Following the success of Carla Bruni's concert, there is one more evening of music scheduled at the Teatro Romano for the second weekend of the Festival. Spoleto welcomes Barbara Hannigan, soprano and conductor who is also in charge of the final concert at Piazza Duomo. Waiting for the final concert, Barbara Hannigan is the star of the Sunday, July 7 concert at the Teatro Romano: on the program is an impressive collection of pieces by New York composer John Zorn and a roster of first-rate musicians from from diverse backgrounds. On stage with Hannigan is the American JACK Quartet - formed from Christopher Otto (violin), Austin Wulliman (violin), John Pickford Richards (viola), Jay Campbell (cello) - drummer Ches Smith, bassist Jorge Roeder, vibraphonist Sae Hashimoto and pianist Stephen Gosling. Festival audiences first became acquainted with Barbara Hannigan in 2022 - when she was artist-in-residence to Spoleto - precisely with a John Zorn piece, Jumalattaret, which before it ended up in the hands of the Canadian artist was considered inexecutable, and which made her world famous. All the musicians involved are longtime collaborators of John Zorn, who chose them for concerts celebrating his 70th birthday in 2023.
Zorn challenges every definition. He started in jazz to push far beyond all musical boundaries, being inspired from Charles Ives, Bruno Maderna and Karlheinz Stockhausen, but also from filmmakers, novelists and epic poems from the most diverse traditions. The one constant on his path is an inexhaustible curiosity and the need to find performers who, like him, are not satisfied with what they already know how to do.
Hannigan and Zorn have been collaborating since 2015. In an interview for The Reading, the soprano and conductor talks about the pieces Zorn has written specifically for her voice: "He's composed five to six incredible things. I find him enormously inspiring as a human being as well, not just musically. He has a unique care for the people who play with him. He has made me a better, stronger musician: working with him is a special part of my life. At the Spoleto festival I will perform his music with two different quartets, one classical and the other jazz. And on the 14th, also there, I will be again with the Santa Cecilia Orchestra." Audiences will be able to hear and see Barbara Hannigan on two other dates: on July 10, to Casa Menotti with pianist and countertenor Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg, and on July 14 for the final concert Girl Crazy in Piazza Duomo, with the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, in the dual role of conductor and soloist.