I'm not expecting the interview to give me some esoteric information at all. I want to have the opportunity to spend some time with a great lady whom I loved when she is just being herself, and what a lovely self she was. This interview gave her a chance to just be herself. for all to see.

You are so right. This was a great interview badly spent.

Maybe he was letting her tell us instead of himself. Good interview.

Mo-zart 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️

I had the great honour of having a quick chat with Joan Sutherland at a chemist shop in Bondi Junction, Sydney. I was hunting for a particular brand of sunscreen, when this incredibly tall, large woman popped up right next to me and asked simply, 'so what brand do you think's best'? She was extremely down to earth, lighthearted, incredibly friendly, and as you see in almost every interview, not a whiff of entitlement or attitude. I get the sense she only ever saw herself as an average person who could sing well.

@@matthancock9883 how tall was she...5'9?

@@jimbuxton2187 No. Much taller. I'm 5'11", and she was at least as tall as me.

@@matthancock9883 but....if she was wearing 2 or three inch heels she would appear taller than she actually was.... you can never tell with women!

I can assure you that there was no airs and graces with this Lady....she was as down to earth as you could get with a heart of gold.

She retired in 1990, so you must've meant the mid-80s.

Her last three performances of NORMA were in Detroit, April 1989. And all three were very good but I thought the mid-week performance was best.

Couldn't agree more. That stupid laugh he produced after saying people thought of her as having the greatest voice of the 20th century (which she did!) was just embarrassing...he obviously knew nothing of her talent.

I knew that Sills and Ramey were on Sesame Street, but Horne too? How many opera singers did they have on that show? 😂

@@adriand6883 Miss Piggy wanted to be an opera singer. She sang a duet with Beverly Sills in an opera called "Pigaletto".

@@SymphonyBrahms I think I saw that. 🙂

Well, she might have said that she regretted not singing Russian opera or something. Isn't she a little too grateful to really seem human?

@@nonenoneonenonenone you must only know negative people. If you have it all you can be grateful because you lack nothing.

Opera today is all about "concept" by the egotistical director. The composer's original ideas are irrelevant, after all what could he have possibly known? So pleased I saw the legendary productions/singers of the 1960's and 70's before they trashed the genre.

Agree

That was the most interesting part of the interview I think. She'd probably be disgusted with some of today's productions which have gone quite further in that direction.

The last production I saw of "Hansel & Gretel" at the Met was gross. I almost threw up! This was about 20 years ago.

@@bluewaltz4279 Yeah, and the Met is actually more traditional compared to other opera houses from pictures I've seen. Opera productions are in a sad state right now. ☹

sutherland Fan There’s a video clip on KZfaq where she sang the Pasquale duet. But Sutherland and Bonynge also talked about Thais, and I wish she had sung the Mirror Aria on a record, concert....anywhere.

Momentary brain freeze. It happens.

Well she certainly never sang with Caruso!!! Or Di Stefano I think.

lol, Sutherland was such a lame minor actress - who would dare to judge CALLAS's acting? The woman was an utter genius.

Tho Hsse Ha! And in comparison to Sutherland, Callas was such a lame, minor singer. Callas’s peak lasted about three years; Sutherland’s, about 30 years, with no loss of flexibility or high notes. Callas is great if you enjoy seasickness!

@@wotan10950 hahaha exactly!

@@alixvhessen When you can't sing like Sutherland, you act.

Dave Glo sorry but Callas's career began in 1942 und she had a perfect voice until 1957, after she followed singing, although no with the same perfect voice she had and that’s not about his technique which was perfectly perfect, not the same to say about Sutherland only cause she was able to troll and make coloraturas that’s not belcanto that’s a simple Zerbinetta. You are talking with no sense cause Maria Callas had a disease called "dermatomyositis" which affects to all muscles in the body getting them faster old. Then please, firstly read a bit more. She was classified the best voice of the XX century and not for nothing

Vinicius Soaris it’s obvious she realized she had to dumb down her responses because the interviewer had nothing to say! Like an 8th grader asking questions! How did he get that job?

Joan actually brought up Callas. She said, "Flagstad, Tebaldi, Callas". She worked with Callas and respected her. And Callas saw Joan in Lucia and praised her performance. One shouldn't put words in Joan's mouth.She gave honest answers to the interviewer.

My two favourite sopranos of all time, Renata Tebaldi and Dame Joan Sutherland. I have adored them for over 40 years. Oh. And Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. all heavenly.

*Sutherland had as influence Melba, Flagstad, Galli-Curci... and we can realise this in her singing. But Tebaldi was a voice she enjoyed to listen to ;)*

Why people get offended when someone say another singer it's the best, unless this singer have an anagram with Teatro alla Scala in the name?!

