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Joan Sutherland

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Dame Joan Sutherland
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(born Nov. 7, 1926, Sydney, Austl.) Australian soprano. After debuting in Sydney in 1947, she moved to London. Having sung minor roles at Covent Garden from 1952, she established her status as one of the leading coloraturas of the 20th century in a 1959 performance of Lucia di Lammermoor. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1961, and she became a favourite there and worldwide in bel canto roles until her retirement in 1991.

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Biography: Joan Sutherland
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Joan Sutherland (born 1926) is widely considered one of the best opera singers of her time, a soprano who specialized in the bel canto repertoire. Known for her lovely voice, excellent range, and commandingstage presence, Sutherland was dubbed "LaStupenda" by Italian critics.

Sutherland was born on November 7, 1926, in Sydney, Australia, to William and Muriel (Alston) Sutherland. Her father, a Scottish immigrant and tailor, died of a heart attack on Sutherland's sixth birthday. Joan and her elder sister Barbara were raised by their mother, an amateur singer and music teacher, and members of her family.

Early Musical Education

While attending St. Catherine's Girls' School in Waverly, Sutherland received her first education in music, primarily piano, from her mother. Muriel Sutherland had been taught in the bel canto tradition which her daughter would later help revive interest in. However, her mother would not allow her to be trained vocally until after the age of 18. One of the most important lessons Sutherland's mother taught her was the importance of breathing correctly. Despite a promising future in music, after leaving school at 16, Sutherland took a secretarial course and worked as a secretary at Sydney University as she trained for her singing career.

In 1946 when Sutherland was 19 years old, she won a two-year scholarship for vocal training with John and Aida Dickens in Sydney in 1946. The couple helped Sutherland develop the upper range of her voice, which would prove important in her development as an opera singer. In 1947, Sutherland made her concert debut in Sydney as Dido in Dido and Aeneas. That same year, she met fellow music student Richard Bonynge, a pianist and her future husband, who would play a significant role in Sutherland's opera career.

Continued Education in London

Sutherland's future was determined by several important singing competition wins. In 1949, she won the Sun Aria competition and the 1950 Mobil Quest, among other singing competitions. Her successes allowed her to attend the Royal College of Music in London on scholarship in the early 1950s. With her mother, Sutherland moved to London and studied with Clive Carey at the prestigious institution. Sutherland also received some training at London's Opera School.

Sutherland made her debut with Royal Opera at Covent Garden in 1952, as the First Lady of The Magic Flute. She appeared as part of the company of the Royal Opera, which made its home at Covent Garden a number of years, essentially serving as its leading soprano. Among her early appearances were roles in Aida (1954) and Rigoletto. Sutherland first drew significant critical attention when she created the role of Jennifer in Michael Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage in 1955. Though Sutherland was not altogether pleased with her performance, by this time, her basic characteristics as a vocalist were there. Being a member of company allowed Sutherland to learn solid technique, which played into her vocal agility and purity.

Learned Bel Canto Repertoire

In 1954, Sutherland and Bonynge were married. He had come to London in 1950 to study. The couple had become reacquainted and married when Sutherland's mother made a trip back to Australia. The couple later had one son, Adam. Bonynge and Sutherland also formed a musical partnership. He helped her learn how to reach higher notes in her flexible range as a lyric-coloratura soprano. It was through Bonynge's influence and tutelage that Sutherland learned the bel canto repertoire.

At this time, the bel canto repertoire was relatively unfashionable. Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing") operas were primarily of the Italian romantic variety of the 18th and 19th centuries. Such operas featured roles that often used the kind of high range that Sutherland had successfully developed. Sutherland and Bonynge had been influenced by Maria Callas, who had first revived the bel canto repertoire. The couple attended many of her rehearsals and performances at Covent Garden, and Sutherland modeled her vocal stylings on Callas. Sutherland performed in such bel canto operas by Vincenzo Bellini, Geatano Donzietti, Gioacchino Rossi, and others. Sutherland appeared in a 1952 production of Bellini's Norma as Clothide with Callas as the Druid priestess

Sutherland had wanted to do more Wagner, as was regularly put on at Covent Garden, but Bonynge talked her out of it. He believed such heavy works did not suit her voice and vocal strengths. Though Sutherland did perform some Wagner and similar works, Sutherland later believed that she would not have had such a long career if she had focused on such operas. Because of her and her husband's enthusiastic embrace of works in the bel canto repertoire, the genre was revived. By the 1960s, Bonynge began conducting her productions and the pair eventually came as a package. This subjected the couple to criticism over the years.

Received International Acclaim

In 1959, Sutherland cemented her reputation as a superior coloratura soprano in her acclaimed turn as Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at Covent Garden. With her husband, Sutherland studied the source material for the opera, a novel by Sir Walter Scott. She grew to love this role, which she would play over 100 times, though her interpretation of Lucia would change as she matured.

The 1959 production was directed by Italian director Franco Zeffirelli who gave Sutherland some acting training. Sutherland herself was more concerned with her vocals and stage presence than acting. As she told Susan Heller Anderson of the New York Times, "If you want to see a wonderful actress, you go to see a straight play. … You can't be as emotionally involved when you sing as when you're acting. There are many singing actresses who do the sort of roles that don't demand the vocal techniques of bel canto."

