Australian singing legend Dame Joan Sutherland has died at her home in Switzerland at the age of 83.
Dame Joan, once called “the voice of the century” by Pavarotti, was one of the world’s greatest opera singers. The French dubbed her ‘La Stupenda’ in 1960.
Dame Joan was born in Sydney in 1926. Her mother was a mezzo-soprano but was never a professional singer.
In 1947, at the age of 21, Joan made her debut as Dido in Purcell’s ‘Dido and Aeneas’. In 1951, she moved to London after winning the Sun Aria and made her debut at the Royal Opera House in London in 1952.
Her last performance was as Marguerite de Valois at the Sydney Opera House in 1990.
During her career she received many honours, the first being the Order of the British Empire in 1961 (CBE). She was named Australian of the Year that same year.
Queen Elizabeth II made her a Dame in 1979 by upgrading her CBE to DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire). She was also awarded the Order of Merit (OM) in 1991.
