Felicity Lott
English soprano Felicity Lott began her musical studies on the violin and piano, but she did not entertain the idea of a musical career until after completing a degree in French at the Royal Holloway College. Having studied voice during college, she auditioned for the Royal Academy of Music and spent the next four years there. Her debut came in London as Seleuce in Handel's Tolomeo, but she first came to public attention in 1975 when she stepped in as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the English National Opera, where she also sang Natasha in Prokofiev's War and Peace and Roxane in Szymanowski's King Roger. In 1976 at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, she continued this thread of modern opera in Henze's We Come to the River and Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The following year, she sang Anne Trulove in The Rake's Progress at Glyndebourne and Jennifer in Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage at the Welsh National Opera. Perhaps even more important was singing the Countess in Strauss' Capriccio for the Glyndebourne Touring Company; this was the first of many Strauss roles she was to make her own.
Lott also undertook roles from the standard repertory, including Poppea in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and Xiphares in Mitridate, rè di Ponto. She had great success in French opera, especially as Charpentier's Louise, Blanche in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites and the Woman in La voix humaine. She eventually added more Strauss roles to her repertoire, including both Octavian and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, Christine in Intermezzo and Arabella. She has sung at all of the major opera houses around the world, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco, the Metropolitan, Hamburg, Dresden, Vienna, Paris Opera, and Munich. Her Mozart roles have remained central in her performing schedule.
Lott is also very active as a recitalist. She is one of the original members of the Songmaker's Almanac, a group created by pianist Graham Johnson to explore all areas of song literature. She and Richard Jackson have been admired for their performances of Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch. She is also well known for her interpretations of the songs of Francis Poulenc and has recorded nearly all of the songs appropriate for female voice. Her performances of Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben and Berg's Sieben frühe Lieder are also highly acclaimed. Her recital programs are unusually varied, often contain little-known pieces, and are much anticipated by audiences. She also appears regularly with major orchestras around the world. Her concert repertoire includes the second and fourth symphonies of Mahler, the oratorios of Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, and, of course, the Four Last Songs of Strauss.
When Felicity Lott began performing, her voice was a medium-sized lyric soprano with a strong lower register. As she has matured, the voice has taken on darker hues that have enabled her to be able to fulfill all of the demands of the great Strauss operas for which she is justly famous. She has excellent control of the entire dynamic range and a wonderful feel for the long phrases of Mozart and Strauss. She is an excellent actress and is careful to create a complete character in her performances.
Through the new decade, she continued performing, including a 2004 appearance in Offenbach's La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein at the Chatelet in Paris. Her later recordings covered Schubert (2010), Elgar (2011), and Mahler (2011), among others.
Lott is married to actor Gabriel Woolf. She became a Commander of the British Empire in 1990 and was knighted as a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1996.
© TiVo
Similar artists
-
Armin Jordan conducts Debussy, Roussel & Chausson (Live)
Felicity Lott, Armin Jordan, Orchestre De La Suisse Romande
Klassiek - Released by audite Musikproduktion on 4 sep. 2020
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Offenbach: La Belle Hélène
Felicity Lott, Michel Sénéchal, Yann Beuron, Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 6 sep. 2001
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler & Wagner: Rückert-Lieder, Wesendonck-Lieder, Prélude & Mort d'Isolde
Felicity Lott, Quatuor Schumann
Liederen - Released by AEON on 1 jan. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Mélodies
Teresa Berganza, Felicity Lott, Mady Mesplé, Jessye Norman, Gabriel Bacquier, José Van Dam
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Poulenc: Mélodies Vol. 2
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 2 jan. 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lehár: Die lustige Witwe (Live at Royal Festival Hall, 1993)
Felicity Lott, Thomas Hampson, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Franz Welser-Möst
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Anon in Love / Facade Settings / A Song for the Lord (English Song, Vol. 1)
Graham Johnson, Martyn Hill, Felicity Lott, Craig Ogden
Vocale muziek (wereldlijk en religieus) - Released by Naxos on 19 nov. 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492
Felicity Lott, Claudio Desderi, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Francis Poulenc: La voix humaine
Felicity Lott, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Armin Jordan
Klassiek - Released by harmonia mundi on 12 jun. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Songs
Klassiek - Released by Champs Hill Records on 6 okt. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Illuminations (Les) / Our Hunting Fathers / Chansons Francaises
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 1 sep. 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Richard Strauss: Don Quixote & Selected Songs
Orchestre De La Suisse Romande, Armin Jordan, Felicity Lott
Klassiek - Released by Mediaphon on 11 mei 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Œuvres orchestrales (volume 2)
Liederen - Released by Chandos on 1 feb. 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
My Own Country - An English Song Collection
Klassiek - Released by Champs Hill Records on 6 sep. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann Favourite Songs
Vocale muziek (wereldlijk en religieus) - Released by Musical Concepts on 25 jan. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Felicity Lott sings Schubert Favourites
Vocale muziek (wereldlijk en religieus) - Released by Musical Concepts on 15 jun. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Summertime
Klassiek - Released by The Sound Corporation on 9 okt. 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mélodies pour orchestre (volume 1)
Liederen - Released by Chandos on 1 mrt. 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
LOTT, Felicity: Favourite English Songs
Vocale muziek (wereldlijk en religieus) - Released by Chandos on 1 jul. 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Felicity Lott Sings Schubert
Klassiek - Released by imp on 1 jan. 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler & Wagner: Transcriptions for Soprano and String Quartet
Felicity Lott, Quatuor Schumann
Klassiek - Released by Outhere on 1 jan. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo