The Rae Woodland Scholarship for singers aged 18-30 years
For a number of years, Rae Woodland has sponsored a special competition class as part of the vocal section. The winner spends 10 days as an observer at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies in Snape, East Anglia. The 2008 winner was Abigail Kelly from Harbourne.
The competition will not be running in the 2009 Festival.
The Festival would like to express its sincere thanks and gratitude to Rae Woodland for her generous sponsorship and support of this Competition over recent years.
Britten-Pears Foundation
For more details of the Britten-Pears Foundation in general see here.
About Rae Woodland
Rae 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. Rae 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.
This biographical extract taken from the Jackdaws Musical Education Trust website
For a full biography of Rae's extraordinary career, see the Impulse Music website here.