The location I feel most content in is the Holmes Place fitness studio close to the Deutsche Oper Berlin. I don’t live far away and I work out there every day, Sundays too. It’s part of my routine now: I go to the opera house, rehearse, practise, go to the gym, go home. That’s the way I am: I can’t do things by halves; it’s all or nothing. I haven’t missed a day of singing practice since high school. Holidays, Christmas, New Year, doesn’t matter. I like pushing myself and making progress. Like, you’re gonna nail that bit even better tomorrow. Tomorrow you’re going to do more treadmill and lift more weight.

I wasn’t into fitness and aerobics at all until I got to Berlin. When I was studying at the Juilliard School I went to a fitness studio just the once and they had to call an ambulance. No kidding! The trainer probably thought I was used to it, because I looked reasonably fit, but I wasn’t at all. I ended up collapsing and almost fainting and having to be given oxygen. I felt better quite soon, but I dropped the workouts.

The reason I decided to give the fitness thing another chance was that I’m beginning to go in the direction of bigger and more demanding roles. I’m being backed by a larger orchestra and my voice is developing as a result, but my body is unchanged. It occurred to me that I needed to be stronger overall, so now I’m doing cardio exercises on the treadmill or the bike and I’m lifting dumbbells – not with a view to bulking up but to increase my stamina levels, and for the feel-good hormones that are released when you’re doing sport. I get a similar high in the opera house after a performance, but that’s not every day.

I listen to music while I’m working out, to take my mind off all the effort. I commit a part to memory or analyse the technique of a singer like Maria Callas. Last year I learned from Spotify that Puccini was the by far the stuff I was listening to the most. The thing I like about Puccini is that he gives me the freedom to really cut loose and express emotion - as with the role of the slave girl Liù in TURANDOT, that I’m currently singing. At first glance you’d think she’s weak, but she’s actually much stronger than Princess Turandot. Liù knows what she wants and who she’s in love with. She’s prepared to sacrifice herself if it means not revealing the name of Calaf, the Prince. It reminds me of the fighters in the Korean war of independence who committed suicide when they were taken prisoner to prevent themselves from divulging secrets under torture. That’s Liù’s type of courage.

Sua Jo at a chest press machine. The soprano listens to music – preferably Puccini - while working on her stamina levels © Nancy Jesse

 

When I was in junior high, I already knew that I wanted to be a classical singer. I’ve been singing since I was eight. When I was 13, I had my first part in an opera, as 1st Boy in Mozart’s THE MAGIC FLUTE at the Seoul Art Center, one of the biggest venues of its kind in Korea. I’ve now sung three roles from THE MAGIC FLUTE at the Deutsche Oper Berlin: Pamina, Papagena and 1st Lady. My game plan was always to go to Europe, but via a stint in New York to learn English. And it all turned out that way. Now I’m a member of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, my very first European residence, as it were. I’m so blessed! And that goes for the roles I’ve been landing, too.

It's been a lucky streak for me, singing Marzelline in FIDELIO, my first role in a Beethoven work, my first premiere in Berlin, wall-to-wall firsts. The rehearsals process was something I had to get used to. As David Hermann, the director, said to me: »This is how they do things in Europe. It’s very intensive«. I thought it was great. I love it when it gets dramatic and intense. It is opera after all. If I had to pick one role to do, it would by Richard Strauss’s Salome. But that can wait. In the meantime my voice has got to keep developing – and I’ve got to do a lot more working out.