©Photo: Johan Persson

Hanna Hipp WNOAinadamar credits to Johan Persson.jpg

©Photo: Johan Persson

©Photo: Marc Ginot

©Photo: Marc Brenner

©Photo: Gerard Collett

©Photo: Gerard Collett

©Photo: Francois Leleux

Hanna Hipp

Mezzo-soprano

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“Hanna Hipp, whose emotional investment in the character’s vulnerable idealism is touchingly captured in lithe, soaring tone”
The Stage, February 2023

Hanna Hipp’s ardent and impassioned singing make her a favourite for the leading lyric mezzo repertoire around the world with her recent roles including a critically acclaimed portrayal of Offred in The Handmaid’s Tale at Royal Danish Theatre (Jessica Cottis), Der Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos at Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Cornelius Meister) and Opera North (Antony Hermus), Dorabella in Così fan tutte at Seattle Opera (Paul Daniel), English National Opera (Kerem Hasan) and New Zealand Opera (Natalie Murray Beale), Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Antonio Pappano).

Hanna Hipp sang her first Varvara (Katya Kabanova) for Scottish Opera, and the title role in Offenbach’s Fantasio and her first Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) both for Garsington Opera. International debuts include Teatro Real Madrid as Frances, Countess of Essex (Gloriana) in David McVicar’s new production under Ivor Bolton, at Dutch National Opera as Ein Page in Ivo van Hove’s new production under Daniele Gatti, and both Isolier (Le Comte Ory) and Beatrice (Beatrice and Benedict) for Seattle Opera, the former of which Hipp reprised this past season for New Zealand Opera.

Increasingly in demand on the concert platform, in the 2024/25 season Hanna Hipp joins Nil Venditti and Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra for Berio’s Folk Songs, Delyana Lazarova and the Hallé for Boulanger’s Psalm 130, Patrick Hahn and Royal Scottish National Orchestra for Mozart’s Requiem, and Hipp reunites with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli as well as with Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra for concert performances of The Excursions of Mr Brouček after her recent appearance in Jenůfa and performance of Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater at the Barbican. Most recently, Hanna Hipp joined Halldis Rønning and Malmö Symphony Orchestra for Viva España featuring De Falla’s El amor brujo, and Thomas Zehetmair with Royal Northern Sinfonia for Bruckner’s Mass No.3 at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music with further recent concert highlights including Ein Page in Salome for both Bergen and Edinburgh International Festivals under Edward Gardner, Der Trommler in Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis with BBC Symphony Orchestra under Josep Pons, the title role in Mascagni’s Zanetto with the orchestra of Scottish Opera under David Parry, and Rossweise in Die Walküre with London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski. Recent notable operatic appearances include Frederico Garcia Lorca in two productions of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar at Welsh National Opera and Pacific Opera Victoria as well as a return to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for Hänsel und Gretel under Mark Wigglesworth. This season Hanna Hipp joins English National Opera to sing her acclaimed portrayal of Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and Scottish National Opera for The Strauss Collection including excerpts of Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier).

'Wie Du warst!' from Der Rosenkavalier © OperaVision, Garsington Opera

Recent repertoire highlights include Mahler’s Symphony No.3 (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Vasily Petrenko), Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody (Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/David Hill) and she had a particular affinity with Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été, having sung the work with BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Oulu Symphony Orchestra. Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 has brought debuts with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamburger Symphoniker, Philharmonia Orchestra, and most recently Wiener Konzerthausorchester and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, under Klaus Mäkelä and Jonathan Nott respectively.

On disc, Hanna has appeared as Anna in Berlioz’s Les troyens with Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg under John Nelson on Warner Classics, Flora in Verdi’s La traviata at the Glyndebourne Festival under Sir Mark Elder on Opus Arte DVD, and released her debut recital album featuring the songs of Ildebrando Pizzetti with pianist Emma Abbate on Resonus Classics, garnering praise for her “gleaming sound and declamatory fire” (Gramophone). A former member of the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Young Artist Programme, roles since on the mainstage include both Magdalene (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) and her role debut as Hansel in Antony McDonald’s production of Hansel and Gretel under Mark Wigglesworth.