Despite a brief setback when Sutherland had to have an operation on her sinuses, she made her first of many appearances in the United States, as Alcina in Alcina in Dallas, Texas, in 1960. Though her voice continued to evolve, her range and tone were especially noted. In 1961, Sutherland made her debut at New York City's Metropolitan Opera, again as Lucia in Lucia. That same year, Sutherland had a triumphant appearance at Milan's famous La Scala. It was here that she was given the honored nickname of "La Stupenda." This was arguably the best appearance on stage in her career.

From the early 1960s to the end of her career, Sutherland regularly appeared in the major opera houses in the United States and Europe, as well as other countries in the world. But she did not forget her roots in Australia. She brought her own opera company there between 1965 and 1974. Sutherland then regularly appeared with Sydney's Australian Opera because Bonynge served as music director there between the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. Though the couple's legal residence was in Montreaux, Switzerland - where they lived since 1964 and could exist relatively anonymously - she still lived in Sydney for a number of months during the year. Sutherland often played roles that she had done well before in works like Lucia di Lammermoor, La Traviata, and The Tales of Hoffmann.

Sutherland continued to challenge herself as an artist, even late in her career. In the 1970s, she took on more dramatic soprano roles in operas like Maria Stuarda and Lucrezia Borgia by Donzietti and Leonora in Il trovatore. Though Sutherland's voice and its flexibility remained strong points throughout her stage life, critics had often criticized her poor diction, a common problem for coloratura sopranos. Sutherland addressed this issue with some success by the early 1980s. Even as Sutherland entered her sixties, she was able to take on new roles because of her dedication and skill, even though learning new roles was hard for her because of a relatively poor memory. As her range changed with age, however, she did had to have some parts rewritten in a lower key.

Retired from Opera Stage

By the late 1980s, Sutherland had decided that she would retire in the early 1990s. On October 2, 1990, she made her last appearance in an opera, singing Margaret de Valois in a Sydney production of Les Huguenots. Her last song was an operatic version of "Home Sweet Home." Over the course of her career, she had sung in 48 operas and had recorded 60 albums.

After retirement, Sutherland has remained active in a number of arenas both related and not related to opera. She is involved in the opera world by acting as a judge in major singing competitions like the Queen Elisabeth in Brussels, Belgium. She also taught, often with her husband, some master classes, though she did not like the limited possibilities of the format.

Made Screen and Literary Debuts

Though Sutherland's acting was often a weak point for many critics, she tried her hand at film acting in a 1994 release. It was not the first time that she was offered a role in a movie. When Sutherland was in Italy in 1959, Federico Fellini wanted to cast her in his film La Dolce Vita, without even knowing who she was. She was advised against it by Zeffirelli and Anita Ekberg took on the role. Sutherland later regretted her decision. After a year of convincing by Anthony Buckley, Sutherland agreed to play the unglamorous role of Mother Rudd in On our Selection, a film based on an Australian play based on sketches by Steele Rudd. Sutherland was still eager to learn during the production and improve herself as an actress, though she did not prepare for the role.

Three years later, Sutherland published her autobiography, The Autobiography of Joan Sutherland: A Prima Donna's Progress. Sutherland wrote the book herself instead of working with ghost writer, beginning soon after her retirement. Though critics chided her for not revealing more of herself and found the book hard to read because it was bogged down in details, Sutherland hoped to show aspiring opera singers how to train properly and what it takes to have a long career. As she told Chris Pasles of the Los Angeles Times of her own experiences in opera, "I've had a wonderful career. It outran everything I expected… ."

Books

Arnold, John, and Deidre Morris, editors, Monash Biographical Dictionary of 20th Century Australia, Reed Reference Publishing, 1994.

Atkinson, Ann, The Dictionary of Famous Australians, Allen & Unwin, 1992.

Greenfield, Edward, Joan Sutherland, Drake Publishers, Inc., 1973.

Guinn, John and Les Stone, editors, The St. James Opera Encyclopedia, Visible Ink, 1997.

Kuhn, Laura, Baker's Dictionary of Opera, Schirmer Books, 2000.

Kuhn, Laura, compiler, Baker's Student Encyclopedia of Music, Vol. 3, Schirmer Books, 1999.

Periodicals

The Advertiser, November 1, 1997.

Associated Press, March 8, 1998.

The Australian, October 25, 1997.

Daily Telegraph, January 16, 1996; October 9, 1997.

Los Angeles Times, February 11, 1989; June 19, 1990.

New York Times, October 31, 1982; November 10, 1996; January 22, 1998.

Opera News, September 1994; June 1995; October 1995; February 28, 1998; March 28, 1998; November 1998.

Time, January 14, 1991.

Toronto Star, October 3, 1990.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Dame Joan Sutherland
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Sutherland, Dame Joan, 1926-, Australian soprano. Sutherland studied at the Sydney Conservatory, where she made her debut in Eugene Goossen's Judith in 1951. Beginning in 1952 she was a leading singer at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. She debuted at both La Scala, Milan and the Metropolitan Opera in 1961. Sutherland was considered unsurpassed in the bel canto repertory among contemporary singers. She was particularly celebrated for her singing of the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. She frequently performed with her husband, Richard Bonynge, conducting. She was created a Dame of the British Empire in 1979, and she retired in 1990.

