Nova Scotian musician Barbara Hannigan divides her time between singing on the world’s major stages and conducting leading orchestras. The Berlin Philharmonic, Münchner Philharmoniker, Gothenburg Symphony, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony are among the orchestras with whom she holds close relationships. Ms. Hannigan has worked with the most prominent conductors, including Simon Rattle, Kent Nagano, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kirill Petrenko, David Zinman, Vladimir Jurowski, Antonio Pappano, Alan Gilbert, and Reinbert de Leeuw. Her commitment to the music of our time has led to an extensive collaboration with composers including Boulez, Dutilleux, Ligeti, Stockhausen, Sciarrino, Barry, Dusapin, and Abrahamsen. She has recently been appointed as Principal Guest Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony in Sweden, following Kent Nagano’s tenure in that position.
Unforgettable operatic appearances include the title role in Lulu in Krszysztof Warlikowski’s staging at Brussels’ La Monnaie, and more recently at Hamburg Staatsoper conducted by Kent Nagano and directed by Christoph Marthaler; the title role of Pelléas et Mélisande in Katie Mitchell’s staging at the 2016 Festival d’Aix-en-Province conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and in Krszysztof Warlikowski’s more recent production at the Ruhrtriennale in Germany; and Marie in Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten at the Bayerische Staatsoper—a hugely acclaimed presentation directed by Andreas Kriegenberg and conducted by Kirill Petrenko, for which she won the Faust Award in Germany. She made her Opéra National de Paris debut in 2015 with La voix humaine again in a Warlikowski production and returned in April 2018 to reprise the role. She created the role of Ophelia in Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the Glyndebourne Festival in summer 2017 and created the lead soprano roles in both of George Benjamin’s full scale operas: Written on Skin, and Lessons in Love and Violence.
In 2017, Ms. Hannigan released her first album as both singer and conductor, with Holland’s LUDWIG orchestra as the orchestral force, on Alpha Classics, entitled Crazy Girl Crazy. The album features works by Berio, Berg, and a specially commissioned Gershwin arrangement by Bill Elliott, as well as a bonus dvd by Mathieu Amalric. The album has received numerous awards worldwide including the Grammy and Juno awards for best classical vocal album.
Ms. Hannigan’s previous recordings have garnered awards from Gramophone, Edison, Victoires de la Musique and the Royal Philharmonic Society. Other awards include Singer of the Year (Opernwelt, 2013), Musical Personality of the Year (Syndicat de la Presse Francaise, 2012), Ehrenpreise (Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2018), and Rolf Schock Prize for Musical Arts (2018), and she was recently appointed as a member to the Order of Canada (2016).
In 2017, Ms. Hannigan created Equilibrium, an international mentoring initiative for young professional musicians, and chose 21 participants from a total of 350 applicants from 39 countries to participate in Equilibrium’s first season (2018/19), which will have over 20 performances with four partner orchestras in works including Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, Mozart’s Requiem, and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella.
Find out more at barbarahannigan.com
Cellist Alexa Ciciretti has established herself as a performer who is equally at home playing baroque viola da gamba music, Romantic symphonies, cutting-edge contemporary music, and everything in between. As a fourth year cello fellow at the New World Symphony, she has served as principal cellist under conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Osmo Vänskä, Matthias Pintscher, and John Adams. 
Edo Frenkel is a conductor, composer, and pianist whose work spans the repertoire of the standard western cannon, opera, and experimental music. His work has been described as “groundbreaking … an integration of raw emotion and music” (Rochestariat). His presence at the podium has “ensured performances of both intimacy and intensity” (Opera Magazine). His compositions have been lauded as “A kind of Edgar Varèse-esque cacophony for the Digital Age” (Democrat & Chronicle) that “leaves you aghast.”(kwadratuure.com).
JACK Quartet: Christopher Otto, Austin Wulliman, John Pickford Richards, Jay Campbell 
A principal solo artist for more than two decades, Leighton has performed with many of the world’s eminent conductors, including Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, the late Lorin Maazel, Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, Bramwell Tovey and the late Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. Her opera credits include principal appearances with New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Köln Opera, Paris Opera and Glyndebourne. She has recorded more films with composers John Williams, James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith, Ennio Morricone, Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard, Henry Jackman, Mark Mancina, Dennis McCarthy, Nick Glennie Smith, Steven Jablonsky, and Christophe Beck, and her voice can be heard on more than 85 major motion picture soundtracks. Most recently she worked on Small Foot, Venom, and Wreck It Ralph 3. 
Los Robles Master Chorale (LRMC), led by Artistic Director 
In 2012, six Dutch orchestral musicians defied prevailing trends and created a new musical collective. They wanted an ensemble which would distinguish itself not only artistically, but in its range and flexibility. LUDWIG – the name of course refers to the cultural entrepreneur in classical music – varies in size from a single soloist to full-scale symphonic orchestra. Their dream became reality: in no time at all the collective, with its fearless elan and contemporary vision for established repertoire, shot to prominence in the Netherlands.
