‘Like turning your soul inside out’: Barbara Hannigan and Laura Bowler on their devastating composition The White Book
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<p>These breathtaking songs of loss left the soprano and the composer feeling shellshocked after the world premiere in Gothenburg. We meet them backstage as they prepare for the British debut</p><p>It’s the morning after the night before when I meet Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan and British composer and vocalist Laura Bowler. We’re in Gothenburg, backstage at the Swedish city’s sleek Konserthus. The previous evening, Hannigan sang the world premiere of Bowler’
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Interview ‘Like turning your soul inside out’: Barbara Hannigan and Laura Bowler on their devastating composition The White Book Flora Willson These breathtaking songs of loss left the soprano and the composer feeling shellshocked after the world premiere in Gothenburg. We meet them backstage as they prepare for the British debut I t’s the morning after the night before when I meet Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan and British composer and vocalist Laura Bowler. We’re in Gothenburg, backstage at the Swedish city’s sleek Konserthus. The previous evening, Hannigan sang the world premiere of Bowler’s new work, The White Book, with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Neither has slept well. Hannigan stayed up eating cheese brought from home in France and talking with her assistant conductor. Bowler was “so wired” she was awake until 2am. Both seem shellshocked. They are also keen to compare notes, which is why portions of our conversation feel less like an interview and more like an adrenaline-fuelled debrief. And not just a debrief, either. In high-energy asides, they discuss the importance of travelling with your own tea (Yorkshire for Hannigan, Clipper for Bowler), where to buy the best buns in Gothenburg (Eva’s Paley, Hannigan advises), volcanoes (Bowler is obsessed) and what “big conductors” earn – too much, reckons Hannigan. They should be paying their assistants to attend rehearsals from their own fees, like she does. “Tithe! Tithe!” she concludes with a flourish. In song, in opera and on the podium, Hannigan exudes authority. Offstage, she is also a force to be reckoned with. The fact that she, Bowler and I are meeting simultaneously is a last-minute change made at Hannigan’s request earlier that morning. Bowler and I have already chatted at a nearby cafe so arrive together. Before entering Hannigan’s dressing room, we remove our shoes, “because of the dress”. The garment looms over us as we talk, pouring wraith-like down the front of a wardrobe. Ha...
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