Roger Vignoles is internationally recognised as one of the world’s most distinguished piano accompanists and musicians of today. He regularly partners the finest singers in major venues around the world and is regarded as a leading authority on the song repertoire. Originally inspired to pursue a career as a piano accompanist by the playing of Gerald Moore, he read Music at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and later joined the Royal Opera House as a repetiteur. He then completed his training with the renowned Viennese-born teacher Paul Hamburger.
In the course of his distinguished career he has collaborated with such leading singers as Elisabeth Söderström, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Thomas Allen, Barbara Bonney, Kathleen Battle, Christine Brewer, Brigitte Fassbaender, Bernarda Fink, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Dame Felicity Lott, Mark Padmore, John Mark Ainsley, Roderick Williams, Joan Rodgers, Sarah Walker, Measha Brueggergosman and Kate Royal,. He performs extensively at major venues across the world such as the Wigmore Hall, Philharmonie Cologne, Vienna Konzerthaus, Vienna Musikverein, the Royal Concertgebouw, Musee d’Orsay, Carnegie Hall, the Frick Collection in New York, La Scala, Oper Frankfurt, Théatre des Champs-Élysées, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Bonn Beethovenfest, Baden-Baden Festival and Teatro del Zarzuela in Madrid.
Roger Vignoles is frequently invited to devise and direct programmes and festivals of song. He has created several series at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, including Young Brahms, Landscape into Song (a celebration of Schubert) and Scenes from Schumann. He presents the annual Ciclo de Lied Galega in Santiago de Compostela. In the 2009/10 season he presented a Strauss song series at the Wigmore Hall.
Roger Vignoles is also an outstanding teacher and has given masterclasses in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Valencia, Copenhagen, Stockholm, New York, Boston, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Montreal and Toronto. He is a regular visitor to the University of Indiana, Bloomington, the Britten-Pears Young Artists’ Programme at Snape and the Stimmen Festival Freistadt in Upper Austria. Roger is Prince Consort Professor of Accompaniment at the Royal College of Music in London, Vice President of the Jackdaws Music Education Trust, and has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of Magdalene College, Cambridge honoris causa.
His extensive discography ranges from German Lieder and French Melodies to Spanish Canciones and Cabaret Songs. Recent recordings include Schumann and Brahms with Bernarda Fink; and Britten Before Life and After with Mark Padmore on Harmonia Mundi (the latter received the prestigious Diapason d’Or and Prix Caecilia awards in 2009). Other latest recordings include the highly acclaimed Strauss The Complete Songs volumes with Christine Brewer, Anne Schwanewilms, Andrew Kennedy, Christopher Maltman, Alastair Miles, Kiera Duffy and Elizabeth Watts; Schubert Schwanengesang with Robert Holl, and Carl Loewe Songs & Ballads with Florian Boesch, all on Hyperion. He has also recorded Strauss and Wolf with Angelika Kirchschlager on Wigmore Hall Live.
Highlights in 2011/12 include his residency at the Wigmore Hall with Werner Güra, Bernarda Fink, John Mark Ainsley, Robert Holl, Joan Rodgers, Roderick Williams, Sandrine Piau, Christine Brewer and Miah Persson; Schumann, Berg and Strauss with Elīna Garanča in Austria, Milan and Munich; Winterreise and Schubert/Loewe with Florian Boesch in Oxford, Vienna and North America; Brahms with Christianne Stotijn and Isabel Charisius in Madrid, Britten Canticles in Antwerp; Franz, Brahms and Bridge with Renata Pokupić and Antoine Tamestit at Wigmore; and various masterclasses both in the UK and abroad.
Roger Vignoles is represented by Intermusica.
January 2012 / 551 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.
ROGER VIGNOLES, PIANO ACCOMPANIST
"...with Roger Vignoles at the piano, extraordinary things can happen"
The Times, 2006
"...a taste of heaven - literally so and pianistically"
International Record Review, 2007
Richard Strauss: The Complete Songs Volume 5; (Hyperion)
“Vignoles, the Strauss pianist par excellence.”
Tim Ashley, The Guardian, November 2011
“In its original version ‘Lied der Frauen’ makes huge demands on both pianist and soprano. Vignoles raises a magnificent pianistic storm at sea to set the song on its way and then allows Duffy to ride the crest of the of the waves.”
Christopher Cook, International Record Review, January 2012
“The excellent Roger Vignoles is the pianist in the whole series and is consistently sensitive and authoritative.”