Bibliography

See her autobiography (1998); biographies by R. R. Braddon (1962) and E. Greenfield (1973).

Quotes By: Joan Sutherland
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Quotes:

"If I weren't reasonably placid, I don't think I could cope with this sort of life. To be a diva, you've got to be absolutely like a horse."

Wikipedia: Joan Sutherland
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Sutherland as Haydn's Euridice in Vienna, 1967

Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE (born 7 November 1926) is an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution in the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s.

One of the most remarkable female opera singers of the 20th century, she was dubbed La Stupenda by a La Fenice audience in 1960 after an Alcina performance. She possessed a voice of beauty and power, combining extraordinary agility, accurate intonation, a splendid trill and a tremendous upper register, although music critics often complained about the imprecision of her diction. Her friend Luciano Pavarotti once called Sutherland the "Voice of the Century", while Montserrat Caballé described the Australian's voice as being like "heaven".

Contents

Early life and career

Joan Sutherland was born in Sydney, Australia, of Scots parents, where she attended St Catherine's School. As a child, she listened to and copied the singing exercises of her mother, a mezzo-soprano who had studied but never considered making a career. Sutherland was 18 when she started studying voice seriously with John and Aida Dickens. She made her concert debut in Sydney, as Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, in 1947. In 1951, she made her stage debut in Eugene Goossens's Judith. In 1951, after winning Australia's most important competition, the Sun Aria, she went to London to further her studies at the Opera School of the Royal College of Music with Clive Carey. She was engaged by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as a utility soprano, and made her debut there on 28 October 1952, as the First Lady in The Magic Flute, followed in November by a few performances as Clotilde in Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, with Maria Callas as Norma.

During her early career, she was training to be a Wagnerian dramatic soprano, following the steps of Kirsten Flagstad, whom she greatly admired. In December 1952, she sang her first leading role at the Royal Opera House, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera. Other roles included Agathe in Der Freischütz, the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Desdemona in Otello, Gilda in Rigoletto, Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Pamina in The Magic Flute. In 1953, she sang in the world premiere of Benjamin Britten's Gloriana, and created the role of Jennifer in Michael Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage, on 27 January 1955.

Sutherland married Australian conductor and pianist, Richard Bonynge, on 16 October 1954. They had a son, Adam, born in 1956. Bonynge gradually convinced her that Wagner might not be her Fach after all, since she had such great ease with high notes and coloratura, and that she should perhaps explore the bel canto repertory.

In 1957, she appeared in Handel's Alcina with the Handel Opera Society, and in Donizetti's Emilia di Liverpool, in which performances her bel canto potential was clearly demonstrated, vindicating her husband's judgement. The following year she sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in Vancouver.

In 1958, she "stopped the show" with "The Bright Seraphim" from Handel's Samson, an excedingly difficult and demanding aria. The crowd was on its feet for ten minutes and the show came to a stop. It was one of the most extraordinary ovations in the Royal Opera House. Her future as a diva at the Royal Opera House seemed assured afterward.

La Stupenda

Joan Sutherland in the Mad Scene of Lucia di Lammermoor

In 1959, she was invited to sing Lucia di Lammermoor at the Royal Opera House in a production conducted by Tullio Serafin and staged by Franco Zeffirelli. The role of Edgardo was sung by her fellow Australian Kenneth Neate, who had replaced the scheduled tenor at short notice.[1] It was a breakthrough for Sutherland's career, and, upon the completion of the famous Mad Scene, she had become a star. In 1960, she recorded the album The Art of the Prima Donna, which remains today one of the most recommended opera albums ever recorded: the double LP set won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Performance — Vocal Soloist in 1962. The album, a collection consisting mainly of coloratura arias, provides an opportunity to listen to the young Sutherland at the beginning of her international career. It displays her seemingly effortless coloratura ability, high notes and opulent tones, as well as her exemplary trill, which she is identified by and for which she is widely admired.

By the beginning of the 1960s, Sutherland had already established a reputation as a diva with a voice out of the ordinary. She sang Lucia to great acclaim in Paris in 1960 and, in 1961, at La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera. Also in 1960, she sang a superb Alcina at La Fenice, Venice, where she was nicknamed La Stupenda ("The Stupendous One"). Sutherland would soon be praised as La Stupenda in newspapers around the world. Later that year (1960), Sutherland sang Alcina at the Dallas Opera, with which she made her US debut.