What do you mean by "achieved"? I don't believe any of the sopranos you named achieved more than Sutherland, although I love and admire each of them. Sutherland sang more roles than any of them, had a longer career than Ponselle or Callas, and made more recordings. Sutherland sang 64 roles in the course of her career. Pavarotti heard all of these sopranos, except Ponselle. That said, Pavarotti stated quite clearly what he believed..."Joan Sutherland had certainly the greatest singing voice of the last century". I'm inclined to agree with him.

@@joshuamcpherson007 thank you so much for your studied comment. I hate comments by 'know it alls' that don't know enough. ....

Shayan Mardanbeigi: You really need his definition of “the unparalleled operatic voice of the century”. However there are several top tier singers who are unique in a variety of ways (beauty, interpretation, technique, stage performer, quality over career duration, repertoire to evaluate them. It is more important to enjoy them and the art. I remember when the MET was broadcasting the 1990/91 season and in the preview Marilyn Horne spoke eloquently about how she will miss that big silver sound. It’s bee nearly 33 years, longer than her US career and God, I miss her her. I remember thinking that at the time (1990), I could remember growing up and not knowing the voices of Joan Sutherland and Barbra Streisand.

Kirsten Flagstad...my all-time favorite soprano who made Wagnerian soprano roles sound easy! What a voice!!!

There is no video footage of her singing Lucia in 1960s that would be worth showing. She still has plenty of voice in this performance and she sang the role for another 5 years after this.

@@baritonebynight of course there is. Not whole prformances but you have more than one video of her performing Lucia s arias

Should have shown her singing Handel. That would have displayed her exceptional voice.

Emily Greene: He made not have been able to get access to the Bell Telephone excerpts done in a studio.

loboestepario2424 She was just being honest. When Callas’s voice deteriorated so badly, she tried to make up for it by throwing herself around the stage. Some people adore that style of acting and singing. I don’t. I just can’t stand Callas,

Dave Glo I lived for Dame Joan, followed her around the world, and my home in England is Sutherland House. But I also had time for Callas, but what a tragic life.

@@wotan10950 You may want to reconsider your thoughts about Callas. Spend some time listening to what she did with recitatives (and include the French Romantic composers), perhaps following the score. Listen also to how she used the inherent rhythm of words to give structure and expression without ever straying from total accuracy of the music, no matter the style or period. Even if her high notes don't work for you, she was a musical genius and I would urge you to look a little further into what she was doing.

@@tenisfin I am 65 years old, and have been attending opera since college. Do you think I haven't listened to Callas before? I detest her.

@@wotan10950 Oops and sorry! I made the assumption that you were a musician.

Richard C I met Dame Joan and her husband on a number of occasions. As you said, she was extremely charming, and very down to earth. We used to receive Christmas cards from her over a few Christmases; and my home in a England is called after her, Sutherland House.

So then there's no need to research before any interview, as long as it introduces the person to his audience? Ridiculous. I'm still glad he did it, because she was the greatest singer ever and changed my life for the better, and I'm always happy to hear her commentary. Her husband might have politely ripped Charlie a new one.

Sutherland's perspective from on stage with Callas may be different from an audience member's. There is not enough of Callas in live operatic performances on film for me to have an opinion; Callas' reputation as an actress is huge and the recordings certainly show a lot of drama in her singing.

+William maddox l know.

Callas acting was done *mostly* with the voice, IMO.

Ummmm, Sutherland criticizing ANY singer's acting ability is the very definition of hilarity, let alone one of the greatest stage performers in history.

+tenisfin well ANY...not really. there have been n there are much worse and more ridiculous actresses. (damrau, dessay, caballe, netrebko, devia, gruberova,....many others)

opera fan: Yes, but he wasn’t canned for poor interviews but unwanted sexual assaults and exposing himself to woman by “accident.”

Brian McDonagh: To make that comment makes me realize without knowing what you look like, that you’re an a**. Joan Sutherland was a tall elegant woman. Susan Boyle looks like part of a dog liter.

A singer of her exceptional talent and quality would be a fool to mess around with elective surgery on her face. Any surgery is risky, but especially around the mouth which shapes the sound of the voice. She was much to sensible (and not vain) to even contemplate such a thing.

I believe she did have some work done in the 50s along with her teeth, but there's a school of thought that the Eflats are in the jaw. June Anderson also had a prominent one.

BlueWzltz42: No, you aren’t being kind. She had a prominent jawline and yes there was some work done associated with replacing all of her teeth due to the sinus disease that rotted them out and forced the operation to scrape and clean her cavaliers otherwise it would have affected her career and crippled her by the time she was forty.