For my first comment I have to make tribute to the greatest woman who ever sang. For 40 years she has been the beginning and end of all my fascination with opera. I attended her farewell season with sadness and awe.
The voice of any Century
Joan would have to be my most absolutely favourite singer of all time. I have been lucky enough to see her several times from 1979 until her retirement in1990. A career that began in Sydney in 1949, achieved universal fame in 1959 with her performance of Lucia di Lammermoor and stayed there for the next 31 years. In the course of those years she gave around 1800 performances in a repertoire that encompassed 48 operas. It is strange that although Maria Callas is justifiably legendary, her best performances were only in the fifties and she lost her voice and died at 52. Her career of around 600 performances, as far as I am concerned, lasted only ten good years and yet appearing to come from a different generation, she was only three years older than Joan Sutherland.
The performances I have seen
At $150 a ticket back in 1982 it still seemed very cheap for the great Sutherland Pavarotti concert. We were originally preparing for at least $500, but for a once in a lifetime experience thousands sent in blank cheques which were returned. Telecast and or broadcast around the world I was overwhelmed to be there. It received the largest audience ever for a television event in Australia. This began a week of opera indulgence that eventually involved seven different performances, including a dress rehearsal
Norma 1979 and 1985, Lucia di Lammermoor 1980 and 1986, Lucrezia Borgia 1982, De Fledermaus 1982, Adriana Lecouvreur 1984, Les Huguenots 1990
I was in the audience for this very performance in 1986
Norma 1979 and 1985, Lucia di Lammermoor 1980 and 1986, Lucrezia Borgia 1982, De Fledermaus 1982, Adriana Lecouvreur 1984, Les Huguenots 1990
I was in the audience for this very performance in 1986
MY LAST BIG THRILL
On a trip to Sydney in February 2000, almost ten years exactly since Joan's retirement and my last visit to that Opera House, I of course went to a spectacular production of 'The Pearl Fishers' with the beautiful David Miller, but an even greater thrill then the opera was Dame Joan Sutherland sitting in the row directly in front of me. She looked much older then she did ten years ago and had developed a small limp in her walk, but I felt the same heart pounding thrill as if she had sung. My young cute friend insisted on bowing to her as we walked behind her on leaving the theatre. He received many approving nods from more elderly patrons understanding his admiration.
Joan Sutherland Opera Recordings and Stage Repertoire
First Performance
Complete Recording
* = Live Performance
Bellini
I Puritani first performance as Elvira - Glyndebourne Festival 1960
conductor Tullio Serafin with Antonio Zerbini - Palermo 1961*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Pierre Duval, Margreta Elkins 1964
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, Nicolai Ghiaurov 1975
La Sonnambula first performance London 1960
conductor Richard Bonynge with Margreta Elkins Nicola Monti 1963
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti 1982
conductor Antonino Votto with Raina Kabaivanska - Milan 1961*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti 1965
Norma as Clotilde -London 1952 with Maria Callas, and first performance as Norma - Vancouver 1963
conductor Vittorio Gui - as Clotilde with Maria Callas 1952*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Marilyn Horne 1964
conductor Richard Bonynge with Marilyn Horne New York 1970*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, Monserrat Caballe
video/DVD Sydney 1978 and Canada 1981*
Bizet
Carmen as Frasquita - London 1953 and as Micaela - London 1955
as Micaela conductor Thomas Schippers with Regina Resnik, Mario del Monaco 1963
Bononcini
Griselda conductor Bonynge with Lauris Elms, Monica Sinclair, Margreta Elkins, Spiro Malas 1966
Britten
Gloriana as Lady Penelope Rich - 1953
Cilea
Adriana Lecouvreur first performance San Diego 1983
