Joan Sutherland: Australia's Golden Voice

“You can listen to what everybody says, but the fact remains that you’ve got to get out there and do the thing yourself.” - Joan Sutherland With ambition and talent to raise the benchmark as a singer, Joan Sutherland had stars in her own right. Born on 7th November, 1926, Joan Sutherland is widely considered as one of the best opera singers of her time. Over the past years with new emerging voices, Joan is known for her voice, excellent range and magnificent aura. Sutherland was born in Sydney, Australia, to William and Muriel (Alston) Sutherland. Muriel Sutherland had been taught in the bel canto tradition which later her daughter picked up interest in. Sutherland received her first education in music, primarily piano, from her mother along with attending St. Catherin’s Girl’s School in Waverly. Lessons that Sutherland learnt from her mother were the most valuable ones, however, the most important amongst all was to breathe correctly.

Despite a promising future in music, Sutherland took a secretarial course. She worked as a secretary at Sydney University as she also trained for her singing career.

At the age of 19, she won a two-year scholarship for vocal training with John and Aida Dickens in Sydney in 1946. Sutherland was trained to develop the upper range of her voice with their help. This proved to be important in her development as an opera singer. Sutherland made her concert debut in Sydney as Dido in Dido and Aeneas in 1947. The same year, Sutherland happened to meet a fellow music student Richard Bonynge, a pianist and her future husband. Bonynge played a significant role in Sutherland's opera career.

Joan’s singing career and her success were aggravated by her wins at various singing competitions she took part in. It was her success that allowed her to attend Royal College of Music in London on a scholarship. As she preceded step by step, Sutherland made her debut with Royal Opera at Covent Garden in 1952, as the First Lady of The Magic Flute.

In 1954, Sutherland and Bonynge were married. Bonynge and Sutherland also formed a creative musical partnership. It was his consistent support that helped her learn how to reach higher notes in her flexible range as a lyric-coloratura soprano. This support further led Joan to learn bel canto repertoire. Sutherland performed in bel canto operas by Vincenzo Bellini, Geatano Donzietti, Gioacchino Rossi, and others. Sutherland later appeared in a 1952 production of Bellini's Norma as Clothide with Callas as the Druid priestess which marked Joan’s career with another stamp of success. In 1959, Sutherland cemented and deepened her reputation as a superior coloratura soprano in her acclaimed turn as she performed Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at Covent Garden.

There was a brief period of a setback when Sutherland had to operate her sinuses, despite that she made her first of many appearances in the United States, as Alcina in Alcina in Dallas, Texas, in 1960. In 1961, Sutherland made her breath taking debut at New York City's Metropolitan Opera, again as Lucia in Lucia. From the onset of 1960’s to the end of her career, Sutherland made regular appearances in the major opera houses in the United States and Europe, as well as other countries in the world. Even with her wings that measured the globe, her roots were in Australia. Sutherland also performed with Sydney's Australian Opera between the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s.

Sutherland as an artist did not limit herself, she believed in experimenting and continued to challenge herself, even late in her career. She took on more dramatic soprano roles in operas like Maria Stuarda and Lucrezia Borgia by Donzietti and Leonora in Il Trovatore. Joan did receive some criticism with her poor diction, a common problem for coloratura sopranos. Sutherland addressed this issue with some success by the early 1980s. She had decided that she would retire in the early 1990’s. An Operatic version of "Home Sweet Home" was seen has her last song. Over the course of her career, Joan Sutherland had sung in 48 operas and had recorded 60 albums. Along with a legacy that she left, she was also the first Australian to win a Grammy Award, for Best Classical Performance – Vocal Soloist (with or without orchestra) in 1962.

In January 2004, she received the Australia Post Australian Legends Award which honours Australians who have contributed and represented the Australian identity and culture on the world map. This award was established with two stamps featuring Joan Sutherland were issued on Australia Day 2004. Everybody dreams however only a few have the courage to follow them, even today, Joan Sutherland is an icon and an inspiration for several budding artists. 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…." Sutherland passed away on 10th October, 2004, Les Avants, Vaud, Switzerland.