Roger Vignoles – pianist

Roger Vignoles is one of the foremost piano accompanists of our time, with an internationally celebrated career that has already spanned more than five decades, appearing at all the world’s principal venues and festivals, from San Francisco to Salzburg, from the Concertgebouw to Carnegie Hall. The list of artists he has partnered has been likened to a Who’s Who in music, including such names as Sir Thomas Allen, Barbara Bonney, Christine Brewer, Florian Boesch, Bernarda Fink, Elina Garanca, Susan Graham, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Angelika Kirchschlager, Dame Felicity Lott, Mark Padmore, Christoph Prégardien, Elisabeth Soederstroem and Sarah Walker. His extensive discography includes a long and fruitful association with Hyperion Records, recently crowned by completion of the Songs of Richard Strauss.

An active and enthusiastic teacher, Roger Vignoles is in regular demand for masterclasses in Europe, Scandinavia and the US, and is Prince Consort Professor of Accompaniment at the Royal College of Music.

What has creating art meant to you over the last year?

I have always loved drawing and painting, and as a result I tend to ‘see’ music in visual terms. How one creates colours and textures on the piano – painting in the mind’s ear, so to speak – is all to do with balancing one voice against another, choosing which details to bring out against what is often a background wash of sound. In the same way in a watercolour painting, it’s all about contrast, and how often a small splash of primary colour can bring a whole scene to life.
In lockdown I found myself looking anew at my surroundings and thinking how to capture them in paint.