Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan - the "An American Dream?" album - CD Review, May 13^th, 2026

George Gershwin - selections from the symphonic picture "Porgy and Bess", arranged by Rober Russell Bennett; Richard Rodgers - "The Carousel Waltz", arranged by Don Walker; Billy Barnes - "At the Fair", arranged for soprano and orchestra by Barbara Hannigan and Bill Elliott.

Premiere album, released on May 22^nd, 2026

A ghostly funfair - the image that soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan chose as the theme for her new album "An American Dream?", composed in cooperation with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. The title includes a question mark that the Canadian-born artist explains: "I grew up worshiping the United States, but my feelings about it now are mainly those of nostalgia. With this repertoire, I wanted to express my admiration for the unbelievable creativity and perseverance of the composers who shaped a musical language into something that is truly their own". The album is focused on pieces about the fair, the carnival, signed by George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Richard Rodgers and Billy Barnes, all collected on this album, out May 22^nd, under Alpha.

A few words about Barbara Hannigan, one of the most valuable sopranos at the moment, with a career distinctly grounded in the contemporary music sphere, 2025's winner of the Polar Music Prize for her exceptional musicality and nerve, named 2025's American Artist of the Year. Barbara Hannigan took on the mantle of conductor at the age of 40, without abandoning her soloist profile. She was often told "You sing like a conductor". Furthermore, we find her entirely astonishing, with great expressiveness in the moments in which she simultaneously sings and conducts the orchestra. Over a hundred new pieces have been performed for the first time on the world stage by Barbara Hannigan, as Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor since 2019, as Associate Artist with the London Symphony Orchestra, as Principal Guest Conductor of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and, since August, as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. About her collaboration with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Barbara Hannigan states, "I have played with this orchestra more than with any other through the course of my career, and, after more than 10 years, during which we've explored such a varied repertoire, it is truly an honor to record 'An American Dream?' together".

The first piece is a Symphonic Picture arranged by Robert Russell Bennett after George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess", which is reminiscent of this American Dream from the '30s, when, I quote from the album's preview, "they were promoting the ideal according to which this was the promised land, with unsuspected possibilities regarding the freedom and equality of all people with the ambition to work hard and make it-an impossible dream for so many people who have dealt with countless obstacles as a result of prejudice regarding race, social or financial status". Going back to the music, it is brilliantly interpreted by the Swedish ensemble under the leadership of the spectacular artist that is Barbara Hannigan, who has the gift of conveying a message with great eloquence, adding rhythm, energy and expressivity to the tackled piece. These qualities come as a result of her experience gained on opera stages, because, Barbara Hannigan states, "we perform, which entails the primary need to enjoy ourselves", a feeling also found in "The Carousel Waltz" by Richard Rodgers, arranged by Don Walker.

"An American Dream?" is an album that brings together representative names of the North American cultural profile (we must not forget Aaron Copland), performed by a Swedish orchestra we can consider one of the most valuable European ensembles. It features beautifully defined, expressive sound, exuberant in character and color, perfectly matching the nature of the music, which is well highlighted through the vision of the conductor, Barbara Hannigan, whom we can also appreciate as a soprano in the last piece, "At the Fair" by Billy Barnes. This dual role as conductor and singer is entirely remarkable, and it offers an extremely vivid image on stage. You have to also watch Barbara Hannigan in this double role, not just listen to her. This is why the "An American Dream?" album comes with a film by Andrew Staples, in which Barbara Hannigan reveals her ideas and the musical concept that serve as the foundation for this highly successful collaboration with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra-a dream ideally fulfilled for the protagonists.