She is a coloratura soprano nicknamed "La Stupenda" born
in Sydney, Australia, where her mother was a mezzo-soprano who gave her
much of her early musical education and used to sing with her.When she as 16 she won the esteemed
The Sun Aria competition in Australia and travelled to London to enter the
Royal College of Music's Opera School.In 1951 she debuted in England in Judith by
Eugene Goossen, in 1952 she debuted in Australia in Purcell's Dido and
Aeneas, and that same year she appeared as First Lady at the Royal
Opera House, Covent Garden, in Mozarts' Die Zauberflote (The Magic
Flute).From then on she
has appeared numerous times at the Royal Opera House in London, premiering
the work of Benjamin Britten's Gloriana.In 1954 she met and married the conductor and pianist,
Richard Bonynge, who encouraged her to perform more in the bel canto style,
and over the next few years she would make many appearances in operas that
were written in the Bel Canto and Baroque eras and had been largely forgotten.
In 1959 she reached "great
diva" status with her performance in the "Mad Scene" as Lucia di Lammermoor
in the opera of the same name and the following year she released the Grammy
Award winning The Art of the Prima Donna, which would be one of the
first of numerous recordings she would make throughout her career.Appearing in all the important
operatic venues around the world, she received the nickname "La Stupenda"
in Venice, and appeared in several premieres such as Benjamin Britten's Gloriana
and Francis Poulenc's Dialogue of the Carmelites. In the 1970s she was still as active
as ever and after her diction had been criticised while she was trying to
sing a perfect legato, she worked on it and came back with a noticed improvement
that would allow her to continue her highly acclaimed performances.Giving performances throughout the
1980s she retired in 1990 when she was 1964.Her last role was in Les Huguenots where she
played Marguerite de Valois and her final public appearance was with
Luciano Pavarotti and Marilyn Horne in a gala performance of Die
Fledermaus.Recognised for
her contribution to music, she was made a Commander of the British Empire
in 1961, a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1975, a Dame Commander in
1975, had the prestigious Order of Merit bestowed on her by Queen Elizabeth
II in 1991, and was awarded a Kennedy Center Honour in 2004.The Joan Sutherland Performing Arts
Center in Penrith and Sutherland House at the St. Catherine's School in
Sydney were named in her honour.In 1998 in New York, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani named May 6th
of that year as the city's Dame Joan Sutherland Day.
New Philharmonia Orchestra recordings
Angels We Have Heard On High (Traditional
French/James Chadwick/Edward Barnes)