Gallery

Hanna Hipp WNOAinadamar credits to Johan Persson.

capriccio 1333)Garsington Opera 2018 Capriccio Hanna Hipp (Clairon) credit Johan Persson

Hanna Hipp as Hensel and Lauren Fagan as Gretel © Tristram Kenton

Excerpt from Hansel und Gretel © Royal Opera House

Beethoven: Symphony No.9 © Oslo Philharmonic

Berlioz: Sur les Lagunes from Les Nuits d'été © Opera Rara

Mozart: Torna di Tito a lato from La clemenza di Tito © Classical Opera

Pizzetti: ‘Scuote amore il mio cuore’ © Resonus

“Polish mezzo Hanna Hipp embraced the psalm’s yearning for redemption with impassioned eloquence… an experience not to be missed.”

Bachtrack, November 2024

“Hanna Hipp’s Isolier was resonantly sung and convincing.”

Opera Magazine, September 2024

“A richly projected Lorca”

Opera Magazine, November 2023

“The latter sounds impulsively passionate throughout, though her soft singing is exquisite in moments of introspection.”

The Guardian, February 2023

“Polish mezzo-soprano Hanna Hipp is phenomenal as Offred”

Weekendavisen, November 2022

“She delivers a phenomenal performance, where the handmaid’s deep pain, but absolutely also strength and will to survive are expressed not only vocally but also dramatically.”

Ungt Teaterblod, November 2022

“…Offred is interpreted heartrendingly and with increasing dramatic despair by mezzo-soprano Hanna Hipp”

Kristeligt Dagblad, November 2022

“Not only is she singing marvellously, she also manages to act with such commitment and honesty that her character’s despair and loss is conveyed beyond the stage itself.”

Simone Zwicky, Den4Væg.dk, November 2022

“… But the brightest star of the evening is the Polish guest, mezzo-soprano Hanna Hipp as Offred. Her voice has great volume and a truly beautiful sound and she is able to express all the handmaid’s varying emotions, from the deepest despair via passion to a slender hope.”

Lars Olde Bonde, Ascolta, Winter 2022

“intensely engaged and vocally goosebump inducing”

Søren Kassebeer, Berlingske Tidende, October 2022

“Hanna Hipp was truly excellent in the role of Offred”

PN, Critique, October 2022

“At the centre of the story is Offred, here sung with unmatchable purity and beauty by Hanna Hipp”

Ulla Strømberg, Kulturkupeen.dk, October 2022

“Polish mezzo-soprano Hanna Hipp embodies the central role of Offred. She confidently deploys her voluminous instrument in a wide ranging vocal line, particularly fruity in the bass… Her timbre is dark and the phrasing gains in elegance as the pit decreases the extent of its accompaniment. As a result, her duet with her double, June, is the height of tenderness and the highlight of the evening.”

Olyrix, November 2022

“…Hanna Hipp [was] equally good as a slightly earthier Dorabella.”

Opera Magazine, May 2022

“Hanna Hipp as Cherubino…sings ‘Voi che sapete’ to the Countess with devastating charm.”

(Telegraph, Jan 2022)

“When Cherubino, delightfully played and sung by Polish mezzo Hanna Hipp, performs the love song he has written to the Countess, it is done with real sincerity and to great effect”

(Express, Jan 2022)

“Hanna Hipp is a suitably boyish Cherubino with bags of charm and a winning smile.”

(Opera Today, Jan 2022)

“Beautifully androgynous, Hipp’s quicksilver reactions were a real joy, but most of all she brought a sense of real depth to the part [of Cherubino].”

(Seen and Heard, Jan 2022)

“Hanna Hipp is an excellent Cherubino, capturing his boyish persona so well that the character indeed looks awkward when dressed as a girl, and delivering a spine tingling performance of ‘Voi che sapete’.”

(Opera Online, Jan 2022)

“Hanna Hipp sang Octavian with sensually burnished tone”

(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Jul 2021)

“Hanna Hipp was a most moving Octavian”

(Richard Fairman, Financial Times, Jun 2021)

“Hanna Hipp’s impassioned Octavian”

(Hugh Canning, Opera Magazine, Jul 2021)

“Hanna Hipp’s ideal, vivacious Octavian”

(Fiona Maddocks, The Observer, Jun 2021)

“There’s Hanna Hipp’s Octavian: as boyish as you like, channelling all that youthful verve into rich-toned, thrillingly ardent singing”

(The Spectator, Jun 2021)

“Hipp complemented [the Marschallin] with a steely glint in her forthright mezzo that suited the masculinity of her role”

(Musical America, Jun 2021)

“Hanna Hipp’s Octavian looked authentically boyish and had the exact bearing of a young aristocrat: her singing was intensely expressive, and the Presentation of the Rose can seldom have been bettered.”

