La Stupenda

There was a treat for music-lovers on 8th September 1948, when Manly Music Club presented one of its regular ‘musicales’ at St Andrew’s Church Hall in Raglan Street. Accompanied by her teacher, Aida Summers, was the 21-year-old Joan Sutherland, in a recital that included arias by Handel, Mozart, and Richard Strauss. The young Joan Sutherland performing ‘Porgi Amor’ must have been quite something. She also performed a group of three songs by the American composer and accompanist Frank La Forge, one of which, ‘I Came With a Song’ is still available in Dame Joan’s back catalogue on Decca. Sutherland left Australia in 1951 for Covent Garden, so this would have been a rare chance to hear her in a recital setting before her international success.
The other artist performing that night was the pianist Igor Hmelnitsky, well-known in Sydney as a soloist and piano teacher.
This programme is one of a number kindly donated to our collection by Mr Boyd Osborne, augmenting our existing group of programmes of Manly Music Club recitals.