Her Metropolitan Opera debut took place on 26 November 1961, when she sang Lucia. After a total of 217 performances in a number of different operas, her last appearance there was on 19 December 1987, when she sang in Il trovatore. During 1978–82 period her relationship with the Met severely deteriorated when Sutherland had to decline the role of Constanze in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, more than a year before the rehearsals were scheduled to start. The opera house management then declined to stage the operetta The Merry Widow especially for her, as requested; subsequently, she did not perform at the Met during that time at all, even though a production of Rossini's Semiramide had also been planned, but later she returned there to sing in other operas.[2]

During the 1960s, Sutherland had added the greatest heroines of bel canto ("beautiful singing") to her repertoire: Violetta in Verdi's La traviata, Amina in Bellini's La sonnambula and Elvira in Bellini's I puritani in 1960; the title role in Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda in 1961; Marguerite de Valois in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots and the title role in Rossini's Semiramide in 1962; Norma in Bellini's Norma and Cleopatra in Handel's Giulio Cesare in 1963. In 1966 she added Marie in Donizetti's La fille du régiment, which became one of her most adored roles, because of her perfect coloratura and lively, funny interpretation.

In 1965, Sutherland toured Australia with the Sutherland-Williamson Opera Company. Accompanying her was a young tenor named Luciano Pavarotti, and the tour proved to be a major milestone in Pavarotti's career. Every performance featuring Sutherland sold out.

During the 1970s, Sutherland strove to improve her diction, which had often been critizised, and increase the expressiveness of her interpretations. She continued to add dramatic bel canto roles to her repertoire, such as Donizetti's Maria Stuarda and Lucrezia Borgia, as well as Massenet's extremely difficult Esclarmonde, a role that few sopranos attempt. She recorded a very successful Turandot in 1972 under the baton of Zubin Mehta, though she never performed that role on stage.

Sutherland's early recordings show her to be possessed of a crystal-clear voice and excellent diction. However, by the early 1960s her voice lost some of this clarity in the middle register, and she often came under fire for having unclear diction. Some have attributed this to sinus surgery; however, her major sinus surgery was done in 1959, immediately after her breakthrough Lucia at Covent Garden.[3] In fact, her first commercial recording of the first and final scene of Lucia reveals her voice and diction to be just as clear as prior to the sinus procedure. Her husband Richard Bonynge stated in an interview that her "mushy diction" occurred while striving to achieve perfect legato. According to him, it is because she earlier had a very Germanic "un-legato" way of singing.[4] She clearly took the criticism to heart, as, within a few years, her diction improved markedly and she continued to amaze and thrill audiences throughout the world.

In the late 1970s, Sutherland's voice started to decline and her vibrato loosened to an intrusive extent. However, thanks to her vocal agility and solid technique, she continued singing the most difficult roles amazingly well. During the 1980s, she added Anna Bolena, Amalia in I masnadieri and Adriana Lecouvreur to her repertoire, and repeated Esclarmonde at the Royal Opera House performances in November and December 1983. Her last performance was as Marguerite de Valois (Les Huguenots) at the Sydney Opera House in 1990, at the age of 63. Her last public appearance, however, took place in a gala performance of Die Fledermaus on New Year's Eve, 1990, at Covent Garden, where she was accompanied by her colleagues Luciano Pavarotti and the mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne.

According to her own words, given in an interview with The Guardian newspaper in 2002[5], her biggest achievement was to sing the title role in Esclarmonde. She considers those performances and recordings made as her best, being particularly fond of the love duets.

Retirement years

Joan Sutherland in 1990

Since her retirement, Sutherland has made relatively few public appearances, preferring a quiet life at her home in Switzerland. One exception was her 1994 address at a lunch organised by Australians for Constitutional Monarchy. In that address, she complained at having to be interviewed by a clerk of Chinese or Indian background when applying to renew her Australian passport. Her comments caused controversy among some sections of the community at the time.[6][7]

Sutherland had a leading role as Mother Rudd in the 1995 comedy film Dad and Dave: On Our Selection opposite Leo McKern and Geoffrey Rush.[8]

In 1997 she published an autobiography A Prima Donna's Progress. While it received generally scathing reviews for its literary merits, [9] it does contain a complete list of all her performances, with full cast lists.

In 2002 she appeared at a dinner in London to accept the Royal Philharmonic Society's gold medal, and gave an interview to The Guardian in which she lamented the lack of technique in young opera singers, and the dearth of good teachers.[5] She no longer gives master classes herself and when asked why by Italian journalists in May 2007, she replied: "Because I'm 80 years old and I really don't want to have anything to do with opera any more, although I do sit on the juries of singing competitions."[10] The competition that Sutherland has been most closely associated with since her retirement is the Cardiff Singer of the World. She began her regular involvement in the competition in 1993, serving on the jury five consecutive times and later, in 2003, became its patron.[11]

On 3 July 2008, she suffered a fall while gardening at her home in Switzerland. As a result, Dame Joan broke both of her legs [12].

Honours and awards

During her career and after, Sutherland received many honours and awards.

In 1961, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).[13] That year she was also named the Australian of the Year.

In the Queen's Birthday Honours of 9 June 1975, she was in the first group of people to be named Companions of the Order of Australia (AC) (the order had been created only in February 1975).[14]

She was elevated within the Order of the British Empire from Commander to Dame Commander (DBE) in the New Year's Honours of 1979.[15]

On 29 November 1991, the Queen bestowed on Dame Joan the Order of Merit (OM).[16]

In January 2004 she received the Australia Post Australian Legends Award which honours Australians who have contributed to the Australian identity and culture. Two stamps featuring Joan Sutherland were issued on Australia Day 2004 to mark the award. Later in 2004, she received a Kennedy Center Honor for her outstanding achievement throughout her career.

