Photo: Joan Sutherland as the Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor
Photo credit: Royal Opera House/Covent Garden, London (1959)

This two-hour documentary feature entitled Dame Joan Sutherland, La Stupenda – A Celebration was made by the WFMT Radio Network as a memorial tribute to the great coloratura soprano Dame Joan Sutherland and was aired in the spring of 2012. Co-hosting the programme were two of the world’s most highly distinguished singers, mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne and baritone Thomas Hampson, who recalled Dame Joan’s life, career and operatic performances, and also introduced archive interviews with Dame Joan and newly made interviews with her husband, conductor Richard Bonynge, soprano Renée Fleming, conductor and musicologist Bernard Keeffe, and General Director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Anthony Freud.

Born in Australia in 1926, Joan Sutherland’s stage career began in 1951 in Sydney when she sang in a production of Judith by Eugene Goossens, but she always emphasized that it was when she joined the Covent Garden Opera Company (subsequently named the Royal Opera House Covent Garden) the following year that she had the irreplaceable opportunity of learning the foundations of her craft when she performed in a wide repertoire and benefited from the regular coaching the repertory company provided in those days. She in the meantime also always acknowledged that it was the meticulous and devoted specialist coaching of Richard Bonynge, who recognized that she had an exceptional potential as a bel canto artist, that brought about her rise to what was to be legendary fame as an exceptional virtuoso performer in that genre. She discusses these and many other aspects of her life and art in this documentary, which has a particularly informative value as the co-host Marilyn Horne, another legendary artist, sang alongside Dame Joan frequently for nearly three decades.

–Jon Tolansky

Listen to the documentary immediately below (in two parts; total length of 1 hour, 54 min.)

Host:

Jon Tolansky

Guest Artists included in this feature:

• Mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne
• Baritone Thomas Hampson
• Conductor Richard Bonynge
• Soprano Renée Fleming
• Conductor and musicologist Bernard Keeffe
• General Director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Anthony Freud

Musical excerpts included in this feature:

• Polonaise from I Puritani (Bellini, from the album Joan Sutherland: Complete Decca Studio Recordings), with conductor Francesco Molinari-Pradelli and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden
• “The Soldier, Tir’d of War’s Alarms” from Artaxerxes (Arne, from the album Joan Sutherland: Complete Decca Studio Recordings), with conductor Francesco Molinari-Pradelli and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden
• Fountain Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti, from the album Lucia di Lammermoor), with conductor Sir John Pritchard and the Orchestra of Maggio Musicale Florence
• Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti, from the album Lucia di Lammermoor), with conductor Sir John Pritchard and the Orchestra of Maggio Musicale Florence
• “Mira, O Norma” from Norma (Bellini, from the album Norma), with mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, conductor Richard Bonynge, and the London Symphony Orchestra
• “Giorno d’orrore” from Semiramide (Rossini, from the album Semiramide), with mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, conductor Richard Bonynge, and the London Symphony Orchestra
• “Solingo, errante misero” from Ernani (Verdi, from the album Sutherland, Horne, Pavarotti: Live From Lincoln Center), with mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, tenor Luciano Pavarotti, conductor Richard Bonynge, and the New York City Opera Orchestra
• “O beau pays de la Touraine” from Les Huguenots (Meyerbeer, from the album Joan Sutherland: Complete Decca Studio Recordings), with conductor Francesco Molinari-Pradelli and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden
• Act Three (Antonia) Extract from Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Offenbach, from the album Les Contes d’Hoffmann/The Tales of Hoffmann), with mezzo-soprano Margarita Lilowa, baritone Gabriel Bacquier, conductor Richard Bonynge, and the Suisse Romande Orchestra
• “Esprits de l’air! Esprits de l’onde” from Esclarmonde (Massenet, from the album Esclarmonde), with mezzo-soprano Huguette Tourangeau, conductor Richard Bonynge, the National Philharmonic Orchestra, and the John Alldis Choir
• “Im chambre séparée” from Der Opernball (Heuberger, from the album Joan Sutherland: Complete Decca Studio Recordings), with conductor Richard Bonynge and the New Philharmonia Orchestra
• “This is A Changing World” from Pacific 1860 (Coward, from the album Joan Sutherland: Complete Decca Studio Recordings), with the Ambrosian Light Opera Chorus, conductor Richard Bonynge and the New Philharmonia Orchestra
• “Carlo vive? O caro accento” from I Masnadieri (Verdi, from the album Sutherland, Horne, Pavarotti: Live From Lincoln Center), with conductor Richard Bonynge and the New York City Opera Orchestra