The conductor and singer Barbara Hannigan, 53, is possessed of such irrevocable musicianship and presence that, during her May 9 recital of works by Messiaen and John Zorn at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, with the pianist Bertrand Chamayou, I caught myself in the casual assumption that she was immortal, like Messiaen’s Catholic God (“Chants de terre et de ciel”) or a member of Zorn’s Finnish pantheon (“Jumalattaret”). On May 15, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra announced Hannigan as the ensemble’s new chief conductor and artistic director, starting in the 2026–27 season. I’ve sometimes wondered what was taking orchestras so long to appoint her to one of those jobs; for Hannigan, though, the announcement came at the right time. I spoke with her about musical and psychological leadership, her dramaturgical approach, fear—and what she has in common with Barbra Streisand.
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