Both Sutherland House and the Dame Joan Sutherland Centre at St Catherine's School, Sydney, and The Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre (JSPAC), Penrith, are named in her honour.[17]

Roles

Joan Sutherland performed live the following complete roles.[18]

Date Composer Work Role House Conductor Director Remarks
Jun-1947 Handel Acis and Galatea Galatea Eastwood Masonic Hall Concert performance
Aug-1947 Purcell Dido and Aeneas Dido Lyceum Club, Sydney Concert performance
15-Jul-1950 Handel Samson Dalila and Israelite woman Sydney Town Hall Concert performance; Sutherland made her professional role debut as the Israelite woman on 14 October 1958
09-Jul-1951 Goossens Judith Judith Sydney Conservatorium of Music Goossens Sutherland's first complete staged opera
16-Jul-1952 Puccini Il tabarro Giorgetta Parry Theatre, RCM Richard Austin Peter Rice/Pauline Elliot
28-Oct-1952 Mozart The Magic Flute First lady ROH, Covent Garden Pritchard Messel Sutherland's professional debut
03-Nov-1952 Verdi Aida High Priestess ROH, Covent Garden Barbirolli Cruddas
08-Nov-1952 Bellini Norma Clotilde ROH, Covent Garden Gui Barlow
29-Dec-1952 Verdi Un ballo in maschera Amelia ROH, Covent Garden Pritchard Barlow/Stone Sutherland's first leading role
24-Feb-1953 Mozart The Marriage of Figaro Countess Almaviva ROH tour, Edinburgh J Gibson Gerard
13-May-1953 Strauss Elektra Overseer ROH, Covent Garden Kleiber Lambert
11-Aug-1953 Britten Gloriana Lady Rich ROH tour, Bulawayo
19-Oct-1953 Wagner Die Walküre Helwige ROH, Covent Garden Stiedry Pemberton
02-Nov-1953 Bizet Carmen Frasquita ROH, Covent Garden Pritchard Wakhévitch
04-Feb-1954 Verdi Aida Aida ROH, Covent Garden E Young Cruddas
23-Mar-1954 Weber Der Freischütz Agathe ROH, Covent Garden Downes Furse
30-Apr-1954 Piccinni La buona figliuola Lucinda Mackerras BBC radio broadcast
27-May-1954 Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen Woglinde and Woodbird ROH, Covent Garden Stiedry Hurry Sutherland also sang the role of Helmwige, which she had sung previously; the other dates of the cycle were 2, 8, and 17 June
17-Nov-1954 Offenbach Les contes d'Hoffmann Antonia ROH, Covent Garden Downes Wakhévitch
27-Jan-1955 Tippett The Midsummer Marriage Jenifer ROH, Covent Garden Pritchard Hepworth World premiere; Sutherland created the role
28-Feb-1955 Offenbach Les contes d'Hoffmann Giulietta ROH tour, Glasgow Downes Wakhévitch
19-Jun-1955 Offenbach Les contes d'Hoffmann Olympia ROH, Covent Garden Downes Wakhévitch
30-Sep-1955 Weber Euryanthe Euryanthe Stiedry BBC radio broadcast
30-Oct-1955 Bizet Carmen Micaela ROH, Covent Garden Downes Wakhévitch
11-Mar-1956 Mozart La clemenza di Tito Vitellia Pritchard BBC radio broadcast
10-Nov-1956 Mozart The Magic Flute Pamina ROH, Covent Garden J Gibson Messel
28-Jan-1957 Wagner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Eva ROH, Covent Garden Kubelík Wakhévitch
19-Mar-1957 Handel Alcina Alcina St Pancras Town Hall Farncombe Concert performance; Sutherland first performed this role on stage on 19 February 1960
08-Jun-1957 Verdi Rigoletto Gilda ROH, Covent Garden Downes Gellner
05-Jul-1957 Mozart Der Schauspieldirektor Mme Hertz Glyndebourne Festival Opera Balkwill Rice
16-Aug-1957 Scarlatti Mitridate Eupatore Laodice Appia BBC radio broadcast
08-Sep-1957 Donizetti Emilia di Liverpool Emilia Pritchard BBC radio broadcast
21-Dec-1957 Verdi Otello Desdemona ROH, Covent Garden Downes Wakhévitch
16-Jan-1958 Poulenc Dialogues of the Carmelites Mme Lidoine ROH, Covent Garden Kubelík Wakhévitch
24-May-1958 Handel Applausus Musicus Temperentia Newstone BBC radio broadcast
26-Jul-1958 Mozart Don Giovanni Donna Anna Vancouver Opera Goldschmidt Maximowna
17-Feb-1959 Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor Lucia ROH, Covent Garden Serafin Zeffirelli This performance marked the beginning of Sutherland's international career
24-Jun-1959 Handel Rodelinda Rodelinda Sadler's Wells Theatre Farncombe Pidcock
08-Jan-1960 Verdi La traviata Violetta Valéry ROH, Covent Garden Santi Fedorovitch
24-May-1960 Bellini I puritani Elvira Glyndebourne Festival Opera Gui Heeley
19-Oct-1960 Bellini La sonnambula Amina ROH, Covent Garden Serafin Sanjust
21-Feb-1961 Bellini Beatrice di Tenda Beatrice New York Town Hall Rescigno Concert performance; Sutherland first performed this role on stage on 10 May 1961
04-Jan-1962 Mozart The Magic Flute The Queen of the Night ROH, Covent Garden Klemperer Eisler
28-May-1962 Meyerbeer Les Huguenots Maguerite de Valois La Scala Gavazzeni Nicola Benois
17-Dec-1962 Rossini Semiramide Semiramide La Scala Santini
20-Jun-1963 Handel Giulio Cesare Cleopatra Sadler's Wells Theatre Farncombe Warre
17-Oct-1963 Bellini Norma Norma Vancouver Opera Bonynge McLance/Mess
09-Mar-1965 Gounod Faust Marguerite Connecticut Opera Bonynge Rome/Brooks van Horne
02-Jun-1966 Donizetti La fille du régiment Marie ROH, Covent Garden Bonynge Anni/Escoffier
10-Apr-1967 Delibes Lakmé Lakmé Seattle Opera Bonynge
21-May-1967 Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice Euridice Theater an der Wien Bonynge Ludwig
12-Nov-1971 Donizetti Maria Stuarda Maria Stuarda San Francisco Opera Bonynge Pizzi
26-Oct-1972 Donizetti Lucrezia Borgia Lucrezia Vancouver Opera Bonynge Varona
23-Oct-1974 Massenet Esclarmonde Esclarmonde San Francisco Opera Bonynge Montressor
12-Sep-1975 Verdi Il trovatore Leonora San Francisco Opera Bonynge Hager/Skalicki
22-Apr-1976 Lehár The Merry Widow Hanna Glavari Vancouver Opera Bonynge Varona
16-Jul-1977 Puccini Suor Angelica Suor Angelica Sydney Opera House Bonynge Digby
23-Sep-1977 Massenet Le roi de Lahore Sita Vancouver Opera Bonynge Mariani
04-Jul-1979 Mozart Idomeneo Electra Sydney Opera House Bonynge Truscott
02-Jul-1980 Verdi I masnadieri Amalia Sydney Opera House Bonynge Lees/Stennett
22-May-1983 Cilea Adriana Lecouvreur Adriana San Diego Opera Bonynge O'Hearn/Mess
22-Jun-1984 Donizetti Anna Bolena Anna Bolena Canadian Opera Company, Toronto Bonynge Pascoe/Stennett
04-Oct-1985 Thomas Hamlet Ophélie Canadian Opera Company, Toronto Bonynge Shalicki/Digby/Stennett