Marcuse, American Record Guide, February 2012
Wolf and Strauss: Angelika Kirchschlager (Wigmore Hall Live)
“Kirchschlager and Roger Vignoles are a real team in Heimliche Aufforderung. (No "accompaniment" here.)
It is admirable of these artists to leave the audience with an ambiguous, unfulfilled song, and it is provocative to think about how different the song would have been if Strauss had set the same poem.
The famous Strauss song Morgen! is often done in a tentative, pastel manner, but here Vignoles's generously rolled chords offer encouragement to the singer, not reticence. Vignoles is a versatile pianist; his Strauss playing for Christine Brewer's Hyperion recital is lush and unrattled.”
William R. Braun, Opera News, November 2011
“Vignoles' touch always delicate and beautiful, even in dramatic or heavy moments.
…the Richard Strauss lieder, begins powerfully with Vignoles' power and passion accompanying the mezzo-soprano.
…the whole album is full of true artistry, and Kirchschlager and Vignoles make each piece truly a joy to listen to. Highly recommended.”
V. Vasan, Allmusic, 2010
“Vignoles is on tiptop form throughout.”
International Record Review, November 2010
“This recital shows the mezzo-soprano at the peak of her powers, richly characterful and infinitely expressive. The same statement can be made about her pianist, Vignoles, in what is quite properly a partnership of equals.”
The Sunday Times, 2010
Loewe Songs and Ballads / Hyperion CDA 67866
Florian Boesch (baritone), Roger Vignoles (piano)
“Roger Vignoles’s accompaniments are as fine as you would expect from the seasoned pianist; he does a great job with the challenging conclusion to ‘Odins Meeresritt’.”
Paul L Althouse, American Record Guide, October 2011
“Vignoles' kaleidoscopic playing… dispatch[es] a truly spell-binding entertainment.”
The Bay Area Reporter, July 2011
“Roger Vignoles’ accompaniment is always confident, very musical and perceptive.”
Lucy Beckett, International Record Review, May 2011
5 STARS
“For Loewe, the pianist was as important as the singer, and Roger Vignoles is in his element with the high drama of it all. A benchmark recording, and essential listening.”
Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 12 May 2011
“Thrillingly performed by Boesch and Vignoles… Roger Vignoles’ accompaniment is always confident, very musical and perceptive.”
Lucy Beckett, International Record Review, May 2011
“Vignoles matches [Boesch] in playing of perception.”
George Hall, BBC Music Magazine, July 2011
“I would be remiss if I didn't mention the contribution of Roger Vignoles; to have the partnering expertise of such an experienced and sensitive pianist at your side is a huge asset for any singer, and together they bring the music and beautiful singing to full flower.”
David Vernier, Classics Today, 2011
“Loewe’s daring and imaginative accompaniments are played here by the incomparable Roger Vignoles, in another addition to his acclaimed discography of Hyperion recordings. His eloquent pianism and penetrating musicianship match Boesch’s artistry to perfection.”
Richard Wigmore, Hyperion Records, 2011
Recital with John Mark Ainsley / Wigmore Hall
“Britten’s realisations of Purcell are exciting music when performed like this, especially at moments such as Ainsley’s superbly unaffected lingering on the final syllable of 'Music for a While' and Roger Vignoles’ demonstration of what panache really means in the introduction to the 'What Magic has Victorious Love' section of 'Sweeter than Roses'. Vignoles, a welcome a presence in so many of these recitals, also gave Ainsley the most fluent and sympathetic support in 'My Beloved is Mine' which was sung with this artist’s signature blend of ardour and restraint.”
Melanie Eskenazi, Music OMH, 16 May 2011
‘Mark Padmore and Friends’ – Mark Padmore, tenor & Navarra Quartet
International Chamber Music Season / Queen Elizabeth Hall
“Vignoles's artistry as an accompanist is second to none, supporting and subtly enhancing his singer's effects.”
Michael Church, Independent, May 2011
Recital with John Mark Ainsley / Frankfurt Opera
“John Mark Ainsley’s tenor voice wrapped itself around Britten’s lyrical phrases, and blended perfectly with the noble piano playing of his kindred-spirited accompanist, Roger Vignoles."
"(...) Once again, it was Ainsley’s presentation of subtle British irony, as in Loewe’s ‘Tom der Reimer’, or the drama of Loewe’s ‘Erlkönig’, that made this evening at the side of Roger Vignoles, the nobleman of song accompaniment, such an incomparable experience, rewarded with much cheering from the audience.”
