Margaret T. Woods

Style: Opera; Classical; Musical Theatre

Title: Professor of Voice

Bio:

Hailed as a “Stand-out voice,” Margaret Woods is quickly establishing a diverse career of opera, new music, concert & crossover work. Her performances have brought her praise for her expressive and clear sound as well as her honest dramatic interpretations.

Margaret is based in Richmond, Virginia, and has a passion for performing in local venues and performance spaces. She recently made her Richmond Ballet & Richmond Symphony debut as the soprano soloist for Vivaldi’s Gloria for the 2022 Gubernatorial Inauguration Celebration of the Arts. In 2021, she debuted the role of Marie-Thérèse for RVA Baroque’s world premiere of a new opera by Niccolo and Raphael Seligmann, Julie Monster: A Queer Baroque Opera at the Firehouse Theater. This spring, Margaret will join Vox Humana, a new chamber ensemble in Richmond directed by William Bradley Roberts. Other hometown performance highlights include a faculty recital of contemporary American song in the Sonia Vlahcevic Concert Hall and performances with Classical Revolution RVA, Virginia Masterworks Chorale, Richmond Mozart Festival, the International Heitor Villa-Lobos Festival, Reveille United Methodist, First Presbyterian Church, Second Presbyterian Church and Capitol Opera of Richmond.

Margaret has a variety of operatic credits to her name, such as Blanche (Dialogues des Carmélites) with Westminster Opera Theater, Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro) with Jeunesses Musicales in Grožnjan, Croatia, Gretel (Hansel and Gretel) with Painted Sky Opera, Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and other various roles performed through young artist and training programs such as Classic Lyric Arts: La Lingua Della, Crittenden Opera Workshop, and Capitol Opera of Richmond. 

As an active recitalist, Margaret enjoys a passion for both art song and chamber music. She recently won third place in Sparks & Wiry Cries SongSlam 2022 Competition, performing Michael Wisnosky’s A Certain Slant of Light. She has also been featured in numerous recitals and concerts including Penn Square Music Festival’s virtual production of Jingle All the Cabaret, Libby Larsen’s The Birth Project and other Songs of Life at the Richmond Public Library’s Gellman Room, and as the headlining artist for Encore Choral Institute at the Chautauqua Amphitheater. Other recital and concert highlights include an interview about Lili Boulanger’s Clairières dans le ciel for Concerts at Trinity on VPM Radio with Mike Goldberg, soprano soloist for Bach’s Magnificat in D at Market Square Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg, PA, with the Harrisburg Camerata, and soprano soloist for Messiah & More and John Rutter’s Mass of the Children with Garden State Philharmonic. Margaret was a Colburn Foundation Fellow at SongFest in Los Angeles, where she was a featured performer on the New Voices in Song recital, singing John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan. She was selected twice to sing in Westminster Choir College’s Lindsey Christiansen Art Song Festival and has performed masterclasses with Tom Cipullo, Libby Larsen, Graham Johnson, Jake Heggie, Richard Pearson Thomas, Grant Gershon, Susan Graham and Jeanine De Bique.

Margaret values the transformative power of music across all ages and abilities. In addition to her singing career, Margaret is passionate about teaching voice and vocal pedagogy. She serves as adjunct voice faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University, Berkshire Choral International, Encore Choral Institute and has been a guest lecturer at Peabody Conservatory, University of Richmond, Georgia College and State University as well as her alma mater, Lebanon Valley College. Students in her private voice studio have won numerous competitions and have been accepted to some of the most prestigious music programs in the country. Margaret holds degrees from Lebanon Valley College in Music Education (B.S.) and Music (B.A.) and an M.M. in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College and is an active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Voice Type: Soprano

Music Styles Taught: Opera; Classical; Musical Theatre

Availability: I am available as a performer; I have a wait-list for private lessons; I am currently accepting private students; I am available as a clinician or presenter; I offer lessons in a group environment; I accept students through a college or university program

Contact Information