Roger Vignoles
The pianist Roger Vignoles is one of Britain's most outstanding musicians. Originally inspired by the playing of Gerald Moore, he decided on leaving University to pursue a career as a piano accompanist, completing his essential training with the distinguished Viennese-born teacher Paul Hamburger.
Since then reviewers worldwide have consistently recognised his distinctive qualities as a player. Among his first partners was the great Swedish soprano Elisabeth Söderström, whom he regularly accompanied throughout the 1970s and 80s. During this period, he also developed particularly fruitful collaborations with Dame Kiri te Kanawa; with Sir Thomas Allen, recording many works including Schumann's Dichterliebe and Schubert's Winterreise; and with Sarah Walker, in a wide repertoire of song, from German Lieder and French Mélodies to cabaret songs by Gershwin, Britten and others.
Recent seasons have included tours with Sylvia McNair, Dame Felicity Lott, Susan Graham, Véronique Gens, Sir Thomas Allen and Joan Rodgers, as well as recitals with Olaf Bär, Kathleen Battle, Christine Brewer, Brigitte Fassbaender, Bernarda Fink, Christine Schaefer, Thomas Hampson, Lorraine Hunt, Stephan and Christoph Genz, Monica Groop and Sarah Walker, including appearances at the Bath, Cheltenham, Brighton, Aldeburgh, Prague, Schleswig-Holstein, Verbier and Ravinia Festivals. He is also a regular visitor to the Schubertiade in Feldkirch.
He has devised and directed many festivals, highlights of which include, in 1997 a week-long Schubert series entitled "Landscape into Song" at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, in which his culminating performance of Winterreise with Robert Holl was described by The Times as "one of the most memorable performances of the year". In 1998 he inaugurated the Nagaoka Winter Festival in Japan, giving recitals and masterclasses based on Schubert's Winterreise and subsequently returned each year as artistic director until 2002. Most recently in 2007 he was the Artistic Director of Leeds Lieder +, a weekend of song with artists including Mark Padmore, Measha Bruggergosman, Florian Boesch and Elizabeth Watts.
Among his recordings, La Belle Epoque with Susan Graham (devoted to the songs of Reynaldo Hahn), Nuits d'Etoiles with Véronique Gens (Fauré, Debussy, Poulenc) and a CD of Strauss, Mahler and Marx with Katarina Karneus all have been nominated for Gramophone awards, while his recording of Beethoven songs with Stephan Genz on Hyperion won the 1999 Award in the Song Category. Recent releases include the complete Wolf Moerike-Lieder with Stephan Genz and Canciones Amatorias, a CD of Spanish Songs with Bernarda Fink and Strauss Songs with Christine Brewer on Hyperion.
Future engagements include recitals tours with Kate Royal and Measha Brueggergosman in North America, and recitals with Elizabeth Watts, John Mark Ainsley, Bruce Ford, Robert Holl, Miah Persson, Wolfgang Holzmair, and Mark Padmore.
