Some recollections from Pittsburgers who met Dame Sutherland:

Robert Croan, Post-Gazette senior editor and former classical music critic:
I was of course saddened to learn that Joan Sutherland, one of the icons of opera in the last century, has died. I recall her vividly in “Lucia di Lammermoor,” “The Daughter of the Regiment,” “I Puritani,” concert appearances and much more. Her recordings of bel canto repertory are pillars of my CD and DVD collection. Her voice was a phenomenon – a coloratura soprano with the power of a Valkyrie – and she was personally gracious, self-effacing and possessed of a delightful sense of humor.
Ms. Sutherland was in large part responsible for the revival of Handel operas, along with the her signature 19th-century bel canto. Because of the overwhelming beauty of the sound of her voice, she was often not credited for her considerable interpretive and expressive gifts.
I had the privilege of interviewing her in June 1986, when she and her conductor-husband Richard Bonynge were here for “The Daughter of the Regiment.” I remember her coming up and offering me her hand to shake, saying in an imperious but friendly voice that reminded me of the late Julia Child, “I’m Dame Joan,” then settling down for a lively hour of question and answers.
Among the things she said that afternoon:
“You have to start with technique….My mother was a very fine singer….She always told me what not to do….Support is still the most important thing.”
“I was always very large, overweight, not very glamorous looking….I’m too big for an innocent little heroine like Amina [in “La Sonnambula”]. To which Mr. Bonynge chimed in, “I tell her that no one will notice, but she still won’t believe me.”
Just a few months short of her 60th birthday but still in excellent vocal shape, Ms. Sutherland made sure to end the interview with the words, “Remember, I do still love to sing!”

Christopher Hahn, general director of the Pittsburgh Opera: "I met her in the mid-80s in San Francisco. She was delightful and I adored her. She was in San Francisco to sing 'Anna Bolena.' She was down-to-Earth, funny and direct. What I found astonishing was seeing this large woman either knitting or doing needlepoint on the side of the stage like someone’s grandmother. Then someone would tell her entrance was coming and she would take off her glasses and go out and sing with such a big voice. She had very down-to-Earth, Australian real-ness to her, even though she had been on the top for so long."

The obit from the Associated Press:

GENEVA (AP) -- Soprano Joan Sutherland, whose purity of tone and brilliant vocal display made her one of the most celebrated opera singers of all time, has died at 83 after a four-decade career that won her praise as the successor to legend Maria Callas.

Her family said she died Sunday at her home near Geneva after a long illness.

Called "La Stupenda" by her Italian fans, Sutherland was acclaimed from her native Australia to North America and Europe for her wide range of roles. But she was particularly praised for her singing of operas by Handel and 19th-century Italian composers.

Tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who joined with Marilyn Horne in Sutherland's farewell gala recital at Covent Garden on Dec. 31, 1990, called her "the greatest coloratura soprano of all time."

The term, derived from "color," refers to a soprano with a high range and the vocal agility to sing brilliant trills and rapid passages.

Sutherland's skills made her pre-eminent in the revival of Italian "bel canto" operas, and she was seen by many as having taken on the mantle of Callas.

Sutherland started singing as a small child, crouching under the piano and copying her mother, Muriel Alston Sutherland, "a talented singer with a glorious mezzo-soprano voice," according to Sutherland's biographer Norma Major, wife of former British Prime Minister John Major.

"I was able from the age of 3 to imitate her scales and exercises," she wrote in her autobiography. "As she was a mezzo-soprano, I worked very much in the middle area of my voice, learning the scales and arpeggios and even the dreaded trill without thinking about it. The birds could trill, so why not I?

"I even picked up her songs and arias and sang them by ear, later singing duets with her - Manrico to her Azucena. I always had a voice."

When she began performing in Australia, Sutherland thought she was a mezzo-soprano like her mother, and it took the insight of subsequent coaches to make her realize that she should develop her higher range.

The family statement said Sutherland is survived by her husband, conductor Richard Bonynge, their son, Adam, daughter-in-law Helen, and two grandchildren.

According to the statement Sutherland, who broke both legs during a fall at her home in 2008, requested a very small and private funeral.

---

Former Associated Press Writer Alexander G. Higgins contributed to this report