Barbara Hannigan

Today we're kicking off a brand-new season of interviews and our celebration of Women's History Month by featuring David's conversation with Grammy Award-winning soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan. Renowned for her exceptional voice, dynamic stage presence, and inspired conducting skills, any of these talents is enough to distinguish Barbara at the forefront of creation. But, when she decided to sing, act, and conduct simultaneously, Barbara found herself forging new ground. She shares where she got the idea to try conducting, how she developed signals to use when simultaneously singing and leading, and why she programs as much Haydn as possible. Barbara reflects on her first teachers, describes how she worked like a professional athlete to overcome performance anxiety, and shares why she feels it's so important to foster the next generation of musicians.


Check out Barbara Hannigan on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, or the web and learn more about Barbara's initiatives Equilibrium Young Artists and Momentum.


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Photograph courtesy of Barbara Hannigan.


The Speaking Soundly theme song is composed by Joseph Saba/Stewart Winter and used by permission of Videohelper.


Speaking Soundly was co-created by David Krauss and Jessica Handelman


This interview has been edited and condensed to fit the time format.


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