Meet Kara
Kara is a singing teacher, vocal coach, musical theatre performer, producer and the founder of Willow Studios. With more than 10 years of experience teaching one-on-one singing lessons and vocal coaching, she is passionate about helping people understand, trust and enjoy their own voices.
She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from the Victorian College of the Arts at the University of Melbourne and has completed Levels 1 and 2 of Estill Voice Training.
Kara has spent much of her own life training as a singer, working with vocal coaches from a young age through to her professional and university studies. Her training also extends beyond the voice. She studied dance from the age of four through to university, taught dance throughout her high school years, and has continued studying acting both during and after her university education.
That broad understanding of voice and performance shapes the way she teaches today. Kara combines evidence-based vocal knowledge with a practical, student-centred approach, helping singers develop efficient and sustainable technique, confidence, expression and the freedom to make their own artistic choices.
Everyone can sing.
Kara loves helping people understand how their voices work — from the anatomy and mechanics of singing to how different sounds feel in their own bodies.
She believes that every voice is unique, and that great teaching isn't about making everyone sound the same. It's about giving students the knowledge, skills and control to make their own artistic choices.
Her favourite moments are when students surprise themselves: when they achieve something they didn't think they could, discover a new sound in their voice, or realise just how much their voice is capable of.
Other performing arts work.
Alongside her teaching career, Kara has worked across many areas of the performing arts industry.
In 2018, she founded K Productions to create opportunities for recent musical theatre graduates, producing and performing in the sold-out The Songs of Pasek & Paul – You Will Be Found at Chapel Off Chapel.
She has also worked as a microphone technician on Lazarus and Thoroughly Modern Millie for The Production Company at Arts Centre Melbourne, and as a children's chaperone on School of Rock at Her Majesty's Theatre Melbourne.
Since moving to the Bellarine, she has continued performing locally with Geelong Lyric Theatre.
Why Willow?
When COVID brought the performing arts to a standstill, Kara moved to the Bellarine and began building Willow Studios in a new town, learning to teach online and gradually turning the studio into her full-time work.
Along the way, she realised that what she loves most isn't simply performing. It's teaching, watching people grow, and bringing people together through music.
That's what Willow is about.
Come as you are.
Everyone can sing.
We're here to help you sing the way you want to sound.