I wasn't actually trained by my mother, she said she never taught me but she was a great singer herself and I can't remember when I didn't listen to her sing and imitate her.

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.