Dame Joan Sutherland remembered in London

On a cold, grey and miserable winter’s day, the haunting sounds from the late opera great filled the famous church with a crowd of about 2,200 crammed in for the celebration of her life.

More than two decades since her final bow, recordings of the Australian’s breath-taking renditions of Casta Diva from Norma and Let The Bright Seraphim from Samson were played out during an emotional ceremony.

The fact the service was held at Westminster Abbey is a measure of the esteem with which Dame Joan is held.

She is believed to be the first Australian afforded the honour of a memorial service at the regal church since the nation’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, 33 years ago.

Dame Joan made her name just a walk away from the Abbey at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, propelling herself to international acclaim in the production of Lucia di Lammermoor in 1959.

Her family was involved in Tuesday’s ceremony, her husband of 56 years, Richard Bonynge, composed himself for a reading while her grandson Vanya Bonynge touchingly walked up the aisle carrying her honour medals on a cushion.

Prince Charles represented the British royal family alongside the cream of the opera world as they came to show their respects four months after her passing at her home near Geneva, Switzerland, at the age of 83.

Former director-general of the Royal Opera House, Sir John Tooley, described Dame Joan as having "the most glorious, the most beautiful voice to be heard anywhere round the world during the second half of the last century".

Read more: Gillard: Sutherland greatest singer of all time

Young Australian soprano Valda Wilson was the soloist for the ceremony and joked that she feared she would have a heart attack during one of her performances.

"The sense of occasion and the people in the room, it was the cream of the music world. I was a bit worried I was going to have a cardiac (arrest)," said the former recipient of a study grant from the Joan Sutherland Society.

"I sat down after one of the songs and my heart was going da-dum, da-dum, da-dum."

She need not have worried, the Sydney-born singer producing spell-binding performances.

Ms Wilson said performing had been a headspin as she is currently in the middle of performing in an operatic version of Puss In Boots in Germany.

Ms Wilson said she had never met Dame Joan, not wanting to "annoy" her when she had the chance at her 80th birthday celebrations.

The 28-year-old said that despite Dame Joan having not sung in public for 21 years, she remained an inspiration for young Australian opera singers.

"There are a lot coming through, I am not quite sure what it is … maybe it is something to do with the wide open spaces but we seem to produce a lot of big, clear voices, which is great for opera," she said.