Joan Sutherland

Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, DBE, AC was an Australian soprano who departed this life at the age of 83 due to cardiopulmonary failure. She is considered by many to be one of the most remarkable female opera singers of the 20th century. A famous friend once called her the "Voice of the Century." Born 1926, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Sutherland made her concert debut in Sydney, as Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, in 1947. Three years later, in 1950, she won the Australia's most important competition, the "Sun Aria." Later in her life, she was elevated within the Order of the British Empire from Commander to Dame Commander (DBE) in the New Year's Honours of 1979. In 1984, an honorary award was been given to Joan as a Doctor of Music with Chancellor Sir Hermann Black of the University of Sydney. Dame Sutherland appeared in the master classes held for the 1995 "Cardiff Singer of the World competition" and two years later she published her autobiography. Dame Sutherland received a "Kennedy C