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’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.
