Barbara Hannigan

"...it still sends shivers down the spine, and none of the previous London performances I've heard has had such a remarkable soprano soloist as Hannigan, whose beauty of tone and understanding of Boulez's melismatic vocal writing are quite extraordinary. Finally, one senses, Pli Selon Pli has received the consummate performance its compositional virtuosity demands." (The Guardian, September 2011)

"Boulez's ear is fabled for its precision and this was a stunningly meticulous reading, with Barbara Hannigan the soprano soloist. Boulez has frequently revisited Pli selon Pli over three decades. As its mysterious layers fragmented and cohered, one sensed, without necessarily comprehending specific meanings of text or music, a cosmic unfolding. For nearly an hour and a quarter we were taken to a realm far beyond everyday experience." (Evening Standard, September 2011)

"What felt new here, with Boulez’s deliberate baton guiding the silky playing of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, and the extraordinary Hannigan somehow finding a cool voluptuousness in every vertiginous leap her voice took, was the sheer sensuality of it. Debussy wandered all over the diaphonous harmonies. Once past the initial thunderclap that begins the piece, Hannigan’s first seductive utterance had the headiness of Ravel’s Shéhérazade. For a while it seems as if Boulez’s folds on folds will keep you in this free-floating state for ever. The masterstroke comes when poetic infinity becomes finite, and death enters the fray. A convulsive, addictive shiver scythes through the orchestra. Hannigan, reduced to just one line from the climactic poem, whispered the final word — “la mort” — as if her whole being had drained into it." (The Times, September 2011)

"The performance in KKL, which was a milestone in the history of the Lucerne Festival Academy, showcased the immediate sensuality of the music...It may also have been due to the soprano Barbara Hannigan, who gave her part much emphasis, through a broad dynamic spectrum and a rich. By the end of the month an ensemble composed of members of the Lucerne Festival Academy and the Ensemble Intercontemporain will be on a European tour in six different cities with Boulez and “Pli selon pli”. Could anyone imagine a better calling card?" (Neue Zürcher Zeitung, September 2011)