Marilyn Horne Joan Sutherland Metropolitan Opera Photo by Louis Melancon

Description

Marilyn Horne as Adalgisa and Joan Sutherland as Norma in the duet Mira o Norma
Marilyn Horne
(born January 16, 1934) is
an American mezzo-soprano opera singer.
She specialized in roles requiring beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. She is a recipient of the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, and has won four Grammy Awards.
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland,
OM, AC, DBE (7 November 1926 – 10 October 2010) was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s. She possessed a voice combining extraordinary agility, accurate intonation, "supremely" pinpoint staccatos, a trill and a tremendous upper register, although music critics often complained about the imprecision of her diction. Sutherland was the first Australian to win a Grammy Award, for Best Classical Performance – Vocal Soloist (with or without orchestra) in 1962.
Louis Mélançon
(1901-1974) was the in-house
photographer
for the Metropolitan Opera from 1947 to his death in 1974.