Match made in NZ music

KENT BLECHYNDEN/Dominion Post

SINGING THEIR LOVE: `To not love Yulia would be the greater crime,' says Glyn MacLean. He is the singer's manager and pianist.

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Celine and Rene, Paul and Heather, John and Yoko - Yulia and Glyn?

Popular Christchurch classical and pop singer Yulia Townsend has announced her engagement to Glyn MacLean, her manager and pianist.

In a press statement charged with all the ardour of new love, Mr MacLean drew attention to the celebrity engagement.

"Isn't it funny that you can think: 'I'm her manager, I must be professional ... only to find that the real integrity lies in finding your true feelings and testing them?" he wrote.

In the end, "to not love Yulia would be the greater crime", he wrote.

Meeting in person yesterday, he was equally passionate.

"I shoot from the hip as a writer. It's how I feel."

The pair met in the middle of last year before moving to Wellington and declaring their love in an internet conversation at Christmas.

"That's when we first confessed our love to each other," Yulia said.

Age is one issue the couple have overcome - Mr MacLean is 39, and Yulia is 22.

"I guess you could draw parallels to Celine Dion and her husband Rene, in that there is an age difference," he wrote.

The age gap between the Canadians is 26 years.

"Wisdom knows no such boundaries, and Yulia's own life path has been remarkably similar to mine."

The wedding was likely to be in next month, though they would just as happily get married next week, Mr MacLean said.

Yulia moved from Russia to New Zealand in 2002 after Kiwi Bill Townsend and her mother wed.

- © Fairfax NZ News