Big in Korea and a popular voice at big games, North East opera singer Suzannah Clarke has set her sights and sounds on helping the region's music students. Women's Editor Christen Pears reports.

WITH minutes to go until the curtain goes up, the crowd buzzes in anticipation at seeing their favourite opera singer perform. Forget Pavarotti, they have never heard of him, but the North Koreans do know and love Middlesbrough-born Suzannah Clarke.

Back stage stomachs are churning - there's nothing unusual in that before a big performance - but this time it's different, the nausea was there long before she reached one of the world's last bastions of communism. "I wasn't feeling very well before I got on the flight out," she recalls. "It seemed to develop further once I got there and I was feeling very, very ill."

As the first British singer to be invited to the North Korean Friendship Festival in 21 years, a lot is riding on her performance. While the sabre-rattling continues between the communists and the West over the possession of nuclear arms, behind the scenes there is a willingness to work with the capitalists and among the hundreds of delegates at the Friendship Festival there are even some from America.

"The North Koreans treated me like a star, though they did grill me politically," says Suzannah, who studied with Honor Sheppard and John Cameron at The Royal Northern College of Music and with Arrigo Pola, Pavarotti's singing teacher, in Modena, Italy.

"They are so keen to develop a relationship with Britain and were really impressed with my preparation and the fact I had learnt some of the language. I'd also taken gifts from Redcar and Cleveland Council and they sent back their warmest regards."

So Suzannah, who is currently training with Phillip Thomas of English National Opera and Lillian Watson in London, realises she is there to build diplomatic bridges as well as compete against 700 singers in the international competition. But as she tries, her health is failing.

Deep breath, focus the mind on the singing not the nausea, and it is time to perform. "I have built up a strong technique over the years and that sees me through," she says. "I sang Un Bel Di from Madam Butterfly, Titanic and Danny Boy. They thought Danny Boy was a Korean song. But after not eating for four days I was very ill."

Four performances later, and after completing a radio recording session for the Voice of Korea and being followed around all day by a local television documentary camera crew, Suzannah finally collapses and is rushed to hospital. She is on a drip when the news comes through that she has won gold at the competition along with the hearts of the North Korean people, who have since invited her back.

Before she returns to a country she finds fascinating and friendly she has a new role to play at Darlington College of Technology. "The editor of The Northern Echo, Peter Barron, sits on a think tank at the college and suggested I get involved too," recalls Suzannah, who sang the National Anthem at Wembley Stadium at the opening ceremony of the Euro 96 and performed before the 2001 England v Albanian World Cup qualifying game at St James' Park, Newcastle. "I've sung in the past with Darlington Operatic Society and he knew I was keen to work in the area and would love to put anything I can back into the community. I have got all this expertise so why not pass some of it on to make a few young lives a bit easier by highlighting some of the difficulties they might face."

Suzannah will join the think tank that helps develop courses at the college and will also stage master classes for students and the public on May 29.

Tony Metcalf, head of Media and the Arts at Darlington College says: "Suzannah is one of the top professionals in her field, and it is a real feather in our cap that she has decided to work with us. For such a star, Suzannah is very friendly, down-to-earth and approachable and is only too willing to help. It has been a pleasure working with her, and we are confident that she will deliver huge benefits to us."

About 95 per cent of people drop out of the business because it is too difficult, according to Suzannah. "There is a lot of stress because you never know where or when you will be working next. I have been lucky enough to travel to a lot of different countries and have worked in a lot of different theatres and, whether it is opera or pop, a lot of the basics are the same. You need to know how to avoid stress with the management, a bit of contract law, how to avoid vocal problems and recognise them when they arise - and what to do if you have a big concert and are feeling really sick."

Suzannah also hopes to perform with the students and local singers. "There really is a lot they can pick up from me," she says. "Some college courses don't tell the students what they really need to know. I can tell them what it's like in the field because it is a very strange and tough business. Look at me, I'm big in Korea where they haven't a clue who Pavarotti is."