I am not sure this has ever been done before.
Barbara Hannigan plans to conduct the LSO in April and also to sing the soprano solo in the fourth movement of Mahler’s ‘little’ fourth symphony. Check this out.
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Not the first time: she has already done this at least in Milano and Torino
How did it go? This is a hell of task. Yet judging by, pianists who conduct from the keyboard, very few do it well. Barenboim on a good day instantly comes to mind.
She sang and conducted LigetiĀ“s Mysteries of the macabre……Both unbelievably hard to sing and conduct….She did both at the same time…and how!!!!Barbara is an absolute phenomenon.
She’s done this with Mahler’s 4th and other pieces. I found it particularly touching when during the pandemic (empty hall) she was able to sing at the orchestra at a live streamed concert of Mahler’s 4th from Gothenburg.
Here’s a link to the pandemic Mahler 4th in Gothenburg, where Hannigan sings at the orchestra:
https://youtu.be/SodBjcjFBtE
Not the best ever performance for sure, but I still find it very touching.
Wrong video
No?
I would pay to see this
I would pay double to see Cate Blanchett do it.
Ms Blanchett always likes to plug herself!
It sounds interesting. I assume she knows what she’s doing. I hope it goes well.
The absurd purple prose in the link does the LSO no favours at all.
It’s impressive to pull it off from a multitasking management POV. But musically I prefer the roles to be dedicated. One singer, one conductor.
Some years ago I heard Peter Schreier conducting the St. John Passion at Leipzig. AND he sang the Evangelist. It was amazing. The split second between conducting the emotional outbursts of the Passion and then turning around, facing the audience and commenting on events as the Evangelist… And in complete control in both roles.
I always felt that Bach was thinking about Schreier when he created the Evangelist in both Passions š
Agreed about Schreier, but the Evangelist parts are a very different kind of animal in how to combine direction and singing than the singing part in Mahlerās 4th.
And before he started to add the conducting, he actively as a singer knew those Bach works for at least 40 years? In his sleep?
Granted, but it was still utterly mesmerizing. And he had to do it for more than two hours. There is probably a reason why you see violin players and pianists doubling as conductor – but (almost) never, ever singers.
Will she paid separate fees as guest conductor AND soloist?
I think the fee is always per brain, so only one, the higher one, conducting.
(the big white elephant in the room incentive for soloists to conduct: the much better fee š )
She is phenomenal!
She is exemplary of the “me, me, me” type of artist. She is talented, but the sum of her singing and conducting ends up with her doing neither well. How can you set any sort of mood while you are waiving your arms about? And how can you guide the orchestra while you are grimacing at the audience instead of at them? It ends up being a circus performance rather than an enjoyable artistic experience. You might as well watch a bird peck out “twinkle, twinkle, little star” on a keyboard and have the same experience.
And when Vengerov conducts Sheherazade with a violin in his hand to play the solos, is that also like a bird pecking on a keyboard?
Brian, comparing a performance of Mahler with Twinkle, Twinkle is a bit of a stretch. At least have the bird peck out some Liszt…
Failed conductor, failed singer. Combine them and what is there? Bigger fail. Do performers need gimmicks? I’d certainly watch her if she conducted and walked a tight rope at the same time, but not for a musical experience, but to see for how long before she fell off.
Think of the possibilities – a conductor who is also a horn player, conducting (and playing) Brahms 2nd piano concerto.
and also the cello solo!
This sounds interesting. Looking forward to checking it out.
Jose Cura used to conduct his own opera recitals regularly. Hannigan has conducted several of her own sung performances already.
Did he conduct as badly as he sang? When young he was very sexy lookingā¦now oldā¦
It’s called aging. For 60, he looks very good; in fact, distinguished and to many, still sexy. Full head of hair.
BTW, how are you faring?
Perfectly fine, thank you.
If anyone can pull it off, it will be Hannigan.
I once saw that south American tenor whose name I’ve forgotten, thank goodness. He fancied himself as a conductor and spent the evening in front of a London orchestra, with his back to them waving his arms around and occasionally singing, unable to cue anyone. Terrible evening. Don’t know what happened to him but I don’t agree that you can do both at once.
