Felicity Lott DBE,CBE was born in Cheltenham, read French and Latin at Royal Holloway College, London, and won a scholarship to study singing at the Royal Academy of Music. She made her début at English National Opera in 1975 and her Glyndebourne Festival début in 1977, taking part in almost every subsequent Festival until 1990. She specialises in the operas of Mozart and Strauss and has sung at all the major opera houses of the world and with many great conductors. She sang the rôle of the Marschallin on a DVD of ‘Der Rosenkavalier’ conducted by Carlos Kleiber at the Vienna State Opera. In Paris she took part in popular performances and recordings of Offenbach’s ‘La Belle Hélène’ and ‘La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein.’ She has also toured the world giving song recitals.
She holds many Honorary Doctorates and Fellowships, including from the Universities of Oxford, London, Paris Sorbonne, and Sussex, and is a Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur and an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2010 she was awarded the Wigmore Medal and in 2014 the ISM Distinguished Musician Award.
Her repertoire ranges from Handel to Britten and from Offenbach to Noel Coward.