To begin to grasp Barbara Hannigan’s extraordinary musical biography – winner of the 2025 Polar Prize alongside Herbie Hancock and Queen – it helps to start much further back. A thousand years back, in fact. Hannigan moves effortlessly from medieval music to John Zorn. She conducts orchestras and lends her extraordinary soprano voice. She also composes and rearranges music from distant times and places. Nothing that makes a sound is foreign to her, and she brings the same intensity and passionate spirit to every path she chooses. She is a rare phenomenon, and it is no coincidence that the Polar Prize – arguably the world’s most prestigious musical award (akin to a Nobel Prize) – is presented by the King of Sweden in Stockholm. Stig Anderson created the prize under the belief that “music has no boundaries: it touches, influences, and changes the world.” Now, in brief, here is the […]