The morning after the world premiere of The White Book, Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan and British composer Laura Bowler were visibly exhausted backstage at Gothenburg’s Konserthus. Hannigan had stayed up late eating cheese from France and talking with her assistant conductor, while Bowler was “so wired” she couldn’t sleep until 2 a.m. The performance, with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, left both artists feeling shellshocked. Their conversation was part debrief, part playful exploration of life on the road, from the importance of tea—Yorkshire for Hannigan, Clipper for Bowler—to where to buy the best buns in Gothenburg. Bowler confessed a fascination with volcanoes, while Hannigan quipped about the high salaries of “big conductors” and the need to tithe to assistants. Hannigan’s authority is clear onstage, but offstage she is equally commanding. The interview had been arranged at the last minute at Hannigan’s request. Before entering the soprano’s dressing room, Bowler and the reporter removed their shoes for the sake of the delicate white silk and wool-linen dress Hannigan had worn onstage. Designed by Yuima Nakazato, the dress features magnets holding its layers together. Bowler admired the garment’s balance of fragility and strength, calling it perfect for the premiere. The work sets five chapters from Han Kang’s The White Book, a reflection on the death of the narrator’s baby sister. Beginning with a litany of white objects, from blank paper to a white dog, it ends with an almost ecstatic saturation of whiteness. Bowler first read the book at her mother’s bedside while she was hospitalized with leukemia. When her mother later recovered, Bowler’s life changed tragically: her mother died in an accident in November 2022. Bowler reached out to Han Kang and her translator again to share her personal connection and secure permission to set portions of the text. The music captures tension between life and death, presence and absence. Bowler’s score is spare yet expressive, with high-wire vocal lines, delicate electronics, and orchestral intricacy that leave haunting spaces between sounds. Hannigan, who had long been Bowler’s favorite artist, premiered the piece with intense engagement. Demonstrating a critical interval at the piano, she described performing the score as “like turning your soul inside out,” emphasizing that it is a ritual rather than just a performance. Despite having premiered around 100 works, Hannigan said she had never felt calmer before a world premiere. She credited the score’s natural fit for her voice and technical abilities, which she has developed over the last decade. Bowler and Hannigan were introduced by opera director Katie Mitchell, and Hannigan relied on her mentee Bar Avni to conduct while she performed. “When I’m bossy in rehearsal, it’s not because I mentored you,” she explained. “It’s because I’m bossy with everybody.” In August 2026, Hannigan will become chief conductor and artistic director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, in addition to her roles with the Gothenburg Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. She insists this will not reduce her singing. “I’m also singing a ton. My voice feels better now. I know my instrument and how to pace it. Adrenaline is the strongest drug, but no musician ever feels 100% prepared.” Bowler, often a performer of her own works, was an audience member for this premiere. She found the experience overwhelming but beautiful, with the adrenaline unfiltered by performance. Composing the piece brought her an element of peace as she grieved her mother. “Since she passed, it’s been hard to find joy in premieres. But this piece feels like she’s there,” Bowler said. The White Book premiere left audiences and creators alike moved, a testament to music’s power to explore memory, grief, and the delicate space between life and absence.