Leigh Woolf
Mezzo-soprano

Leigh Woolf, mezzo-soprano, studied as an undergraduate at the Royal College of Music with Margaret Cable and also on the Opera Course as a Senior Exhibitioner with Kathleen Livingstone. Whilst at the RCM she won prizes for Lieder, English Song, interpretations of Bach and Handel and recital singing before graduating with first class diplomas in recital and opera. She currently studies with Paul Farrington and is a Samling Foundation Scholar.

On the concert platform Leigh has sung much of the major repertoire, ranging from Purcell to Tippett, performing with conductors and orchestras including Sir David Willcocks, Sir John Eliot Gardiner (the English Baroque Soloists) and Thomas Zehetmair (Northern Sinfonia).

Her operatic roles include covering Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro) for Glyndebourne on Tour, covering Euphemia (Leoncavallo's La Boheme) for ENO, Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus) for Tête à Tête, Kate (Owen Wingrave), Idelberto (Lotario), Nancy (Albert Herring), Second Lady (The Magic Flute), Andronico (Giustino) and Vitellia (Tito Manlio) for La Serenissima, both of which were broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Concert and recital appearances have included Brahms' Liebeslieder at Wigmore Hall; a Gala Concert for the Samling Foundation alongside Sir Thomas Allen; Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben in Turner-Simms Hall, Southampton; Mary in Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ in Winchester Cathedral; Bach's Mattheus Passion with Peter Schreier; the world premier of The Devil's Drum by Edward Dudley Hughes in the Purcell Room; a recital in the Chichester Festival as the winner of the John Warner Memorial Prize and The Angel in The Dream of Gerontius at Snape Maltings. Leigh also received the Leith Hill Music Festival Award and has appeared in recital St. Martin-in-the-fields and with Malcolm Martineau at St. John's, Smith Square.

Future engagements include Zerlina in the Samling Foundation's forthcoming production of Don Giovanni and recitals with her husband, baritone Christopher Maltman.

Press Quotes

On Albert Herring, RCM Feb. 1998

".....Leigh Woolf, a mellow toned mezzo, sang Nancy beautifully...."
Opera


"....Leigh Woolf, as Nancy...striking erotic sparks...."

Sunday Telegraph

On Lotario, RCM March 1999

"....Leigh Woolf sang with velvety, plangent tone in the travesti role of his lovesick son..."

The Times

"...Leigh Woolf marked well the trouser role of Idelberto and produced a sonorous account with a voice that rang with sincerity and truth..."

Early Music Today

On Owen Wingrave, RCM June 1999

"....Leigh Woolf (Kate) brought a suitable yet nastily sneering vitality to her mezzo role...."

The Ham &High

"...Leigh Woolf voiced a firm mezzo line as the unpleasant Kate, tall and elegant but also cruel and domineering..."
Opera

"...Leigh Woolf embodied the difficult and contradictory role of Kate, Owen's girlfriend, with perfection...."