ISM NEWS: Vignoles For President
09 January 2006

At its meeting on 3 December last, Council voted unanimously to appoint Roger Vignoles, the distinguished pianist and accompanist, as President of the ISM for 2007-08. Roger will therefore become President Elect at the annual conference in Brecon this April, when Colin Bradbury takes over the Presidency for 2006-07 from Robert Lloyd.

Roger has already held office in the ISM – as Warden of the Performers & Composers Section for two successive terms, in 1993-94 and 1994-95. His agents Ingpen & Williams have supplied the following biography:

‘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.

‘In 1997, the Schubert year, he devised and directed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall a week-long series entitled ‘Landscape into Song’, 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 has subsequently returned each year as artistic director. Last December he was the subject of BBC Radio 3’s ‘Artist in Focus’ series. In 2001 he took part in the Schumann Festival at the South Bank in London, giving recitals with Wolfgang Holzmair, Christiane Oelze and Robert Holl, and gave staged performances of the complete Britten Canticles in Barcelona with John Mark Ainsley and Michael Chance.

‘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 Mörike Lieder with Stephan Genz; Canciones Amatorias, a CD of Spanish songs with Bernarda Fink; and Strauss songs with Christine Brewer on Hyperion.

‘Future engagements include recitals with Christine Brewer, Jonathan Lemalu, Christine Rice, Bernarda Fink, Katarina Karnéus, Stephan Genz, Wolfgang Holzmair, Joan Rodgers, and Mark Padmore.’

 

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