JOAN SUTHERLAND

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29232, 16 June 1960, Page 2

JOAN SUTHERLAND

‘‘Second Melba” From Australia (Bp SUSAN VAUGHAN) She is being called a second Melba and the Commonwealth’s answer to Maria Callas. She is 33-year-old singer Joan Sutherland, currently being acclaimed by the audiences of Glyndebourne opera in Sussex. This follows similar successes at Vienna, Paris and Venice. The Connoisseurs sum up her singing in one phrase used on very rare occasions. They say she is a “diva”—a goddess of song. Like many eminent serious singers she is Australian. Born in Sydney, she won a newspaper competition when she was 21. It was worth £3OO and considerable prestige. The following year she won another prize of £l3OO ' for the best young Australian J singer of the year in a sponsored I competition. ' With these successes she came

to London, spent some time at the Royal College of Music, and joined Covent Garden in 1952. She was there for seven years, gaining bigger and bigger roles, until just over a year ago she reached star status. After that European offers poured in.

She is married to Richard Bonynge, who gave up his own career as a professional pianist to become her manager. They have a three-year-old son. What is the secret of her success? She is not beautiful. She has a well-built, square-jawed face, but in opera lack of good looks is not necessarily a disadvantage. She is not a “warm” singer—but the same was said about Melba. Her greatest assets are the purity and range of her voice, and her excellence in the old-fash-ioned flamboyant “display” operas at present in fashion. But off-stage she has no affectation. “How could I have—l am an Australian,” she said.