(MusicOMH, Jun 2021)

“It is one of the many achievements of Hanna Hipp’s terrific portrayal of Octavian that we believe his tears of protest…And musically this is a perfect partnership, the warmth and colour of Hipp’s mezzo a delicious complement to Persson’s silvery soprano.”

(Bachtrack, Jun 2021)

“The real pain belongs to Octavian, impulsively sung with flaming top notes by Hanna Hipp.”

(Arts Desk, Jun 2021)

“Hanna Hipp offers a strong-voiced Octavian”

(Richard Morrison, The Times, Jun 2021)

“Hanna Hipp’s Octavian is the very image of handsome young masculinity, bursting with ardour.”

(Independent, Jun 2021)

“We were on blissfully safe ground with Hanna Hipp’s lusty imp of a Cherubino”

(Opera Magazine, May 2020)

“Hanna Hipp is the sassy and delightful Cherubino”

(Opera Now, April 2020)

“Hanna Hipp’s gangly, gawky, hyperactive Cherubino was another striking characterisation.”

(Hugh Canning, Sunday Times, March 2020)

“Hanna Hipp was a joy to behold as a skater boy Cherubino.”

(The Guardian, March 2020)

“Hanna Hipp’s Cherubino had a delicious upper-register lustre.”

(Arts Desk, March 2020)

“I enjoyed Hanna Hipp’s teenage brat of a Cherubino.”

(Rupert Christiansen, Telegraph, March 2020)

“Hipp’s title role performance, hot and impetuous, stole the show.”

(The Scotsman, September 2019)

“Hanna Hipp played Zanetto with wide-eyed charm and her stylish mezzo.”

(Seen & Heard, September 2019)

“The high quality of the vocal work in [Mascagni’s Zanetto] had been matched by the perfect casting of Hanna Hipp.”

(The Herald, September 2019)

“Hanna Hipp invested the title role with good-humoured energy and let her plangent mezzo-soprano drive Fantasio’s emotional journey”

(Opera Magazine, September 2019)

“Her trouser-role love-match, Hanna Hipp as Fantasio, was a perfect foil both dramatically and vocally.”

(All Opera Now, August 2019)

“In the trouser role of Fantasio, Hanna Hipp mesmerises with her dark tone”

(Financial Times, June 2019)

“Hanna Hipp, passionate and genuinely touching in the title role [of Fantasio]”

(The Times, June 2019)

“With Varvara, Hanna Hipp added another part to her growing armoury of out-and-out successes”

(Opera Magazine, May 2019)

“The pair of young lovers almost stole the show with their strongly sung performances…Hanna Hipp’s courageous Varvara a welcome light relief.”

(Bachtrack, March 2019)

“Hanna Hipp’s Varvara had tenderness and dash.”

(The Guardian, Fiona Maddocks, March 2019)

“Hanna Hipp is the ideal interpreter for the demanding task that is Berlioz’s Les nuits dété. With her dark tone and beguiling timbre, she brought a touching character to the intimate songs of loss and hope.”

(Vorarlberger Nachtrichten, January 2019)

“Restrained, intimate and melancholic in Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été, Hanna Hipp demonstrated her shining middle and silvery, shimmering higher register.”

(Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung, January 2019)

“Hipp has a slightly bigger voice than we sometimes find in the title role…she was an engaging Hänsel, wide-eyed, impulsive and impishly mischievous.”

(Tim Ashley, Opera Magazine, February 2019)

“Hanna Hipp delights as a comic and rubber-limbed Hänsel.”

(Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian, January 2019)

“Hanna Hipp a spirited Beatrice”

(Opera Magazine, August 2018)

“Many of [Pizzetti’s] songs are notably bleak or stark in mood: Hipp and [pianist] Abbate deliver them with considerably intensity. Hipp’s gleaming sound and declamatory fire impress in the anguished ‘La madre al figlio lontano’…One admires her lyrical restraint in the sexually ambiguous ‘Passeggiata’, and the suggestive, but sparing way she uses her chest register in ‘Scuote amore il mio cuore’.”

(Tim Ashley, Gramophone, May 2018)

“And while there’s aching wistfulness to songs like d’Annunzio’s ‘I Pastori’, perfectly caught by Hipp’s inward, reflective tone, she can blossom into full refulgence in a love song like Giovanni Papini’s erotically-charged ‘Passeggiata’. Hers is a substantial instrument, warm and resonant…Hipp clearly identifies strongly with this particular composer [Pizzetti] and is well-equipped to bring out the voluptuous and velvety in his songs.”

