PROGRAM

Aaron Copland Music for the Theatre
Joseph Haydn Symphony no 90
Jacques Offenbach Movements from La Gaité Parisienne
Kurt Weill Youkali
Kurt Weill Lost in the Stars

CONDUCTOR AND SOLOIST

Barbara Hannigan

Canadian singer and conductor Barbara Hannigan is an exceptional artist who has worked with all major symphony orchestras and opera houses worldwide and has premiered over 90 new works. She has received numerous awards for her artistry, including a Grammy Award for her album "Crazy Girl Crazy" in 2018 and the prestigious Léonie Sonning Music Prize in 2020. Hannigan has performed on three occasions with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, receiving high praise from both critics and audiences every time.

For this concert, Hannigan offers the audience a program where joy and humor take center stage. The concert kicks off with "Music for the Theatre" by Aaron Copland, where jazz and the vitality of the interwar years play a key role. Joseph Haydn was a great humorist and enjoyed surprising his audience. His whimsical humor shines through in Symphony No. 90. The orchestra then performs excerpts selecter by Hannigan from Jacques Offenbach's ballet "La Gaîté Parisienne," and the concert concludes with two irresistible songs by Kurt Weill, performed by Barbara Hannigan.

Hannigan first performed with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra at the opening of the Reykjavik Arts Festival in 2022, to great critical and public acclaim . At concerts the following year, Hannigan received rave reviews and was praised by the critics who wrote: "Hannigan sang, conducted, danced and did it all with superhuman energy. Her singing was full of power and passion, yet her voice was delicate and perfectly shaped. The orchestra played with tremendous fervor... The final climax was so overwhelming that the audience rose to their feet and cheered." Her performances in Reykjavik and Akureyri with Mahler's fourth Symphony in the spring of 2023 also received very strong, positive responses. Her most recent performance with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra came in April 2024, where her rendition of "La Voix Humaine" by Francis Poulenc was hailed for its tremendous artistry and beauty — and she was "cheered like a pop star" (Morgunblaðið). There is certainly more to come in the fruitful collaboration between Hannigan and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, as it was recently announced that she will become the orchestra's next principal conductor, starting in the fall of 2026.