Barbara Hannigan conducts and performs Haydn, Copland, Offenbach, and Weill — With Marie-Nicole Lemieux

The extraordinary soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan returns to her home country to lead the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in an effervescent selection of symphonic and vocal works, featuring a guest appearance by another great Canadian…

Hannigan can count the symphonies of Haydn among her innumerable areas of expertise, and she opens the program in style with No. 90 in C, composed in 1788 with all the formal invention and wry humor — including one of his famous musical jokes in the finale — that would characterize the work of his London period to follow. Next up is Copland's Dance Symphony, a mix of raucous energy and restrained lyricism originally intended for a never-performed ballet; and the pastiche Gaîté parisienne, a collection of some of the most popular tunes by Jacques Offenbach, including the sublime Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann — sung by Hannigan herself alongside legendary contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux! The evening comes to an unforgettable close with two songs by Kurt Weill: the yearning "Lost in the Stars" and the tantalizing tango "Youkali," performed and conducted to perfection by one of today's most astonishing artists.