Opera singer Joan Sutherland dies at 83
Soprano Joan Sutherland, one of the most celebrated opera singers of all time, has died. She was 83.
A statement released Monday by her family said Sutherland died Sunday at her home near Geneva.
"The family of Dame Joan Sutherland wishes to let all her friends and admirers know that she passed away very peacefully in the evening of Oct. 10 at her home in Switzerland after a long illness," the statement said.
Although the Metropolitan Opera remained Ms. Sutherland's primary American base during the prime years of her operatic career, she favored Lyric Opera of Chicago with several of her most celebrated bel canto roles.
She made her Lyric debut in 1961 in the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," the opera that rocketed her to worldwide fame, reprising the part here in 1975 opposite tenor Luciano Pavarotti. She had similar triumphs in the title role of Rossini's "Semiramide," opposite mezzo Marilyn Horne, in 1971; and as Marie in Donizetti's "La Fille du Regiment" in 1973. Her final Lyric appearance was as Anne Boleyn in Donizetti's "Anna Bolena," in 1985.
At the time of the latter performances, Tribune critic John von Rhein wrote of her: "Dame Joan has become more than a great lady of the opera stage; she is a musical phenomenon who brings us that much closer to understanding a golden era of the vocal art."
--Tribune newspapers and AP contributed to this report.
