Singers' Weekend 
18-20 May 2001
Rae Woodland with 
Stuart Smith, piano
Ability

For advanced students/aspiring young professionals. A course of coaching in the interpretation of songs and arias of your own choice: technical problems will be highlighted and solutions discussed. 

The weekend will begin after supper on Friday with an introductory talk and a question and answer session on the aims of the course followed by a sing through of a short aria or song.

Saturday will start with a short talk on technique and interpretation. After coffee the day will continue with master classes, each participant having at least two opportunities to sing.

Sunday morning will be spent preparing for the participants' concert in the afternoon with a final run-through just before lunch.

Rae Woodland is one of Britain's leading singers in opera and oratorio has appeared at many International Festivals, including Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Glyndebourne, Aix-on-Provence, Rome, Wiesbaden, Geneva, Lyons and Amsterdam. She studied singing and interpretation with Professor Roy Henderson CBE and stagecraft with Miss Joan Cross CBE. Whilst at the Opera School, Miss Woodland won the National Classics Singing Prize enabling her to continue specialised study abroad.

Miss Woodland's debut was at Sadler's Wells as Queen of the Night in Mozart's Magic Flute. Sir Thomas Beecham invited her to sing this role at Glyndebourne and engagements followed in many other European Festivals.
She toured Russia with the English Opera Group and was chosen by Benjamin Britten to sing many roles. She made her debut at the Royal Opera House in Sonnambula with Sutherland and Pavarotti and was chosen by Sir Arthur Bliss, Master of the Queen's music, to sing the role of Diana in The Olympians at the Royal Festival Hall in the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Miss Woodland retired from public performances in 1984 and was asked to teach at the Britten-Pears School and at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was awarded an Hon. RAM in appreciation of her teaching. She is also in great demand as an examiner, adjudicator and lecturer.

Stuart Smith, accompanist and vocal coach, studied at the University of Southern California under Gwendolyn Koldofsky, accompanist to Lotte Lehmann and Herman Prey. He has toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and the U.K. and is the official accompanist for several competitive festivals. He plays regularly for masterclasses given by such eminent singers/teachers as John Carol Case, Vera Rosza, Benjamin Luxon and Marjorie Thomas. He is also in demand as an adjudicator.
He was founder, producer and conductor of the New Opera Group. and is currently Musical Director of Wide Angle Voice Theatre.