Dame 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
Discography
15 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
-
Strauss: Four Last Songs
Dame Felicity Lott, Neeme Järvi, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Apr 1, 2003
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Offenbach: La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Sep 2, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss : Amor - Opera scenes & Lieder
Natalie Dessay, Dame Felicity Lott, Sophie Koch, Royal Opera House Orchestra, Angelika Kirchschlager, Antonio Pappano
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jan 1, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra, Don Juan, Muttertändelei & Cäcilie
Neeme Järvi, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Dame Felicity Lott
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Oct 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Ein Heldenleben & Four Last Songs
Neeme Järvi, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Dame Felicity Lott
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Aug 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sweet Power of Song
Dame Felicity Lott, Ann Murray, Graham Johnson
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Apr 3, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Orchestral Songs, Vol. 1
Neeme Järvi, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Dame Felicity Lott
Mélodies - Released by Chandos on Mar 1, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Les Illuminations, Quatre Chansons Françaises & Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
Bryden Thomson, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Dame Felicity Lott, Anthony rolfe Johnson, Michael Thompson
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Sinfonia Domestica and other Orchestral Works
Neeme Järvi, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Dame Felicity Lott
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Nov 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Les Illuminations, 4 Chansons Françaises & Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
Bryden Thomson, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Anthony rolfe Johnson, Dame Felicity Lott, Michael Thompson
Mélodies - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Felicity Lott Sings Favourite English Songs
Dame Felicity Lott, Graham Johnson
Mélodies - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Felicity Lott Sings Wolf Songs
Dame Felicity Lott, Geoffrey Parsons
Mélodies - Released by Chandos on May 1, 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Tod und Verklärung, Metamorphosen & 3 Hymnen von Friedrich Hölderlin
Neeme Järvi, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Dame Felicity Lott
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Nov 1, 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Don Quixote and other Orchestral Works
Neeme Järvi, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Dame Felicity Lott, Edwin Paling, John Harrington, Raphael Wallfisch
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Sep 1, 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Felicity Lott sings English Songs
Dame Felicity Lott, Graham Johnson
Mélodies - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo