I grew up in Itzehoe, still have family links with the small town in Schleswig-Holstein and occasionally sing in the church choir of St. Laurentii. When I was requested to ask Dame Felicity Lott to sing with the St. Laurentii Kantorei and the Corinium Singers of Cirencester in a concert to celebrate 25 years of town twinning between Cirencester and Itzehoe I did hesitate: Could I really suggest her to join musical forces with us? In the end I decided to ask and leave the decision up to Flott. When she agreed to come, the feelings of the people involved changed from pure pleasure to panic and back nearly every day!

We were very lucky to win Bettina Rohrbeck as Felicity’s accompanist. She is not only a very gifted and sensitive pianist but also a terrific person.

When Flott started singing Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum” and filled the church with her voice, everybody felt that this would be a very special concert. The choirs, inspired by the Dame, probably did their best singing ever, and so Mendelssohn’s “Hör mein Bitten” was equally impressive.

Then Felicity Lott and Bettina Rohrbeck presented a bunch of German and English songs and Flott once again touched the hearts and souls of an audience with her musical mastership and her beauty of tone.

A huge thank you to Felicity Lott from everybody involved, and a very special thank you to Flott from her web manager: I have learned a lot during these days in Itzehoe, about singing and particularly about friendship.  ML