Reviews by Vanessa Woodward

Winter Wonderland!

Vanessa Woodward

Colla Voce are an a cappella vocal chamber ensemble, formed around seventeen years ago, who perform repertoire ranging from early music, through to classical and popular contemporary material. In ...

8 years ago

Winter Wonderland!

Orlando

Vanessa Woodward

Handel's Orlando, first performed in London in 1733, tells the story of a well-respected soldier who does not want to fight because he has been emotionally hurt by Angelica, who he loves. However, ...

8 years ago

Orlando

I Puritani

Vanessa Woodward

I must confess that works by Bellini do not feature among my favourite operas. Even though their style is described as 'Bel Canto' (Beautiful Singing), I would not go out of my way to catch up with a ...

8 years ago

I Puritani

Oxford Lieder Festival 2015

Vanessa Woodward

I have seen Matthew Rose several times at Glyndebourne Festival, impressive in such characters as Claggart in Britten's 'Billy Budd' and Nick Shadow in Stravinsky's 'The Rake's Progress' and this ...

8 years ago

Oxford Lieder Festival 2015

Vanessa Woodward

Robert Murray (tenor), Mark Stone (baritone), Joshua Ellicott (tenor), Simon Callow (reader), Graham Johnson (piano) perform 'A Shropshire Lad' at the Holywell Music Room on Thursday 29th October ...

8 years ago

Oxford Lieder Festival 2015

Vanessa Woodward

Benedict Nelson (baritone) and Sholto Kynoch (piano) perform 'Earth and Air and Rain' by Finzi at the Exeter College Chapel, Thursday 29th October Finzi's 'Earth and Air and Rain' is a song-cycle ...

8 years ago

Oxford Lieder Festival 2015

Vanessa Woodward

Henk Neven (baritone) and Imogen Cooper (piano) perform Schumann, Mahler & Mendelssohn, Monday 26th October at the Holywell Music Room I first heard Henk Neven a few years ago in a Radio Three ...

9 years ago

Oxford Lieder Festival 2015

Oxford Lieder Festival 2009

Vanessa Woodward

This final concert of the Oxford Lieder festival provided a wonderful conclusion to the events over the past two weeks. The concert began with a 'fifteen minute of fame' slot for Caroline Macphie and ...

14 years ago

Oxford Lieder Festival 2009

Vanessa Woodward

I was initially disappointed when I heard that Christopher Maltman wasn’t performing due to illness, as he’s been a singing hero of mine for some time. However I was soon to find out that Graham ...

14 years ago

Oxford Lieder Festival 2009

Vanessa Woodward

29/10/09 Stephan Loges - Baritone & Roger Vignoles - PianoThe performance commenced with Schumann's 'Dichterliebe'. Stephan Loges set up a great atmosphere right from the start. At first I ...

15 years ago

Oxford Lieder Festival 2009

Vanessa Woodward

That's the way to do it!!! This was the most wonderful concert, just the way Lieder should be. Roderick Williams engaged totally with the audience right from the start with his totally relaxed manner ...

15 years ago

Oxford Lieder Festival 2009

Vanessa Woodward

This concert began with a 'fifteen minutes of fame' slot for Guildhall opera course student Gary Griffiths and staff accompanist Nico de Villiers, and what a great opening it was too! Gary Griffiths ...

15 years ago

Oxford Lieder Festival 2009

Vanessa Woodward

I first heard Rhona McKail at last year's Lieder festival and was very impressed; Rhona and Sholto also featured on Sean Rafferty's Radio 3 programme In Tune this week, where they were interviewed ...

15 years ago

Oxford Lieder Festival 2009

Vanessa Woodward

I first encountered Schubert's Winterreise as a young music undergraduate (in prehistoric times!) and I was totally bowled over by it, and immediately rushed out and parted with what seemed a fair ...

15 years ago

Oxford Lieder Festival 2009

Vanessa Woodward

This concert at the JDP on Sunday afternoon was awesome. The programme commenced with Tippett and Britten arrangements of Purcell songs, beginning with what is probably Purcell's most well-known ...

15 years ago

Oxford Lieder Festival 2009

Vanessa Woodward

We splashed out this year and bought festival passes for the Oxford Lieder Festival, which commenced with an excellent concert last night at the JDP. The programme was well-constructed and hopefully ...

15 years ago

Oxford Lieder Festival 2009