Beautiful butterfly has a will of iron

There’s no smoking. No drinking. No cold foods. Upon first glance, one might think Berwick’s Shu-Cheen Yu is living with a long-term medical ailment. But, thankfully she’s not.
She’s been an opera singer for 20 years and, as with all opera singers, follows a strict diet.
One reason is to stay healthy and fit for performances, but more so to keep her throat at its best. It’s her key weapon in belting out delicious chords to the masses.
There are other disciplines Shu-Cheen must follow – no yelling, loud laughing and no coffee.
It’s these disciplines – representing comforts some simply can’t live without – that has become routine for Shu-Cheen.
“It’s not easy, let me tell you,” she said. “But now I’m just used to it, keeping myself healthy and fit for singing – it’s just part of my life.”
Shu-Cheen was born in Shanxi, China and born into a culture of musicals, theatre and performance.
Her parents were both heavily involved with a local opera company.
In her early days, whenever the theatre needed a cat, rabbit or dog for a small role, she gladly filled it.
“I wanted to study medicine and be a doctor at a young age,” the soprano singer said. “But because the family lived and breathed singing, I too followed that path.”
By the age of 14, she started a five-year program with the Shanxi Consortium and it developed her love of sound.
Before migrating to Australia in 1987 – a move she “needed” to do to branch out her singing – Shu-Cheen became a folk icon; one of China’s best. She made television appearances, did stints on radio and released five albums.
But it wasn’t enough for the prolific musician.
“I wanted to learn more and branch out, further my singing,” she said. “That’s when I fell into opera singing.”
Music and singing became her life; she wanted to be the best at her craft. Her first port of call was to study opera at the University of Sydney, as she packed her bags for Australia to embed herself in the opera scene.
It’s a move that has seen her shine on some of the biggest Australian stages.
Try 100,000 during the 2002 and 2004 Carols by Candlelight in the Domain, Sydney. Even though she lives in Berwick, and works in Prahran, her voice has taken her to countries such as United States, Germany, UK, Singapore and still gets a gig back in her native China.
“I also sang in front of 100,000 people in a stadium in Beijing,” she said. “ It’s daunting, but if you put in the practice, then the rest should follow.”
Her Australian career has been just as impressive as her folk-singing career in China. She has accumulated no less than 12 major national and international singing awards, including from the New York Metropolitan Opera, Australia Regional Awards, London Royal Opera House Covent Garden Scholarship, and the Placido Domingo International Opera Awards in Vienna.
But even in her forties, with two decades of opera singing under her belt, she still gets a little nervous before a big concert.
“Standing on the stage, with hundreds and sometimes thousands of people out there, I still get a little nervous,” she said. “The adrenaline though gets me through it. And I know I’ve practiced the songs enough.”
The ever modest soprano won’t openly admit it, but she strives for perfection and with that comes endless hours of rehearsing, throat warming conditioning, physical fitness, strict diets – not to mention the ability to carry sound through strings, trumpets and horns to hoards of concert-goers.
The transition from folk to opera was seamless as Shu-Cheen brought with her a bag of tricks from China.
“Now I sing a range of Western and Chinese opera, oratorio and lieder,” she said. “My background in Chinese folk and art songs definitely provided good training for where I’m at now.”
The world is Shu-Cheen’s oyster. On paper, as a singer, she’s covered everything. She has performed Opera Australia productions and alongside state symphony orchestras. She has even delivered solo performances, as with the Welsh National Opera, the London City Philharmonic Orchestra and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.
Shu-Cheen’s take on opera singing is more than just music; it’s a science.
“Australia’s culture loves sport. When you have to sing and reach 3000 people at a concert, it’s like my vocal chords are running a marathon,” she said. “There are no microphones. You have to rise above the orchestra.”
Her first Australian album, Lotus Moon, was launched by the ABC Classics combines her folk songs with opera arias and boasts more than seven albums across two countries.
The singer-teacher has no plans in slowing down in the coming years. On 14 August, she’ll be performing a solo show in Toorak in front of 400 people followed by a Melbourne Recital show in September.
While resting her throat and delicate voice off stage, Shu-Cheen is the director of company that builds new homes. It’s a hectic life, but one that has paid off for the Chinese-native. She is now considered in the top echelon of Australian opera singers.
It’s a lifestyle she thrives on.
“Besides my very busy singing career, I love teaching too which is another passion of mine,” she said.