Michael Dellith, Frankfurter Neue Presse, April 2011
“Even in the second half of the recital, dedicated to German repertoire, Britten was an exemplary influence on his generation of song writers, and this could be heard in Roger Vignoles’ playing, which was remarkably well-attuned to the singer.
(...) In Loewe’s ‘Tom der Reimer’, Roger Vignoles unveiled the many riches of his effortless piano playing. Vignoles finally got his well-deserved solo in the encore, Schumann’s ‘Mein Wagen rollet langsam’.”
Gerhard Schroth, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, April 2011
“Ainsley’s piano accompanist, Roger Vignoles, played with great expression in the pieces of his two great compatriots, Purcell and Britten.”
Bernhard Uske, Frankfurter Rundschau, April 2011
“(Despite the 250 years between Purcell and Britten), there were fewer differences between their pieces than would be expected, sounding more like a unified whole. This was also thanks to the extremely sensitive and powerful accompaniment of pianist Roger Vignoles.”
“(...) Roger Vignoles once again fitted himself exceptionally well to Ainsley’s singing in Loewe’s ‘Tom der Reimer’, and played the melodies depicting a twittering bird with great liveliness and vividness.”
Kulturfreak, April 2011
Recital with Renata Pokupic
Wigmore Hall
“Vignoles once again supplied the guiding hand in areas such as setting an ideal tempo and clarity of texture for ‘Chanson triste’.”
“…it was Vignoles’s power in the severe left-hand counter-melody which made the most lingering impression.”
Richard Nicholson, Classical Source, April 2011
Accompanist to Ainhoa Arteta singing works by Schumann, Ives, Copland, Barber, Granados
Teatro Victoria Eugenia, Argentina
“Tuvo, además, en la velada de ayer el entusiasta apoyo y la gran calidad musical de Roger Vignoles-uno de los grandes- cuyas manos sobre el piano fueron las acompañantes ideales para que la voz fuera la indiscutible protagonista y el teclado el mejor de los apoyos en permanente simbiosis de equilibrios tímbricos."
(“What’s more she had on her side, during last night’s soiree, the enthusiastic support and great musical calibre of Roger Vignoles – one of the greats – whose hands on the piano were the ideal accompanists”)
www.diariovasco.com, March 2011
Recital with Christine Rice / Wigmore Hall, Poulenc’s Quatre poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire
"Both she and accompanist Roger Vignoles however did bring demonstrable enjoyment to the set, with Vignoles’s delicate touch playfully highlighting the shift from furrowed-brow Neo-Classicism to music-hall vamping in “Avant le cinéma.”
Alexandra Coghlan, Theartsdesk.com, January 2011
BBC Radio 3 CD Review Building a Library, broadcast 27 Nov 2010
HUGO WOLF Moerike-Lieder – Richard Wigmore recommends
“Both singers…give unalloyed pleasure…while Vignoles, like all the best Lieder pianists, plays words as well as tones.”
“Joan Rodgers and Stephan Genz with Roger Vignoles never disappoint, and at their best they are a match for all comers.”
“Just as memorable is Roger Vignoles’ glistening delicacy in the fiendish piano part.”
“Sung with beauty of tone and intensity of feeling by Stephan Genz.”
“Joan Rodgers’ expressive lyrical soprano is especially effective in the many delicate and whimsical songs, such as Zirtonenfalter im April.”
Recital with Joan Rodgers and Roderick Williams, Edinburgh International Festival / Queen’s Hall
“…absolutely at the top of their game and completely on top of their material, simply let the music flow.” – 5 stars
Michael Tumelty, Herald Scotland, August 2010
Brinkburn Festival / Mark Padmore, tenor & Nicholas Daniel, oboe
"In Herbert Howells’s Sonata for Oboe and Piano, (Nicholas Daniel) and Roger Vignoles perfectly attuned to each other’s every nuance of phrasing and tone colour. Vignoles brought equal refinement to Britten’s song-cycle on Thomas Hardy poems, Winter Words. Alive to the smallest detail of the composer’s word painting, he and Padmore gave an absorbing performance, the final song building to a breathtakingly powerful emotional climax."
Thomas Hall, The Journal, July 2010
Brahms Violin Sonatas (Brilliant 93989)
“…Roger Vignoles is an excellent accompanist.”
Althouse, American Record Guide, May/June 2010
Strauss Songs Series / Angelika Kirchschlager, mezzo-soprano
Wigmore Hall
"With Vignoles’s fingers crocheting a pattern of fine lacework in Meinem Kinde, her (Kircschlager’s) voice was free to expand from the arch to the ardent."
