Chalet Monet: Inside the home of Dame Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge

by Richard Bonynge, David Tenenbaum (Publisher), Marianna Berek-Lewis (Designer)

Take your own private tour through the Swiss home of Dame Joan Sutherland Richard Bonynge. This 350 page glamorous coffee table book will have over 1000 photos detailing the contents of this gorgeous home including some of Richard Bonynge’s collections and anecdotes of their life together. For those fortunate enough to have discovered and experienced the thrill of opera and all the larger than life characters associated with it, to enter Chalet Monet is somewhat of a fairy tale experience that could be taken right out of a Cinderella story. Chalet Monet is a house with a thousand stories. It is living history, theatrical, a beautiful home with enormous spirit like its owners. It radiates grandeur yet intimacy with places to sit and contemplate, views to linger over, books to be read, paintings to admire and music to listen to. It is a treasure trove for the senses where many a story has been told or begun. Only the walls and its owners remember the decades of music making here and possibly the odd neighbour and the cows on the grassy slopes.

Genres: Music, Art

344 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2020

Reviews

[Steve Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A photographic at the absolutely beautiful home of the late Dame Joan Sutherland and her husband Richard Bonynge in Switzerland. Each room is filled to overflowing with items they have collected on the travels around the wotld, not to mention the memories associated with the various pieces. And don't get me started on the views from the rooms. Looking out onto the local village and the Swiss Alps would have been so calming, and nice 'to come home too'.

[Margaret Galbraith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fabulous and what an historical museum they have created for all opera, ballet and theatre goers and students of music. Dame Joan’s own apartment in the house was minimalistic housing her awards and family photos, but Richard is a self confessed collector of anything relating to music. It’s beautiful and it’s not and must be the house mistresses nightmare trying to keep everything dust free. It’s priceless and I was totally overwhelmed especially when he said he got many of the treasure in London in the 50s at flea markets for practically nothing! This is for any fan of theatre a must read. Dane Jian lived to do needlepoint and completed cushions and many seats in the house. Another of their hobbies was jigsaws and playing cards with their very good friends including Noel Coward and his wife who lived near then in Switzerland. You bane anyone in theatre or movies and even Royal Families in UK and Europe and they have net them during Joan’s performances and a lot of the time Richard was the conductor and had arranged the scores.

Well done Richard your wife would have loved this but sadly she’s no longer with you fir 10 years before this was ready. It was published last year to commemorate Richard’s 90th birthday. His input and knowledge of the items is second to none! I do hope if anything happens to Richard the family will open it up to the public with very strict security.

All profits of this book go to their foundation to help young opera singers in their studies and careers.

[Clive Hodges · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sumptuous book essentially allowing us into the home of Dame Joan Sutherland and her husband, Richard Bonynge. Chalet Monet nestles on the hillside above Les Avant in the French-speaking Canton of Vaud, Switzerland. The photographer for many of the shots in the book is Dominique Bersier, the foreword is written by Marilyn Horne, and our tour guide is Richard Bonynge.
A couple of introductory chapters have been penned by Fiona Janes, General Manager, the Sutherland and Bonynge Foundation to which all profits on the sale of the book will be donated. The Foundation awards scholarships and gives grants to enable young opera singers to further their careers.
The chalet was originally built in or around 1900 and remained structurally untouched until bought by the Bonynges in the 1960s. Extensive renovations took just over two years to complete. When the couple could afford it, they bought more land to increase their garden area. Later the block below was purchased to ensure they would not lose their views of Lake Geneva.
An unobtrusive lift was installed with entrances tucked neatly into the corner of the chalet’s four levels. Sutherland had a fall while working in her garden in 2008 and broke both legs. This led to more serious health problems and she died in 2010. Her husband is still active; he will be 91 in September this year.
Richard Bonynge is a fanatical collector. The house is packed with memorabilia, antique furniture, paintings, sculptures and awards received by them over the years. The only honour missing is the Order of Merit, awarded to Sutherland in 1992 by the Queen. The award has to be returned to the sovereign when the recipient dies.
Chalet Monet, the book, is a stunning publication that’s pleasing to the eye. Every time I pick it up I see something that I hadn’t noticed before. Highly recommended.

[Mark Latchford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully presented meander through La Stupenda's magnificent home in the Swiss Alps. Richard's narrative is crisp, enlightening and intensely personal. The reader feels privileged to be allowed to wander into every room including the loo with its walls covered with opera designs. A lifetime of collecting has every wall covered; every surface cluttered with treasure carefully explained away. I am just left with a key question. Who does the dusting ?