conductor Richard Bonynge 1990
Video/DVD Sydney 1984*
Delibes
Lakme first performance as Lakme - Seattle 1967
conductor Richard Bonynge with Jane Berbie, Monica Sinclair,Gabriel Bacquier, 1967
Video/DVD Sydney 1976*
Donizetti
Lucia di Lammermoor first performance which made Sutherland a star - London 1959
conductor Tullio Serafin with John Shaw, Margreta Elkins London 1959*
conductor John Pritchard with Renato Cioni, Robert Merill 1961
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes 1971
Video/DVD Sydney 1986 New York 1983*
La Fille di Regiment first performance as Marie - London 1966
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, Spiro Milas 1967
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti New York 1972*
Video/DVD Sydney 1986 *
Maria Stuarda first performance as Maria Stuarda - San Francisco 1971
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, huguette Tourangeau 1979
Lucrezia Borgia first performance Vancouver 1972
Video/DVD Sydney 1977*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Marilyn Horne, Giacomo Aragall 1979
Video/DVD London 1980 *
L'Elisir d'Amore conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, Spiro Milas 1970
Anna Bolena first performance Toronto 1984
conductor Richard Bonynge with Samuel Ramey 1988
Goosens
Judith first stage role Conservatorium of Music Sydney 1951
Gounod
Faust first Performance as Marguerite - Philadelphia 1965
conductor Bonynge, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Franco Corelli, Margreta Elkins, Raymond Myers 1967
Graun
Montezuma excerpts -conductor Bonynge with Lauris Elms, Joseph Ward, Elizabeth Harwood, 1966
Handel
Samson as Delilah in concert - Sydney 1950 and as the Israelite woman at Leeds and London 1958
Alcina first performance as Alcina - London 1957
conductor Richard Bonynge with Monica Sinclair, Mirella Freni Luigi Alva 1962
conductor Ferdinand Leitner with Fritz Wunderlich -Cologne 1959*
Rodelinda first performance London 1959
conductor Richard Bonynge with Huguette Tourangeau - Amsterdam 1973*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Huhuette Tourangeau 1987
Giulio Cesare first performance as Cleopatra - London 1963
conductor Richard Bonynge highlights only with Margreta Elkins,
Marilyn Horne, Monica Sinclair, Richard Conrad 1964
Athalia conductor Christopher Hogwood with Emma Kirkby
Acis and Galatea conductor Sir Adrian Boult with Peter Pears, Owen Brannigan 1960
Haydn
Orfeo ed Euridice as Euridice Vienna 1967
Lehar
The Merry Widow first performance as Anna Glawari - Vancouver 1976
highlights conductor Richard Bonynge with Regina Resnik 1978
Video/DVD Sydney*
Leoni
L'Oracolo conductor Richard Bonynge with Richard van Allan, Tito Gobbi, Huguette Tourangeau 1977
Massenet
Esclarmonde first performance San Francisco 1974
conductor Richard Bonynge with Huguette Tourangeau Clifford Grant 1976
Le Roi de Lahore first performance as Sita - Vancouver 1977
conductor Richard Bonynge with Sherrill Milnes, Luis Lima 1980
Meyerbeer
Les Huguenots as Queen Marguerite de Valois - Milan 1962
conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni with Franco Corelli - Milan 1962*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Martina Arroyo, Gabriel Bacquier 1969
Video/DVD farewell Sydney 1990*
Mozart
Die Zauberflote First Lady was her first appearance at Covent Garden 1952 as Pamina -London 1956
and as Queen of the Night - London 1961
Le Nozze di Figaro as Countess Almaviva - Edinburgh 1953
The Impresario as Madame Herz - Glyndebourne Festival 1957
Don Giovanni as Donna Anna - Vancouver 1958
conductor Carlo Maria Giulini with Luigi Alva, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf 1961
conductor Richard Bonynge with Gabriel Bacquier, Pilar Lorengar, Marilyn Horne Clifford Grant 1968
Idomeneo, re di Creta as Elette - Sydney 1979
Offenbach
Les Contes d'Hoffmann Antonia London 1954 Giulietta Glasgow 1955 Olympia London 1955 all four roles Seattle 1970
conductor Richard Bonynge with Placido Domingo, Gabriel Bacquier 1972
Poulenc
Dialogues des Carmelites Madame Lidoine - London 1958
Video/DVD Sydney 1984 *
Puccini