Hilary Finch, The Times, February 2010
Strauss Songs Series / Christine Brewer, soprano
Wigmore Hall
“The Christ Child is not yet born, but the Wise Men are already resolutely on their way. And, judging by their sombre footfall in the piano playing of Roger Vignoles, it was certainly a cold coming they had of it. Christine Brewer left Die heiligen drei Könige to the end of her all-Strauss recital and it was certainly worth the wait.
The mystic darkness of the song’s piano prelude, with its sudden starlike trembling high in the right hand, prepared the way for Brewer’s soprano at its most lustrous. And the crescendo of stellar light was, after the folk-like simplicity of the start, well-nigh operatic. It took only a final, Dionysian Rite of Spring (Strauss’s late Heine setting, Frühlingsfeier) to make the Wigmore Hall audience roar for an encore. This was lunchtime — so one only. But the heavy fragrance of Brewer’s Allerseelen lingered long in the air and the memory.
It was with a song often given as an encore that Brewer and Vignoles had begun their recital. The roll and rise of Vignoles’s expansive accompaniment radiated the vocal glow of gratitude within Brewer’s soprano in Zueignung. A palpable exhalation of audience contentment wafted through the hall as she unleashed a flood-tide of Strauss’s love songs to the soprano voice: from solemn worship in Breit’ uber mein Haupt to the gentle simplicity of Gluckes genug. Brewer found the tint and tone of voice unique to each song.”
Hilary Finch, The Times, December 2009
Schubert Lieder / Elizabeth Watts, soprano (Sony BMG)
“Vignoles's playing is stunning (listen to his uncanny imitation of a harp in "Im Abendrot"), and he supports Watts's rhythmic flexibility throughout the recital. The artists find both movement and stillness in an ethereal interpretation of Rückert's "Sei mir gegrüsst," and they capture the fun of such novelties as Schubert's tiny faux-Spanish piece "Aus 'Diego Manzanares'" and the personality piece "Die Männer sind méchant."
Judith Malaronte, Opera News, August 2009
“On top of it all we have superb notes and even better playing by that Gerald Moore accompanist incarnate—but with better sound—Roger Vignoles, truly without peer these days. Absolutely recommended with much enthusiasm!” - 5 stars
Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition, July 2009
Britten: ‘Before Life & After’ / Mark Padmore, tenor (Harmonia Mundi)
"Padmore is a master of the difficulties of the dark and dangerous world of Britten's John Donne... Between Padmore's range of vocal expressions and Vignoles' alternately playful and poignantly illuminated effects... we have a truly remarkable dramatic experience that's worth many repeat hearings." - Rating: 10/10
David Vernier, Classics Today, June 2009
Strauss The Complete Songs Vol. 4 / Christopher Maltman, baritone & Alistair Miles, bass (Hyperion)
“Roger Vignoles captures well the expansiveness and generosity of the writing for piano. He is also a sensitive accompanist in songs where the piano part is relatively simple.”
John Steane, Gramphone, June 2009
"Roger Vignoles can do no wrong in my book, his playing as adept and fresh as ever, strolling through his prime"
Steven Ritter, Audiphile Audition, June 2009
Recital with Ian Bostridge / Aldeburgh Festival
“Roger Vignoles’s playing was beautifully articulated and, in Schumann’s extraordinary postludes, he seemed not only to reflect on the feelings that the singer had invoked but also to encompass an extra dimension in these potent closing bars… Vignoles’s Brahms was also deeply felt."
Rian Evans, Classical Source, June 2009
Strauss The Complete Songs Vol. 4 / Christopher Maltman, baritone & Alistair Miles, bass (Hyperion)
“Roger Vignoles captures well the expansiveness and generosity of the writing for piano. He is also a sensitive accompanist in songs where the piano part is relatively simple.”
John Steane, Gramphone, June 2009
"Roger Vignoles can do no wrong in my book, his playing as adept and fresh as ever, strolling through his prime"
Steven Ritter, Audiphile Audition, June 2009
“This latest instalment in Hyperion's series is every bit as welcome and enjoyable as were its predecessors and further volumes are eagerly awaited."
MusicWeb, April 2009
Recital with Ian Bostridge / Aldeburgh Festival
“Roger Vignoles’s playing was beautifully articulated and, in Schumann’s extraordinary postludes, he seemed not only to reflect on the feelings that the singer had invoked but also to encompass an extra dimension in these potent closing bars… Vignoles’s Brahms was also deeply felt."