(Limelight Magazine, May 2018 – Editor’s Choice)

“the glamorous actress Clairon – the excellent Hanna Hipp”

(The Times, June 2018)

“As Clairon, Hanna Hipp acted superbly and her rich mezzo added plushness and passion to the conversational ensembles.”

(Opera Today, June 2018)

“Hanna Hipp was queen of the evening (as Beatrice). Her sung and spoken English a model for everyone else on stage, her character, sprightly, furious and rueful by turns”

(Opera Today, February 2018)

“Hanna Hipp’s intense Emilia sounded opulent, betraying no strain in the crucial exclamations in Act 4”

(Opera Magazine, March 2018)

“Hanna Hipp is a mezzo-soprano who clearly puts her own stamp on Dorabella. She displays good legato lines, precise diction, and ease in the voice, particularly in her central register…She is convincing in this role as a frivolous lover, ready to explore new erotic horizons and overcoming social conventions, and responds with great spontaneity in her recitatives.”

(Operaclick.com, February 2018)

“[there is] much to admire in Hanna Hipp’s more yielding, lyrical Dorabella.”

(Seattle Times, January 2018)

“Hanna Hipp gloriously fulfils the difficult role of Isabella”

(Concertclassic.com, September 2017)

“With some spectacular effects in the higher register and impressive musicality, the Polish mezzo-soprano Hanna Hipp is a charming Isabella who plays the determined femme fatale to perfection.”

(Opéra Online, September 2017)

“The audience was charmed by the beautiful Anna of Hanna Hipp”

(L’Avant-Scène Opéra, April 2017)

“An Anna, Hanna Hipp’s velvety mezzo blended well with DiDonato”

(Bachtrack, April 2017)

“Allan Clayton and Hanna Hipp make an enchanting David and Magdalene”

(Rupert Christiansen, Telegraph, March 2017)

“David and Hanna Hipp’s Magdalene fused beautifully.”

(Bachtrack, March 2017)

“In the modern way, Hanna Hipp’s Magdalene was more typically girly than Wagner’s ‘old maid’. She began perky and high-spirited…and her rich mezzo impressed by making this relatively small supporting role seem much bigger than it is.”

(Seen & Heard, March 2017)

“Hanna Hipp’s lovely burnished mezzo is ideal for Magdalene”

(Music OMH, March 2017)

“Hanna Hipp does full justice to Mozart’s music, and gets the mix of infatuation and petulance just right.”

(Opera Critic, November 2016)

“Of the singers, Hanna Hipp’s bit-part Beppe was the most convincing performance, coquettish and smirking”

(The Guardian, October 2016)

“Hanna Hipp’s opening salutation to Fritz grabbed our attention. Her performance throughout was confident with a hint of gallusness.”

(Opera Critic, October 2016)

“In the “pants role” of the young boy Isolier, Hanna Hipp sang and acted with easy alacrity.”

(Seattle Times, August 2016)

“Much more vivid were David Portillo and Hanna Hipp – just about perfect as that most unlikely of operatic couples David and Magdalene”

(Rupert Christiansen, May 2016)

“However, for stage energy and presence, both [Eva and Walther] were comprehensively outpointed by David Portillo’s David and Hanna Hipp’s feisty Magdalene.”

(Andrew Clements, The Guardian, May 2016)

“Eva and Walther were overshadowed by the lovely pairing of Hipp’s Magdalene and David Portillo’s David.”

(Fiona Maddocks, Guardian, May 2016)

“Hanna Hipp and David Portillo are excellent as lovers Magdalene and Sachs’s assistant David”

(The Express, June 2016)

“Hanna Hipp’s sweetly projected Magdalene.”

(What’s on Stage, May 2016)

Hanna Hipp offered a forthright Magdalene”

(Bachtrack, May 2016)

“Hanna Hipp’s affectionately acted, warmly sung Magdalene was an ideal companion for [Eva].”

(Music OMH, May 2016)

“As the composer…Hanna Hipp captures the ethereal aspirations of the dedicated artist and makes a captivating case for them in a show-stopping aria at first act’s end.”

(Twin Cities Pioneer Press, September 2015)

“Hanna Hipp was an ardent Composer – aptly vulnerable”

(Star Tribune, September 2015)

“Polish-born mezzo Hanna Hipp is terrific in the trouser role, and she returns at the end of the show for a touching moment.”

(The Post Bulletin, Oct 2015)