Dame Joan Sutherland, one of the world’s greatest opera singers, is the 2004 Australia Post Australian Legend. The stamps issued on January 23, 2004.
Sutherland is a marvellous soprano, able to reach and maintain incredibly high notes and loved for her powerful voice and presence on stage. Adoring Italian audiences called her ‘La Stupenda’, the Great One.
Sutherland was born in Sydney on 7 November 1926. After finishing school she worked as a secretary and began formal singing training in Sydney with John and Aida Dickens.
She sang in concerts, oratorios and broadcasts throughout Australia before making her concert debut in Sydney as Purcell’s Dido in August 1947. Sutherland is known for rescuing many operas from oblivion, particularly in the field of Italian belcanto and in the French repertoire.