I absolutely agree with you Elizabeth. If I’m not mistaken, I was at the same event. It was almost laughable. It was Jose Cura I saw. He looked ridiculous. I’ve saw him in quite a few roles and really enjoyed them. But, that was a role too far.
Unfortunately Jose Cura didn’t last long as a good singer. It’s a musical embarrassment when he sings.
It is unfortunate, CRogers, because in his very short prime, Jose Cura was a marvelous singer and opera actor.
But his was not a voice big enough to handle the roles he took on, and now his voice is awful.
I have a couple of Cura’s CDs which he recorded years ago, at the beginning of his fame, and they are quite good. But even in those early CDs, one can detect signs of incipient vocal decay.
Que lastima!
She can!!!!Believe ,i played at two of those concerts.
Thanks Sonicsinfonia it was Jose Cura I was trying to remember – dreadful.
She’s a prodigious talent!
Happy to report that she also did it with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in October 2020
If anyone can pull it off, it would be B.H. Will she wear the outfit from her performance of excerpts from Ligeti’s “Mysteries of the Macabre” that she did with Simon Rattle?
gimmick. ask musicians what they think
They think itĀ“s fantastic…..I am one of those,played twice for her.
H, A, double-N, I . . . G, A, N you see,
Is a name that a shame has never been connected with
Hannigan, that’s me!
Does anyone care that sheās an awful conductor?
I have immense admiration for Barbara Hannigan’s gifts and a musician and performer. The English soprano, Claire Booth, is likewise immensely gifted – and she sometimes gives performance of songs for voice and piano both singing and playing. Challenging in many ways, yes – but is that to be frowned upon in principle? For the matter, what might some make of the composer Ruth Gipps who, in one concert, appeared as soloist in Glazunov’s first piano concerto as well as orchestral cor anglĆ© player in a performance of her own first symphony? In an age in which some seem to pride themselves on advocating specialisation and compartmentalisation for musical performers, shouldn’t the conductor, pianist and composer Rachmaninoff be looked down upon? – or the pedagogue, musicologist, conductor, teacher, arranger, composer, pianist and who knows what else Busoni be considered beyond the pale?…
Cor….. an anglĆ© player!
The difference is that Rachmaninoff did not simultaneously conduct, play piano and compose in performance. The problem is not being multi-talented – it’s that conducting cannot be done properly or correctly while singing in the opposite direction facing the audience and flapping along with the orchestra.
Well, Rachmaninoff or Busoni didn’t conduct, compose and, play the piano and teach at the same time…
You can see on the video that someone linked here that Hannigan sings part of the time with her back to the public. That alone should kill the idea.
I’m a little tired of this gimmick. Hannigan may be an incomparable singer for contemporary music, but this whole conducting thing came about because Rattle (who we all know, loves singers) encouraged her to conduct Mysteries of the Macabre. That piece is simply about choreography for a conductor. Anyone trained in movement could learn to do it. But her insatiable ego told her, you can conduct anything now! My theory was always thus; Rattle sublimated his clear desire to bang Barbara by gifting her a conducting career. I actually performed Mysteries under him with Barb singing. The guy wanted her big time. Who wouldn’t!!
Another musician here – agreed. Plus Jasper Parrott who grabbed her on the Mysteries success and then fed her the same encouragement (and career leaps)
The fact that someone did something poorly does not mean that someone else cannot do it better. As a professional musician who has worked together with Barbara Hannigan several times and was in the audience for a few of her other performances, I can say confidently that she is capable of succeeding musically doing things that most others cannot even touch. It seems to me that she has more than enough talent and taste to know exactly what she is and isnāt able to achieve in music successfully.
She has a beautiful voice ….but will she
sing facing the orchestra with an audience present ?
She conducts facing the audience. In this video the podium is at a position where she could still conduct the string section, but the woodwind is kind of let to their own discretion. I think it’s a ‘doable but why’ situation…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR6A4cCmQXU&t=18s
It’s a circus.Nothing spectacular there. Showoff!
She changed her mind (officially due to an eye illness). Concerts are now announced with a soprano: Aphrodite Patoulidou.