The English soprano Dame Felicity Lott was born in Cheltenham on 8 May 1947 and started learning the piano when she was five, having her first singing lesson at the age of twelve. At first she decided against a professional singing career and read French and Latin at London University to become an interpreter. During a stay in France she continued taking singing lessons at the Conservatoire of Grenoble, and in 1969, returned to London to take up her singing studies at the Royal Academy of Music.

In 1975 she made her début at the English National Opera as Pamina in Mozart’s Magic Flute, in 1976 she took part in the first performance of Henze’s opera We come to the River at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. In that year she als...