Il Tabarro as Giorgette while a student at Royal college of Music London 1952
Suor Angelica first performance Sydney 1977
conductor Richard Bonynge with Elizabeth Connell, Christa Ludwig 1979
Turandot Conductor Zubin Mehta with Luciano Pavarotti Monserrat Caballe Peter Pears Nicolai Ghiaurov 1973
Rossini
Semiramide first performance Milan 1962
conductor Gabriele Santini with Giuliette Simionato - Milan 1962*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Marilyn Horne Spiro Malas 1966
conductor Richard Bonynge with Marilyn Horne, Raymond Myers, Clifford Grant - London 1969*
Yohann Strauss
Die Fledermaus first performance as Rosalinde - San Francisco 1973
Gala performance Sutherland sings Il Bacio by Arditi 1960*
Video Sydney *
Gala Farewell Video/DVD as guest in London final appearance on stage 1990*
Richard Strauss
Elektra as the Overseer - London 1953
Thomas
Hamlet first performance as Ophelie - Toronto 1985
conductor Richard Bonynge with Sherrill Milnes 1983
Tippett
The Midsummer Marriage as Jenifer in world premiere London 1955
Verdi
Aida first as off stage Priestess - London 1952 then as Aida - London 1954
Un Ballo in Maschera Amelia - first lead role London 1952
Otello first performance as Desdemona - London 1957
Rigoletto first performance as Gilda - London 1957
conductor Francesco Molinari Pradelli with Cornell Mac Neil, Renato Cioni 1962
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes 1971
La Traviata first performance as Violetta - London 1960
conductor John Pritchard with Carlo Bergonzi, Robert Merrill 1963
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, 1980
Il Trovatore first performance as Leonora - SanFrancisco 1975
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, Marilyn Horne, Nicolai Ghiaurov 1977
Video/DVD Sydney1983 *
I Masnadieri first performance as Amelia - 1980
conductor Richard Bonynge with Samuel Ramey 1983
Wagner
Das Ring des Nibelungen in London
Das Rheingold as Woglinde 1954
Die Walkure as Helmwige 1953
Sigfried as the offstage Woodbird 1954
as Woodbird conductor Georg Solti with Birgit Nilsson 1963
Gotterdammerung as Woglinde 1954
Die Meistersingers von Nurnberg as Eva London 1957
Weber
Der Freischutz as Agathe - London 1954
Other major recordings of Sutherland.
Russian Jewels Concerto for Soprano and Orchestra by Gliere and other works conducted by Richard Bonynge
Songs My Mother Taught Me Songs by Dvorak, Grieg, Liszt and others conducted by Richard Bonynge
Love Live Forever Box set of various Musical Comedy by Romberg Lehar etc conducted by Richard Bonynge
Joan Sutherland Command Performance Box set assorted arias from rare operas 1963
Romantic French Arias Box set conducted by Richard Bonynge 1970
Bach Cantata No 147 conductor Geraint Jones 1958
The Age of Bel Canto with Marilyn Horne and Richard Conrad - Box set conducted by Richard Bonynge
The Art of the Prima Donna Box set conducted by Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
Beethoven Symphony No 9 with Horne conducted by Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
Beethoven Symphony No 9 conducted by Ernst Ansermet
Handel Messiah conductor Richard Bonynge with Huguette Tourangeau, Tom Kraus,Werner Krenn 1969
Verdi The Requiem Mass complete -conductor Georg Solti with Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti 1967
Joan Sutherland sings Wagner conducted by Richard Bonynge
Sutherland sings Coward Noel Coward songs conducted by Richard Bonynge
Romantic Trios Joan Sutherland (Soprano) Barry Tuckwell (Horn) Richard Bonynge (Piano)
Talking Pictures songs from the Movies conducted by Richard Bonynge
Various live concerts 'Live from the Lincoln Centre with Horne and Pavarotti'. 'Darwin-Song for a City' with various Australian Artists. 'An Evening to Remember' with Australian Pops Orchestra conducted by Douglas Gamley.
Various collections of arias which continue to be released in various combinations and assorted extracts of live recordings from concerts around the world like Amsterdam, Koln, Milan, Liverpool, New Jersey. DVD's of The Bell Telephone Hour performances, Recitals from1963/1969,The Ed Sullivan Show etc
