WELCOME to the SUTHERLAND/BONYNGE REFERENCE CENTER

It is a happy coincidence that Dame Joan Sutherland’s spectacular international career spanned a half century of rapid advances in print and recording technology.

Her documented legacy, perhaps first among the great voices, includes a phenomenal abundance of recordings that preserve for generations to come and with the utmost fidelity the vocal magic that is distinctly “La Stupenda’s”.

The available videos do not include any of her early legendary Covent Garden performances as, unlike her Australian appearances, none appears to have been captured on film. Nevertheless, what is available is an operatic treasure trove.

This Reference Center is FanFaire’s attempt to put together as completely as possible a compendium of the works that exist in print and on disc, by and about opera’s fabled couple. This will remain a work in progress. After Dame Joan retired from the operatic stage, she made occasional public appearances, such as in master classes, vocal competitions, and in connection with her autobiography and thus remained very much within the purview of music historians. It is not surprising that professional and public interest in the legendary soprano who set the bar for coloratura singing and whose performances were life-changing surged with her sad passing in 2010.

One only has to scroll down the list of reissued recordings to realize that the Dame Joan Sutherland revival will continue in the years to come, a guarantee that we have not heard nor read the last of her, nor of her partner in life and music, Maestro Richard Bonynge who continues to delight audiences worldwide with his masterful reading of bel canto music.