Rian Evans, Classical Source, June 2009
“…with Roger Vignoles in elegant attendance on the piano.”
Richard Morrison, The Times, June 2009
Mahler Des Knaben Wunderhorn recital / Joan Rodgers and Roderick Williams, King’s Place
“Roger Vignoles’s piano… which commented, threaded and crystallised with expected poetry and finesse”
Geoff Brown, The Times, December 2008
Schubert Schwanengesang / Robert Holl, baritone (Hyperion)
“Roger Vignoles’ accompaniments are always sensitive…”
Geoff Brown, The Times, October 2008
Mahler Des Knaben Wunderhorn / Stephan Genz, baritone (Hyperion)
“Genz is partnered, as in his previous recitals for Hyperion, by Roger Vignoles, whose playing is so sharply characterised and finely weighted that I hardly missed the better-known orchestral version. Indeed, his playing is far more substantive and compelling… (Vignoles) treats his part as colourful, texturally detailed piano music. And his extensive booklet-notes are unusually perceptive, too. As usual with Hyperion, the recorded sound is beyond criticism.”
Andrew Farach-Colton, Gramophone, July 2008
Recital with Measha Brueggergosman, soprano
King’s Inns, Dublin / Music in Great Irish Houses Festival
“Whatever the subject matter, Measha Brueggergosman catches it perfectly. She is marvellously partnered by the ever-articulate Roger Vignoles, and when required, he is subtly supportive or dashingly demonstrative.”
Pat O’Kelly, The Irish Independent, June 2008
“Brueggergosman effortlessly gilded through them, accompanied by strong, yet unobtrusive guidance, from piano accompaniment Roger Vignoles.”
Dick O’Riordan, The Sunday Business Post, June 2008
Recital with Measha Brueggergosman, soprano
King’s Inns, Dublin / Music in Great Irish Houses Festival
“Whatever the subject matter, Measha Brueggergosman catches it perfectly. She is marvellously partnered by the ever-articulate Roger Vignoles, and when required, he is subtly supportive or dashingly demonstrative.”
Pat O’Kelly, The Irish Independent, June 2008
Christine Brewer Recital (Wigmore Hall Live label)
“Lots of pleasure in Vignoles’s multihued accompaniments.’
The Times, May 2008
“Roger Vignoles is the immaculate pianist.”
The Sunday Telegraph, May 2008
Christine Brewer Recital, (Wigmore Hall Live label)
“Lots of pleasure in Vignoles’s multihued accompaniments."
The Times, May 2008
Richard Strauss: The Complete Songs, Vol. 3
Andrew Kennedy, tenor (Hyperion)
“Roger Vignoles's piano accompaniments are superb.”
The Times
"Vignoles's playing continues to achieve a maximum of freshness and invention and a chameleon-like closeness to his singer's tone and line. In the meantime, a lot of work and study has gone into this disc and the readings attain a consistently high standard of beautiful music-making."
Gramophone, July 2008
“Roger Vignoles's playing is as colourful and eloquent as his booklet notes.”
Daily Telegraph
Grieg: Complete Songs Vol. 6
Monica Groop, mezzo soprano (BIS Records)
“Roger Vignoles, her masterly and eloquent accompanist, matches her artistry to perfection.”
Robert Layton, International Record Review, January 2008
Richard Strauss: The Complete Songs, Vol. 2
Anne Scwanewilms (Hyperion)
BBC Magazine Award Finalist 2008 (Best vocal recording)
“Roger Vignoles is here the unifying force of the project as accompanist and literary authority.”
Richard Nicholson, Classical Source, April 2007
"This fine CD is a worthy successor to Volume One in the series and an essential purchase for all lovers of Strauss lieder"
MusicWeb Recording of the Month, July 2007
“… perfectly complemented by Vignoles…”
BBC, 2007
Strauss: The Complete Songs, Vol. 1
Christine Brewer (Hyperion)
"This is a major release by major artists, and it is a worthy opening to a major series of recordings."
Recording of the Month MusicWeb, May 2005
"At all times Brewer and Vignoles work together hand in glove … This is a properly equal partnership that bodes very well indeed for this admirable project. Brewer and Vignoles set high standards for anyone who would record Strauss now and for future collaborations on Hyperion too!"
International Record Review
"There seems to be no challenge that Christine Brewer and Roger Vignoles can't meet in these opulent songs. Brewer's soaring voice offers a fabulous range of colour and dynamics, and Vignoles matches her with a truly orchestral palette at the keyboard."
Classic FM Magazine