafael Payare and the orchestra,” says the 51-year-old Nova Scotian.
Even if singing before conducting is no longer a prerequisite, we understand that, in the end, the Canadian star’s first visit to Montreal falls into this old tried-and-tested pattern, and we can guess on one side or the other that Barbara Hannigan will be back next season, on the podium this time.
Establish partnerships
The rarity of the one who makes the “buzz” in the classical world in Europe is not Montreal, but continental. “The only orchestra I’ve visited so far is Toronto. This is where I studied. The invitations rain down, but, basically, even among our neighbors to the South, Barbara Hannigan only conducted the Cleveland Orchestra. “I have lived in Europe for more than 20 years, I focus my career there, my home is in Finistère and I have the privileged position of being able to go to North America whenever I want for the things I want to do. Marianne Perron [administratrice artistique de l’OSM] came to me saying, “We want to start building a relationship with you, how do we get started?” Here we are starting…”
As a singer, Barbara Hannigan has left a very strong mark in the contemporary repertoire. His various videos of Mysteries of the Macabre de Ligeti have toured the world. His name is inseparable from Written on Skin by George Benjamin, one of the great operas of the 21ste century. As a conductor, she has gained a reputation for blending voice and direction, old and new repertoire. “I do tailor-made wherever I want. I always choose the program. It never happens to have an orchestra that invites me and says, “We would like you to conduct the 5e Symphony of Bruckner”. »
The traveling guest conductor career does not really interest Barbara Hannigan. “My way of working is to establish partnerships and come back to orchestras that I know. I’m Associate Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, with three weeks per season. I have three weeks with the Göteborg Symphony Orchestra, Sweden, as Principal Guest Conductor, and three weeks with the Philharmonique de Radio-France as Principal Guest Artist. And there are orchestras like the Munich Philharmonic, the Danish Radio Orchestra or the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia in Rome that I visit every year”, tells us the musician in search of “stable relations”. In doing so, it is rare to see it add an institution to its existing panoply.
Careful programming
At the time of the interview, Barbara Hannigan was conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam for the first time. The program is very typical of his approach: “ Mutation from Bach for brass by Samuel Barber Concerto in memory of an angel by Berg, also linked to a Bach chorale and, after the break, Metamorphoses of Strauss and lonely Child by Claude Vivier. The common thread is loss, loneliness, self-discovery. This is how I design programs. »
At the institutions where she is invited to direct several programs each year, Barbara Hannigan is not looking for a theme. “There is no need for the three programs to connect with each other, but a program, individually, must be a world in itself. For example, at Radio France, after an organ improvisation by Thomas Lacôte, we went on, attacked, LonelyChild then played the Symphony noh 26 by Haydn and exotic birds by Messiaen. For me, this is the perfect program. »
Barbara Hannigan doesn’t think that post-pandemic audiences, seeking more distractions, are scared off by demanding programs. His availability is full and complete for so much intellectualism. “Oh yes, even more than before, because the pandemic has forced us to explore a new repertoire. Institutions contacted me constantly during the pandemic, because they knew that I knew all this repertoire that was off the beaten track. The public, which has lost the sense of regularity, buys at the last moment. In my opinion, it has become more curious. »
In a major interview given to the magazine Tuning fork in October, Barbara Hannigan confessed to having immersed herself in Mahler during the pandemic. “During the confinement, my passion for Mahler turned into an obsession: I immersed myself in the scores, but also the letters, the philosophical writings which may have influenced him. Those of Nietzsche, of course, but also of Schopenhauer”, she said then.
In practice, Barbara Hannigan led the Fourth Symphony by Mahler with three orchestras. “I took it from all angles, philosophical, musical, socio-economic, historical, programmatic. But, in practice, “with each orchestra, it’s different, because each has its own autonomy and its own level of risk-taking. Orchestras know that when I come, they’re going to be outside their comfort zone. »
Checkboxes
Barbara Hannigan sees herself at work as “a very collaborative bug”. “I offer, I know what I want, but I don’t push, I don’t force. She gauges. In a repertoire work, “I don’t have a fixed idea about a tempo or a style. Because the orchestra, the room, the relationship of the orchestra, the score changes every time. When I arrive with Claude Vivier, there is nothing in their value system that leads them to say: “We have always played LonelyChild like.” So it is with the Concertgebouw in the Metamorphoses by Strauss. “There are things in their system. I have to feel them. » It is up to the musician to see ultimately whether the band is going to stick with it or break away from it.
Her 4e Symphony by Mahler, Barara Hannigan sings it herself. Isn’t she too out of breath? “I am not physically drained, but emotionally, by the 3e movement. Turn after 3e movement, which breaks my heart, and singing the last one is something. It’s very strange. You make music with everyone and then you turn around and you sing. And I don’t direct: I prepare everything in rehearsal at such a level that I don’t direct. But that too is beautiful, because philosophically, this “we” who take charge of everything by trusting each other, is an affirmation. »
The aforementioned interview withTuning fork ended on the essential questions of representativeness, diversity and inclusion, the new Holy Grail of programming and artistic rectitude. Barbara Hannigan’s response draws attention, since she refers to a phrase by Icelandic President Gudni Johannesson: “Oh yes, the President. He said : “Be careful ! You may box yourself in by trying to please all the requirements.“The good thing with me, being a woman and thinking outside the box, is that they already have their checkbox(es) with me. I’m never asked to tick off others,” laughs Barbara Hannigan when asked about what she answers when asked to program female composers.
“I don’t want to defend someone’s work. I’m interested in sheet music like theAndante for strings by Ruth Crawford Seeger. Besides, I never think through the prism of genre or any labeling. I would hate to be seen through my gender, I want to be a musician. On my passport, it does not say ” female musician “, but “musician “.