Joan Sutherland Dies

I just found out that last night, legendary opera soprano Joan Sutherland died at her home in Switzerland. She was 83 years old. What a talent. It was actually Joan Sutherland who really cemented my love for opera. The first thing I heard her sing was "Casta Diva" and I remember thinking that I had never heard anyone sing that high before. I was totally enthralled. I must have listened to that song twenty times that day. There is nobody like her.

A few years ago, I wrote a letter to her and she was kind enough to send back a beautiful black and white photo of her in the Mad Scene, signed and personalized. I was SO thrilled! It is in my Deanna binder until I start making my opera scrapbook, where it will get a front page to properly exhibit it!

Her autobiography A Prima Donna's Progress was fantastic. We actually found it by accident one day at the Mansfield library and I loved it. So Mom and Dad bought a copy of it for me for Christmas that year and it has it's own special place on the shelf in our bedroom. A lot of people didn't like it because it has lots of stuff about her career and doesn't dish any dirt, but it was fantastic for me! She has lots of funny stories about different performances.

God really blessed her with a remarkable talent and thankfully we can still enjoy that talent through CDs and DVDs. Who can forget her wonderful Mad Scene or her marvelous recording of Turandot? What a talent, what a gift.

Dame Joan Sutherland
November 7, 1926 - October 10, 2010