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Karen Cargill and Nick Zekulin
Names: Karen Cargill (29) and Nicolas Zekulin (34)
Born: Arbroath and Toronto (respectively)
Lived in Scotland: 29 years and six years (respectively)
There have been historical ties between Scotland and Canada since the eighteenth century, so it only seemed natural for Karen Cargill and husband Nicolas Zekulin to continue that tradition.
"I was doing my Concert Performance Masters course at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) in Glasgow," Karen recalls.
"I had completed one year and was offered the opportunity to go to the University of Toronto on an exchange for the second year in 1998. Nick and I were involved in the opera choruses together.
"We were in Toronto for a year and got engaged there. We decided to come back here as Nick has dual Canadian and British citizenship so it made sense. I had also been offered a scholarship to come back to the Alexander Gibson Opera School at RSAMD."
Nick's mother is originally from Glasgow, so choosing Scotland as their base wasn't a hard decision to make.
"It suited us both so well," adds Nick. "I'd always had a feeling I would live here because of my family connections and I'd always felt a strong link with Scotland. The opportunities were more limited for Karen in Canada because she didn’t have Canadian status and was only on a student visa for ten months."
The couple were married in Arbroath in August 2000 and have no doubts they made the right decision to make their base in Glasgow.
Karen is a professional Mezzo Soprano and Nick is Performance and Musical Events Manager at RSAMD in Glasgow.
"Scotland was a great choice for us. We definitely did the right thing putting down the roots here," Nick explains.
"Glasgow is a great place to study. Academically, Scotland has always had its own tradition of higher learning – that long respected tradition is the real appeal.
"Plus there's such a buzz here. The social life for young adults is great and there's a great music scene. Not just classical, the rock scene is taking off – people are really focusing on it in the way they focused on Manchester in the early 1990s.
"Glasgow has all the benefits of being a big city and yet it's not so large that there are millions of people doing what you’re doing, unlike London. So for musicians and actors there are more opportunities."
Nick lived in Glasgow at the age of seven when his father, a university professor was on sabbatical in the UK.
"My grandmother still lives here so I have memories of it as a kid. But coming back as an adult, it's changed a lot. It's so vibrant and very much a young person's city.
"I loved it when I came here although I did find it hard that the seasons seemed to roll into one, whereas I was used to extremes of weather in Canada: -40°C in winter and +40°C in the summer."
Although originally from Arbroath, Glasgow also feels like home for Karen.
"I chose to study at the RSAMD because the standard of teaching is very high and it's a great creative environment for the students," she explains. "You get lots of hands-on experience. There no point doing a performance degree if you're not actually going to get to play, sing or act – because when you go into the outside world, that's what you’ll make you’re living from.
"That's one of the great things about Glasgow – there's always something of a really high standard happening every night of the week, whether it's classical music, dance, theatre or art. And as musicians it gives us more opportunity to expand our artistic development, as there are more work opportunities.
"It's so culturally diverse – in the world of music, we've got the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the International Concert Hall, the Scottish Ensemble, and festivals such as Celtic Connections (Scotland's winter festival of traditional music)."
Travelling all over the world performing, Karen always looks forward to coming back.
"I absolutely love Glasgow, it's a thriving and comfortable city to live in, and always feels like home.
"There something about being Scottish – people love it! Wherever I go people are always desperate to tell you about their Scottish heritage, that they have a grandmother or an aunt in Scotland – particularly when I went to Canada for the exchange.
"You're nurtured being Scottish by lots of different people – as soon as they find out, they get a bit cuddly and protective – people respond to it."
Scotland's First Minister is visiting Canada on 24 October and the RSAMD is sending a group of Scottish traditional musicians as part of the celebrations.
"I am acting as the coordinator between the RSAMD and the Scottish Government," Nick explains. "I am very sad not to be going myself!"
And Nick's recommendation for students thinking of coming to study in Scotland?
"Bring a brolly (a colloquial term for umbrella) and a glass for the fantastic whisky!"
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