Farewell Joan Sutherland, the grandest dame of Australian opera, dead at 83

DAME Joan Sutherland, the Australian opera singer who became one of the greatest coloratura sopranos of the 20th century, has died in Switzerland at the age of 83.
The Sydney-born Sutherland, who retired from the stage almost exactly 20 years ago, had been in poor health for many months, following a fall in her garden at her home at Les Avants, near Geneva.
After her debut in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, at Covent Garden in 1959, Sutherland sang at most of the world's main opera houses, made a host of recordings, and become as famous as her great Australian predecessor, Dame Nellie Melba.
Sutherland was married for 56 years to the pianist and conductor Richard Bonynge, who survives her, along with their son, Adam, whose wife, Helen, last night said: ''She's a very important person all over the world but for us this is our family and we're just trying to come to terms with this.
''She's had a long life and (gave) a lot of pleasure to a lot of people.''
Her family said she died peacefully early yesterday morning, Melbourne time.
Sutherland will be remembered by most Australians not only for her supreme voice, but how she always kept this country at the forefront of her affections and, indeed, her artistry. In 1965, she made a triumphant return to Australia in the exhaustive Sutherland Williamson Opera season, in which she sang at least four of her most renowned roles. In the early '70s, she became almost the house soprano for the Australian Opera - the company with which she made her last full-length dramatic appearance, in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, in October 1990. Her final stage appearance was the following January, in a gala production of Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Sutherland was born in Sydney in 1926, and was first taught by her mother, before more formal studies. She made her debut in Sydney in a production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. In the early 1950s she won a scholarship to London, and sang various roles - Wagner, Mozart, Poulenc - before being guided into the bel canto repertoire for which she became renowned. She made Donizetti, Handel and Verdi sound as new, through her fearless technique and formidable range.
Among her honours are a Companion of the Order of Australia, Dame of the British Empire, and the Order of Merit.
For a diva, Joan Sutherland was always refreshingly down to earth, sometimes preferring needlework to singing - but always delivering the utmost in performance and vocal skills. As she once said: "You can listen to what everybody says, but the fact remains that you've got to get out there and do the thing yourself."