Joan Sutherland did the impossible. The down-to-earth diva took a sport-loving nation and turned it into an opera-loving one, so much so that capacity crowds would cram the Domain to hear her sing live. We even braved the lightning – I remember; I was there.

And so, I’m guessing, were a lot of the people gathered in the theatre posthumously named after her for the first performance of La Stupenda, celebrating Sutherland’s centenary and her legacy.

Jessica Pratt in Opera Australia’s La Stupenda. Photo © Keith Saunders

As MC Laura Tingle notes, for many, the opera world changed forever when Sutherland made her legendary title-role debut in Zeffirelli’s 1959 production of Lucia di Lammermoor at Covent Garden.

Today, there is opera before you hear Jessica Pratt sing Lucia, and there is opera after you’ve marvelled at her unique take on the role.

For many, this is that moment; for this writer it was on this very stage in 2018, when Maggie Beer even created a dessert – La Dolce Jessica – to mark the occasion, and again in 2024, when Pratt had a new production created for her by Opera Queensland’s Artistic Director...