Sadlers Wells, to cover for an indisposed soprano. This became one of her signature roles, for her dramatic coloratura voice was ideal both for the tessitura and the power required to invoke hellish vengeance. Despite turning down Vittorio Gui's offer to move to La Scala, she remained busy in Britain and Europe, and was thought to be the first English soprano to share the Covent Garden stage with Luciano Pavarotti, where she sang Lisa to Joan Sutherland's Amina in La Sonnambula, to much acclaim. She sang at the BBC Proms on many occasions, including for Stokowski's premier of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony, with Janet Baker. She said "Sadler's Wells made me, and Glyndebourne was the icing on the cake" and performed many roles in both houses. Her Mimi, in La Bohème at Sadler's Wells earned the admiration of Lord Lurgan, who had studied and toured as a baritone (William Brownlow) with Melba, before he inherited the title. He presented Woodland with two Puccini scores which had come from his association with Melba. She also created several new roles, including The Rising of the Moon for Nicholas Maw, Der Besuch der alten Dame for Gottfried von Einem, and Rout for Sir Arthur Bliss, who wrote Angels of the Mind for her. Woodland also developed a lasting relationship with Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, singing and touring in their English Opera Group, and often performing at the Aldeburgh Festival. She eventually moved to Suffolk, near Snape Maltings. Retirement Woodland retired from the opera stage in 1984 and began teaching at the Royal Academy of Music, then, at the invitation of Peter Pears, at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies. Recordings Bliss: Rout, with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Arthur Bliss (Lyrita) Bliss: The Olympians Polyphonia Orchestra, Ambrosian Singers, under Bryan Fairfax, live at the Royal Festival Hall, 1972 Graun: Montezuma (Pilpatoè) Ambrosian Singers, London Philharmonic, under Richard Bonynge, (Decca Reissue 1999) Handel: Messiah, under John Tobim, (ABC 1976) Mahler: Symphony no 2, with Janet Baker, BBC Chorus and Choral Society and the London Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski, live recording, BBC Proms, 1963 Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream, with Helen Watts, London Philharmonic, under Bernard Haitink (Philips) Mozart: Idomeneo (Elettra) with Peter Pears, Heather Harper, under Benjamin Britten, 1969 Mozart: Idomeneo (Elettra) with Jessye Norman, Nicolai Gedda, under Colin Davis, Live recording, Rome Opera, 1971 Novello: Glamorous Night (Militza) with Monica