6 | YOU Magazine
Zara Ballara (nee Hollis) on stage during a fundraising concert with Ashburton College’s Phoenix Chorus.
PHOTO AMANDA KONYN
From P5 “I was singing so much and I was surrounded by singers. It was wonderful, a time when you said ‘yes’, to every opportunity,” she said. The world of music was at Zara’s feet but she admits that as a couple they realised it might be time to grow up, put roots down. It was time to start a family. “The boys came along and it was an excuse not to sing anymore. I was rash, I said, ‘I’ll never sing again, it’s a young person’s game’.” As their boys grew, Zara and Carlos started to think about the kind of upbringing they wanted for their children. That wasn’t in London. They wanted their boys to experience their growing years surrounded by extended family and in a simpler environment. Returning to New Zealand four years ago meant Zara was turning her back on the opportunities she had worked so hard to create in London, but she wanted to be able to enjoy music without pressure. Today she is an itinerant music teacher at Medbury School in Christchurch and as head of voice at Canterbury University tutors in performance music. She’s part of a wave of new, younger tutors who have returned from overseas with fresh, new ideas and that creates an exciting and stimulating environment in which to work – or be a student, Zara said. “I’m now doing what I want and with no
pressure. It’s a mentorship role now and for students it’s great, they get to work with professionals and they get to have fun. I love teaching. I guess it’s part of getting back into performing, I keep making demands on my students; I’m putting their shoes on again.” For some singers, time is an enemy, for others a friend and Zara says time has been kind to her voice, she’s lucky she is still able to sing, but she no longer takes lessons. “I should have a teacher. I can hear in my students things I want to fix and I can tell them how to fix it, but I should have that too,” she said. Her work is not just with talented singers, Zara admits she gains huge satisfaction from working with students who just want to improve their singing, not build a career. “I’m very lucky to be able to do both, having high pressure university all the time would be too intense.” While opera is her genre, Zara describes herself as a closet pop singer. “I’d listen to pop concerts by choice.” That dream might be lived by son Luca. He has a good voice but claims he doesn’t want to do mum’s kind of singing, he wants to be a rock star. Zara says she looks at her boys, at the way they’ve grown as people since their return to New Zealand and knows the decision to come home was the right one.
“I always wanted my children to enjoy their grandparents because my nana was an important part of my life; she was significant in defining who I am. I look at my boys though and realise I’m getting older, I’m 43 and in denial.” And in spite of vowing when Luca and Matteo were born that her singing days were over, she does sing, likes to prove to herself that her talent is still alive. She was on stage in Ashburton recently as guest artist in a fundraising concert for the Ashburton College Phoenix Chorus for its trip to the Gold Coast to participate in the finals of the Glee! Competition. The lure of being part of her old chorus was too strong to resist, Zara said, but she admits that before stepping out on stage she was nervous. She has her own way of dealing with nerves. “I always think about the treat I’m going to get when the singing is over and it’s always a burger, it doesn’t matter which kind.” Zara might have reached the point of comfort in her career, but says she still has goals to achieve. The next one is likely to be working towards a doctorate. “It’ll be a long-winded thing, I’m not stopping working to do it. I’m in a really good place in my life. I’ve worked really hard and I didn’t know I wanted to be here until I came back for the boys; it was divine intervention.”