Rae Woodland

Rae Woodland (9 April 1922 – 12 December 2013) was a British soprano who studied with Roy Henderson.^[1] Her debut was as Queen of the Night at Sadlers Wells. She sang in many European festivals, and debuted at Covent Garden in La sonnambula with Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti. She was first asked to sing for Benjamin Britten on the English Opera Group's tour of Russia, and played many roles for him subsequently. She also created roles for Gottfried von Einem, Nicholas Maw and Sir Arthur Bliss, and made many live broadcasts for the BBC, from the RAH Proms to Friday Night is Music Night. She retired from the opera stage in 1984. She then taught singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and at the Britten-Pears School in Snape Maltings on the invitation of Sir Peter Pears.

Recordings

• Bliss: Bliss conducts Bliss Woodland with John Shirley Quirk and the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Arthur Bliss
• Bliss: The Olympians Woodland with Anne Pashley et al., Polyphonia Orchestra, Ambrosian Singers, under Bryan Fairfax, live at the Royal Festival Hall, 1972
• Graun: Montezuma Woodland with Joan Sutherland, Elizabeth Harwood, et al., and Ambrosian Singers, London Philharmonic, under Richard Bonynge, (Decca Reissue 1999)
• Mahler: Symphony no 2 Woodland with Janet Baker, BBC Chorus and Choral Society and the London Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski
• Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream Woodland, Helen Watts, London Philharmonic, under Grumiaux (Philips)
• Mozart: Idomeneo Woodland as Elettra with Peter Pears, Heather Harper, under Benjamin Britten, 1969
• Mozart: Idomeneo Woodland as Elettra with Jessye Norman, Nicolai Gedda, under Colin Davis, Live recording, Rome Opera,1971
• Novello: Glamorous Night Woodland as Militza with Monica Sinclair, and Robert Thomas under [Marcus Dods (conductor)], circa 1964 (EMI LP TWO-243)
• Strauss: Intermezzo Woodland with Felicity Lott, John Pringle, Elizabeth Gale, under Gustav Kuhn (conductor), 1983, Glyndebourne (DVD issued 2011)
• Verdi: Macbeth Woodland with Kostas Paskalis, Josephine Barstow, under John Pritchard, Glyndebourne, 1972 (Naxos)

References

• Impulse Music biographical page, accessed 27 January 2010
• Naxos biography, accessed 27 January 2010
• Guardian review by Edward Greenfield of Woodland et al in Mahler: Symphony No. 2 recording (13 February 2004), accessed 27 January 2010

External links

• An interview with Rae Woodland recorded in 1994 - a British Library sound recording