Roger Vignoles
Roger Vignoles, born 12 July 1945, is a British pianist and accompanist. He regularly performs with the world's leading singers, including Kiri Te Kanawa, Thomas Allen, Anne Sofie von Otter, Thomas Hampson, Gitta-Maria Sjøberg, Sarah Walker, Sylvia McNair, Susan Graham, Christine Brewer, Felicity Lott, Stephan Genz, Monica Groop, Wolfgang Holzmair, Bernarda Fink, Christine Schäfer, Brigitte Fassbaender and Kathleen Battle. He also accompanies instrumentalists such as Joshua Bell, Heinrich Schiff, Nobuko Imai and Ralph Kirshbaum, and gives masterclasses around the world.
He lists Gerald Moore as his inspiration for pursuing a career in accompaniment.[1] He read music at Magdalene College, Cambridge, then joined the Royal Opera House as a repetiteur before completing his training with Paul Hamburger. He is widely recorded and generally regarded as one of the foremost piano accompanists alive today.
Roger Vignoles has devised and directed several series at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, most notably Landscape Into Song for the Schubert bicentennial, and since 1998, he is artistic director of the Nagaoka Festival in Japan. His discography contains several recordings which have received international awards. He first studied at Magdalene College (Cambridge) and the Royal College of Music, where he is now Prince Consort Professor of Piano accompaniment.
Personal
Vignoles was born in Cheltenham, the son of Keith Hutton Vignoles TD (1905-1991) and Phyllis Mary née Pearson (1907-1994); he is the great-great grandson of Charles Blacker Vignoles. Roger's son Will Vignoles is a member of the British indie band Cajun Dance Party on XL records.