Family ties bringing stage star home

Russian-born singer Yulia is shifting to Masterton to ready for motherhood.
The 23-year-old wife of former Masterton radio station manager Glyn McLean, 40, said yesterday she is excited to living with him in Masterton, to allow the couple to be closer to his five-year-old son Aiden from a previous relationship.
"I'm looking forward to being a stepmother to Aiden. He's a lovely wee chap who's easy to be with, who will become a wonderful man," she said.
"At that age he is like a sponge, soaking up the greatness of the world, and I would love to contribute as much as possible to his worldview and his upbringing."
Yulia, who married McLean in a grand ceremony in Christchurch last year, said she is keen to have children with McLean "when I'm 25 or 26 years, that would be reasonable".
She said her role as stepmother for Aiden avoids "the nappies and sleep deprivation" that infancy usually forces upon parents and her preparation for motherhood is made easier as "he is a very responsible, very marvellous young man - he's on to it".
Yulia was born in Volgograd in Russia and immigrated to New Zealand in 2002. She was naturalised in 2005 and said it was at first a shock to come from "a city the size of France to a lot smaller Christchurch".
"I have passed through Masterton and it is even smaller. But I will get used to it and it is central - we can go all over New Zealand from there and take an international flight from Wellington if there is a need," she said.
"It is a lot smaller there but I lived in a very tiny one-room apartment in Volgograd. It would be lovely to have a backyard and drink red wine at sunset in Masterton. Nice and cosy.
"It's the people that make places not the other way around."
Her conversation was yesterday slotted between Internet chat with fans through her website and a live radio interview ahead of her Christmas Romance Tour that starts at the end of the month after she appears at the March for Democracy in Auckland this Saturday.
She said the shift to Masterton would be made at the end of the three-centre tour, during which she will share a stage alongside John Rowles and Brendan Horan, and will pace a scattering of show dates at vineyards across the country in the New Year.
The newly reclassified mezzo-soprano has just completed nine months of "total immersion" in Russian and Italian opera method of voice conditioning to strengthen her vocal top end, she said.
The study was to bring her on par with international singers Celine Dion and Mariah Carey and has helped cultivate a "growing" four-octave range that will be explored on her upcoming third album.
Yulia said she has a repertoire of songs that comprise nine languages including English, Russian, Ukrainian, Italian, French, Latin, German, Maori and Spanish.
She counts herself privileged to have performed so far in her career with Engelbert Humperdinck, Amici Forever, Dame Malvina Major, Ivan Rebroff, Russell Watson, Sir Howard Morrison and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
McLean said the shift to Masterton "is all about being there for Aiden" but would eventually mean an inaugural Wairarapa show for his wife, he said.
Possible performances include the Summer Swing date, vineyard shows or an entertainment format titled Yulia & Friends, where the singer and her husband take two young performers and put them through their show and vocal paces before taking to the stage together.
Their decision to begin a family within the next couple of years has been successful for some of Yulia's international counterparts that proves pregnancy does not preclude performance, McLean said
"If things go down that path I would most probably be a stay at home Dad like I was with Aiden but we're looking at the whole possibility very carefully."