'There can be few Academy figures in our 204-year history more beloved than ‘Flott’, as she was affectionately known to many of us. Brimming with humanity, Flott – for a very famous singer – was about as far from ‘diva-dom’ as any opera star could be. Her effervescent smile and welcoming demeanour were accompanied by an inbuilt self-deprecation and humility which prevented her easy acknowledgement of her exceptional qualities. It was always hard to find the right moment to persuade Flott that she had the rarest of gifts for sharing experience, radiating belief and belonging, and for imparting her ever-resourceful musical wisdom effectively and with such gentleness.
Flott truly loved the Academy and became a close friend to many of us over the decades, offering her irrepressible warmth and sense of fun – whether as an audience member, alumni president, visiting professor, member of the Board or donor. She always exuded generosity as a default alongside her spirited reflections: words following an opera production were always apt, constructive and admiring of students’ capability, as if she could never aspire to what they had just achieved. She gave brilliant guidance without knowing she was doing it, but she could also be a direct and steely critic if she thought someone was going down the wrong path. You don’t settle for second best if you’ve sung the Marschallin at the Met and Vienna State Opera under Carlos Kleiber.
At the beginning of the millennium, I asked Flott to come and do some occasional teaching. She determinedly said ‘no’, that she’d be useless and, anyway, she didn’t want to risk upsetting our professors. Telling her it was their idea, and that we had three students who wanted to perform French song, I eventually persuaded her up to the Richard Lewis Room. I well recall, all those years ago, that face of ‘I’m an imposter but I’ll give it a go’. One of those students was Lucy Crowe and to this day, there are dozens of Academy alums who still hang on the advice and encouragement she gave over her years as a visiting professor.
How moving it was to hear Flott interviewed on John Wilson’s This Cultural Life on BBC Radio 4, broadcast at the end of last week when she was near the end.
It encompasses with such openness and consistency what we remember, admire and love about this very special person – interspersed with phenomenal examples of her art. She really was one of the finest singers of her generation.
I’m glad that for the rest of this academic year her face on the alumni poster in front of the Academy will continue to remind us how lucky we were.
I feel enormously grateful for what she gave to this institution and privileged to have been one of her friends. Our deepest condolences go to her husband Gabriel and their daughter Emily. I would also like to mention our other visiting professor-Dames, Imogen Cooper and Jane Glover, very special friends who cherished Flott and, of course, one of her great muses and fellow Academy student, Graham Johnson.'