Recordings

Recordings include:

Vincenzo Bellini
  • Beatrice di Tenda — Joan Sutherland (Beatrice), Luciano Pavarotti (Orombello), Cornelius Opthof (Filippo), Josephine Veasey (Agnese), Joseph Ward (Anichino/Rizzardo), Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Bonynge — Decca
  • I puritani — Joan Sutherland (Elvira), Pierre Duval (Arturo), Renato Capecchi (Riccardo), Ezio Flagello (Giorgio), Giovanni Fioiani (Gualtiero), Margreta Elkins (Enrichetta), Piero de Palma (Bruno), Coro e Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Richard Bonynge (conductor) —recorded 1963— Decca 448 969-2 / Decca 467 789-2 (part of a 10-CD set) / London POCL 3965-7
  • I puritani — Joan Sutherland (Elvira), Luciano Pavarotti (Arturo), Piero Cappuccilli (Riccardo), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Giorgio), Giancarlo Luccardi (Gualtiero), Anita Caminada (Enrichetta), Renato Cazzaniga (Bruno), Chorus of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, London Symphony Orchestra—Richard Bonynge, Recorded 1973, Decca
  • La sonnambula — Joan Sutherland (Amina), Nicola Monti (Elvino), Fernando Corena (Rodolfo), Sylvia Stahlman (Lisa), Margreta Elkins (Teresa), Angelo Mercuriali (Notary), Giovanni Fioiani (Alessio), Coro e Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Richard Bonynge recorded 1962—Decca 00289 448 9662 6 / 000320702 / 455 823-2 — Track listing
  • La sonnambula — Joan Sutherland (Amina), Luciano Pavarotti (Elvino), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Rodolfo), Isobel Buchanan (Lisa), Della Jones (Teresa), Piero De Palma (Notaro), John Tomlinson (Alessio), National Philharmonic Orchestra, London Opera Chorus, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1980—Decca 2LH417-424
  • Norma — Joan Sutherland (Norma), Marilyn Horne (Adalgisa), John Alexander (Pollione), Richard Cross (Oroveso), Yvonne Minton (Clotilde), Joseph Ward (Flavio), London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Richard Bonynge, Recorded 1964—Decca
  • Norma — Joan Sutherland (Norma), Margreta Elkins (Adalgisa), Ronald Stevens (Pollione), Clifford Grant (Oroveso), Etela Piha (Clotilde), Trevor Brown (Flavio), Opera Australia Chorus, Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1978—DVD Arthaus Musik 100 180
  • Norma — Joan Sutherland (Norma), Montserrat Caballé (Adalgisa), Luciano Pavarotti (Pollione), Samuel Ramey (Oroveso), Diana Montague (Clotilde), Kim Begley (Flavio), Chorus and Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera, Richard Bonynge, Recorded 1984—Decca
Georges Bizet
  • Carmen — Regina Resnik (Carmen), Mario del Monaco (Don Jose), Joan Sutherland (Micaëla), Tom Krause (Escamillo), Georgette Spanellys (Frasquita), Yvonne Minton (Mercedes), Robert Geay (Zuninga), Jean Prudent (Le Dancaire), Alfred Hallet (Le Remendado), Claude Cales (Morales)
Giovanni Battista Bononcini
Léo Delibes
Gaetano Donizetti
  • Emilia di Liverpool (excerpts) / Lucia di Lammermoor (excerpts) — Joan Sutherland (Lucia), Margreta Elkins (Alisa), Joao Gibin (Edgardo), Tullio Serafin (conductor). Recorded 26 February 1959—Myto Records MCD 91545 (Probably these are excerpts from the same performance as the Melodram recording.)
  • Lucia di Lammermoor — Joan Sutherland (Lucia), Renato Cioni (Edgardo), Robert Merrill (Enrico), Cesare Siepi (Raimondo), Chorus & Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, John Pritchard (conductor), Decca, 1961.
  • Lucia di Lammermoor — Joan Sutherland (Lucia), Luciano Pavarotti (Edgardo), Piero Cappuccilli (Enrico), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Raimondo), Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Richard Bonynge, Decca, 1971.
  • Lucia di Lammermoor — Joan Sutherland (Lucia), João Gibin (Edgardo), John Shaw (Enrico), Joseph Rouleau (Raimondo), Kenneth MacDonald (Arturo), Margreta Elkins (Alisa), Robert Bowman (Normanno), Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Tullio Serafin, recorded 1959—Golden Melodram GM 50024 or Giuseppe di Stefano GDS 21017 or Bella Voce BLV 107 218 (highlights). 2006 release: Royal Opera House Heritage Series ROHS 002.
  • Lucia di Lammermoor — Joan Sutherland (Lucia), André Turp (Edgardo), John Shaw (Enrico), Joseph Rouleau (Raimondo), Kenneth MacDonald (Arturo), Margreta Elkins (Alisa), Edgar Evans (Normanno), Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, John Pritchard, recorded 1961—Celestial Audio CA 345
  • Lucia di Lammermoor — Joan Sutherland (Lucia), Richard Tucker (Edgardo), Frank Guarrera (Enrico), Nicola Moscona (Raimondo), Robert Nagy (Normanno), Thelma Votipka (Alisa), Charles Anthony (Arturo), Metropolitan Opera House, Conductor: Silvio Varviso. Recorded 9 December 1961 for radio broadcasting.
