Toronto, April 4, 2023 – Multifaceted artist Barbara Hannigan is the 2022/2023 recipient of the $50,000 Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award. This year’s award recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of classical singing.
About Barbara Hannigan
Embodying music with an unparalleled dramatic sensibility, soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan is a Canadian artist at the forefront of creation. She has shown a profound commitment to the music of our time and has given the world première performances of over 85 new creations. Barbara has collaborated extensively with an international array of composers including Boulez, Zorn, Dutilleux, Ligeti, Stockhausen, Sciarrino, Barry, Dusapin, Dean, Benjamin and Abrahamsen.
Barbara Hannigan is currently the Principal Guest Conductor with Gothenburg Symphony, the “Première artiste invitée” with l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and Associate Artist with the London Symphony Orchestra.
An active supporter of Canadian repertoire, Barbara premiered and performed works by many Canadian composers including James Rolfe, Omar Daniel, John Beckwith, Harry Somers, Harry Freedman, and Ana Sokolovic. Barbara is in the midst of recording, as conductor, two major works by Claude Vivier, with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, for the Alpha Classics label. She has been bringing Vivier’s music to Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Concertgebouw Orchestra and championed his works on tour across Europe this spring with London Symphony Orchestra and Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Barbara premiered “In the Half Light” by Canadian composer Zosha di Castri last season with Toronto Symphony Orchestra and will bring this piece to Montreal Symphony Orchestra next season.
In the spring of 2020 Barbara was awarded the Dresdener Musikfestspiele Glashütte Award and, in May 2021, Denmark’s prestigious Léonie Sonning Music Prize. She has also received several honorary doctorates including from her alma mater, the University of Toronto, the Order of Canada (2016), Sweden’s Rolf Schock Prize for Musical Arts (2018), and, in autumn 2022, received France’s Officier des Arts et des Lettres distinction and was named Gramophone Magazine’s 2022 Artist of the Year. Her recordings have won a Grammy, two Juno awards, as well as Gramophone, Edison, Diapason d’Or, and Germany’s Schallplattenkritiek awards.
Barbara’s commitment to the younger generation of musicians led her to create two unique mentoring initiatives: Equilibrium Young Artists and Momentum: our Future Now.
Originally from Nova Scotia, Barbara resides in Finistère, on the northwest coast of France.
Artist Statement
“I am absolutely thrilled and honoured to be awarded the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award. My musical formation is so deeply connected with Canada, having begun my formative studies in Nova Scotia, and continuing in 1989 at the University of Toronto with Mary Morrison. I made my professional debut in 1991 with Toronto’s New Music Concerts and have had an ongoing relationship with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since 2001, both as singer and conductor. I am deeply aware of the values which were instilled in me from an early age through excellent teachers and mentors, both in Canada and abroad. It is my goal to pass forward the kindness and generosity I have received, to help others experience the joy and enrichment that music brings to the world.”
Jury Comments
The jury was unanimous in their choice of Barbara as laureate for the 2022/23 Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award. They said: “Barbara Hannigan is fearless. She is a wonderful musician, a great theatrical mind, and inspires many artists. Her interpretation of new and classical music is dynamic and energetic, welcoming neophyte and veteran audiences. Barbara’s international engagements are plentiful, and her discography is exceptional, helping to make her work accessible to all.”
Barbara Hannigan was selected by a jury comprised of opera singer and theatre creator Rebecca Cuddy (Toronto); opera coach, collaborative pianist, and pianist Valerie Dueck (Ottawa); and established opera singer, and 2003 Paul de Hueck Walford and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award laureate Judith Forst (Port Moody, BC).
About the Award
The Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award was established at the Ontario Arts Foundation by the late Norman Walford, former Executive Director of the Ontario Arts Council, and the late Paul de Hueck, former CBC television production manager. The award recognizes in alternating years a classical or jazz keyboard artist, an art photographer, and a classical singer. The winner is chosen through a nominating and adjudication process managed by the Ontario Arts Council.
Previous award winners in the field of classical singing include Gerald Finley (2018), Adrianne Pieczonka (2014), and Judith Forst (2003). See the full list of previous recipients.
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For information, please contact:
Bruce Bennett, Executive Director
Ontario Arts Foundation
Tel: (416) 969-7413 bbennett@oafdn.ca
Established in 1991, the Ontario Arts Foundation (OAF) is passionately committed to building long-term support for the arts in Ontario. In 2022-2023, the OAF paid over $4.3 million in endowment income and $300,000 in awards and scholarships.
For more than 55 years, the Ontario Arts Council has played a vital role in promoting and assisting the development of the arts and artists for the enjoyment and benefit of Ontarians. In 2021-2022 the Ontario Arts Council invested $56.4 million in 237 communities across Ontario through 2,665 grants to individual artists and 1,050 grants to organizations.
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