Issue 1: A chat with... Suzi

What is your earliest memory?

Getting lost at a big outdoor event when I was about three. I had become separated from my parents and the crowds looked huge and colourful and bewildering. I felt adrift, lonely and frightened. Just as visceral is remembering my deep relief at being found and being handed back to my grateful parents by a mounted policeman.

What was your first job?

When I was 12 I worked weekends and holidays at a catering factory called Chef-in-a-Box, where aeroplane-style meals on trays were prepared for large-scale events. I spent one long day arranging endless slices of overlapping cucumber on top of portions of salad as each tray came past on the factory line. Afterwards my fingers were green for a week…

I also sang roles in operas at ENO as a child and it seems amazing that my work still connects me so strongly to ENO. My favourite was a production of Hansel and Gretel where we (the children’s chorus) emerged from grassy graves all over the stage looking bruised and battered as the witch was defeated.

Do you have a favourite opera/show?

Suor Angelica by Puccini gets me every time and it is probably my all-time favourite opera, but it is almost impossible to choose – and I am already feeling guilty about all the incredible things I could have chosen… Peter Grimes; Cabaret; West Side Story; Alcina… I recently saw ‘Operation Mincemeat’ which blew me away with its inventiveness, fun and polish.

What is your favourite song?

Spring Will Come Again by Bernstein. It is a song of hope and renewal and its simplicity and tenderness both breaks my heart and holds out the promise of better times ahead; it is a beautiful reminder that nothing lasts forever – and that after winter comes spring… a song for our times.

Do you have any hobbies?

Yes! I love to sew, and also to cut patterns, though it takes me a while to get the fit of a new design just right and once I have finished fiddling with a pattern I am happy that the fit is just right, I tend to use it as the basis for several pieces of clothing. There is nothing so satisfying as wearing something you have thought up yourself and made 3D reality. I love the distraction of being completely consumed by a creative task that has no connection to my work.

What can’t you live without?

I love coffee – and life is too short for bad coffee. I have a ridiculously fancy Italian coffee machine that was a birthday present from my husband. It brings me joy every single day.

What do you wish you had learned sooner?

To get out of my own way. For years I assumed that little inner critic was the voice of truth. I now know that I feel especially self-critical when I am anxious, and often the reason for the anxiety is because it is something I really care about. So – I now try to allow space for the discomfort but do it anyway; to try to get comfortable being uncomfortable. But it is a work in process – there is no growth without pain…