  • Lucrezia Borgia — Joan Sutherland (Lucrezia Borgia), Ronald Stevens (Gennaro), Margreta Elkins (Maffio Orsini), Richard Allman (Don Alfonso), Robin Donald (Jacopo Liveretto), Lyndon Terracini (Don Apostolo Gazella), Gregory Yurisich (Ascanio Petrucci), Lamberto Furlan (Oloferno Vitellozzo), Pieter Van der Stolk (Gubetta), Graeme Ewer (Rustighello), John Germain (Astolfo), Neville Grave (Un servo), Eddie Wilden (Un coppiere), Jennifer Bermingham (Principessa Negroni), Australian Opera Chorus, Sydney Elizabethan Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1977. VHS Video Cassette — Castle Video CV2845 (PAL); Polygram-Vidéo 070 031-3 (SECAM) Polygram 079 261-3 (PAL)
  • Lucrezia Borgia — Joan Sutherland (Lucrezia), Giacomo Aragall (Gennaro), Marilyn Horne (Orsini), Ingvar Wixell (Alfonso), London Opera Chorus, National Philarmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge (conductor), Decca, 1977.
  • Maria Stuarda — Joan Sutherland (Maria), Huguette Tourangeau (Elisabeta), Luciano Pavarotti (Leicester), Roger Soyer (Talbot), Margreta Elkins (Anna), James Morris (Cecil), Coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1975—Decca 00289 425 4102 / Lyrica LRC 1040/1041 — Track listing and excerpts
Charles Gounod
George Frideric Handel
  • Alcina — Joan Sutherland (Alcina), Margreta Elkins (Ruggiero), Lauris Elms (Bradamante), Richard Greager (Oronte), Narelle Davidson (Morgana), Ann-Maree McDonald (Oberto), John Wegner (Melisso), Chorus and Orchestra of Australian Opera, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1983. Celestial Audio CA 112
  • Alcina coupled with Giulio Cesare in Egitto (highlights) — Margreta Elkins (Giulio Cesare), Joan Sutherland (Cleopatra), Marilyn Horne (Cornelia), Monica Sinclair (Tolomeo), Richard Conrad (Sesto), New Symphonic Orchestra of London, Richard Bonynge—Decca 00289 433 7232 / 467063-2 / 467 067-2 — Track listing and excerpts
  • Athalia — Joan Sutherland, Emma Kirkby, Aled Jones, James Bowman, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, David Thomas, The Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood (Conductor)
  • Messiah — Joan Sutherland, Grace Bumbry, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult (Conductor)—Decca 433 003-2
  • Rodelinda — Alfred Hallett (Grimoaldo), Raimund Herincx (Garibaldo), Joan Sutherland (Rodelinda), Dame Janet Baker (Eduige), Margreta Elkins (Bertarido), Patricia Kern (Unolfo), Chandos Singers, Philomusica Antiqua Orchestra, Charles Farncombe. An English language version, recorded live on June 24, 1959—Opera D'oro OPD 1189 (2 CDs) or Memories HR 4577–4578 or Living Stage LS 403 35147 (highlights).
  • Rodelinda — Joan Sutherland (Rodelinda), Huguette Tourangeau (Bertarido), Eric Tappy (Grimoaldo), Margreta Elkins (Eduige), Cora Canne-Meijer (Unolfo), Pieter Van Den Berg (Garibaldo), Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Richard Bonynge. Recorded 30 June 1973—Bella Voce BLV 10 7206.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Jacques Offenbach
  • Les contes d'Hoffmann — Joan Sutherland, Plácido Domingo, Gabriel Bacquier, , L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande,Orchestre du Radio de la Suisse Romande, Pro Arte de Lausanne, Andre Charlet, Richard Bonynge, studio recording made at Victoria Hall, Geneva, first published in 1976.
Giacomo Puccini
Gioachino Rossini
  • Semiramide — Joan Sutherland (Semiramide), John Serge (Idreno), Joseph Rouleau (Assur), Spiro Malas (Oroe), Patricia Clark (Azema), Leslie Fyson (Mitrane), Michael Langdon (Spectre of Nino), Marilyn Horne (Arsace), London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Bonynge. Decca 425 481-2, recorded in 1966.
Ambroise Thomas
  • Hamlet — Joan Sutherland, Gösta Winbergh, James Morris, Sheril Milnes, Orchestra and Chorus of the Welsh National Opera. Decca, 433 857-2.
Giuseppe Verdi
  • Requiem — Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti, Martti Talvela, Vienna State Opera Chorus and Vienna Philharmonic (Sir Georg Solti). Decca 411 944-2
  • Rigoletto — Cornell MacNeil, Joan Sutherland, Renato Cioni, Cesare Siepi, Chorus & Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Nino Sanzogno, Decca, 1961.
  • Rigoletto — Sherrill Milnes, Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, Decca, 1971.
  • La traviata — Joan Sutherland, Carlo Bergonzi, Robert Merrill, Chorus & Orchestra of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, John Pritchard, Decca, 1962
  • La traviata — Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Matteo Manuguerra, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge. London 430 491-2 recorded in 1979.
Richard Wagner
  • Siegfried — Joan Sutherland as the Woodbird, Vienna Philharmonic (Sir Georg Solti) 1962 recording, London 414 110-2

