The Unified Monodrama of Barbara Hannigan

Barbara Hannigan’s dual role as soloist and conductor in Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine at the New York Philharmonic removes the interpretative gap between the podium and the stage. By internalizing the orchestral tessitura (the prevailing range or compass of a musical part) within her own physical gestures, she bypasses the communicative latency inherent in the traditional conductor-vocalist relationship. This model challenges the institutional divide between the director and the directed, suggesting that for 20th-century monodramas, the highest level of dramatic coherence is achieved through a singular, embodied agency. The performance marks a significant shift for the Philharmonic, an institution historically built on the rigid separation of these roles.