I'm somewhat horrified because I don't think the young people today even know what history is. Some of them don't' even study History at school anymore or Geography and they don't know where one place is from another.

Later in 2004 Joan Sutherland received a Kennedy Center Honor for her outstanding achievement throughout her career. French soprano Natalie Dessay states "She had a huge huge voice and Joan Sutherland was able to lighten suddenly and to take this quick coloratura and Joan Sutherland had also the top high notes like a coloratura soprano but with a big huge voice which is very rare. In 1957 Joan Sutherland appeared in Handel's Alcina with the Handel Opera Society and sang selections from Donizetti's Emilia di Liverpool in a radio broadcast in which performances her bel canto potential was clearly demonstrated vindicating her husband's judgement.

She possessed a voice of beauty and power combining extraordinary agility accurate intonation "supremely" pinpoint staccatos a splendid trill and a tremendous upper register although music critics often complained about the imprecision of her diction. Her friend Luciano Pavarotti once called Sutherland the "Voice of the Century"; Montserrat Caballé described the Australian's voice as being like "heaven". One of the most remarkable female opera singers of the 20th century Joan Sutherland was dubbed La Stupenda by a La Fenice audience in 1960 after a performance of the title role in Handel's Alcina.