References

  1. ^ Martin Cooke: Vale Ken Neate
  2. ^ Music View: Mystery of Casting at the Met by Donal Henahan, NYT, February 16, 1986
  3. ^ Joan Sutherland, Russell Braddon, Collins, 1962
  4. ^ Joan Sutherland talks about high notes—part 2 YouTube clip of a TV interview
  5. ^ a b Martin Kettle, 'I didn't want to be a diva', The Guardian, May 8, 2002.
  6. ^ "Dame Joan Sutherland". Sunday Profile (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 27 March 2005. http://www.abc.net.au/sundayprofile/stories/s1331197.htm. Retrieved 21 December 2007. 
  7. ^ Hide, Carolyn (1996). "Background Paper 9 1995–96: The Recent Republic Debate—A Chronology". Background Papers published 1995–96. Australian Parliamentary Library. http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bp/1995-96/96bp09.htm. Retrieved 21 December 2007. "7 October 1994 Dame Joan Sutherland addressed a lunch organised by Australians for Constitutional Monarchy and said: I was brought up having a British passport and it upsets me that I don't have a British passport now...; When I go to the post office to be interviewed by a Chinese or an Indian—I'm not particularly racist—but I find it ludicrous, when I've had a passport for 40 years." 
  8. ^ Dad and Dave: On Our Selection at the Internet Movie Database
  9. ^ "One Long Flat Note", Anthony Clarke, Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum, 20 December 1997, p. 10
  10. ^ Alberto Mattioli, 'Big Luciano, un video per la Stupenda Joan', La Stampa, 23 May 2007.
  11. ^ BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2005.
  12. ^ "Opera legend Joan Sutherland, 81, recovering after breaking both her legs in a fall at home", Daily Mail (7 July 2008)
  13. ^ It's an Honour: CBE
  14. ^ It's an Honour: AC
  15. ^ It's an Honour: DBE
  16. ^ It's an Honour: OM
  17. ^ Official web site of The Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre
  18. ^ This list is taken from the complete list of Sutherland's performances up to and including 18 December 1986 on pp. 204–241 of Norma Major's book Joan Sutherland, published 1987

Further reading

External links


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