Greece is the word for weightlifting opera singer

It all started with a fitness bootcamp in his garage.

Now, Otago alumnus Niuafolau Joel Amosa (a descendent of Vaiala, Leauva’a and Magiagi villages in Samoa) is off to Greece to compete in the World Masters Weightlifting Championship in Athens.

“In 2020 I started a free fitness bootcamp from my garage for the community. It quickly expanded to the nearby mall carpark to accommodate the numbers,” Joel says.

“We did general forms of fitness and wellbeing with a mental health debrief after each session.”

"...I didn’t want money to be the reason why our people couldn’t access this information. So all my classes were completely free. The only catch was, class was 4.30am.”

Joel then picked up weightlifting during the country’s second lockdown.

“The goal was to utilise the eight-week period and come out with a new skill.”

He found a coach to help him with barbell movements, and also self-educated so he could relay the same methods and teachings to the community.

“Cost of living has always been a hot topic and I didn’t want money to be the reason why our people couldn’t access this information. So all my classes were completely free. The only catch was, class was 4.30am.”

Joel has come a long way since then, competing regionally in Auckland and Hamilton, and earning a personal best total of 262kg at the South Island Weightlifting Champs in Nelson this year.

Athens will be his first international competition. He will compete in the Men’s 35-40 age bracket in the 110kg+ weight class.

“Honestly, I’m most looking forward to wearing the NZ singlet and representing literally everyone who has been a part of my journey. I am a proud husband and a father of two young girls. I hope to leverage my passion in weightlifting to show them anything is possible.

“From the garage, the carpark bootcamps and the gym to the world stage...I just never would’ve believed this is actually happening.”

Joel came to Otago in 2008 to do a Bachelor of Music after picking up solo singing in his senior years at Dilworth School in Auckland.

“The Music Department was a formidable force as a location for singing, and I’m grateful for my time there.”

His Otago experience turned out to be both educational and life changing.

“I went to Knox College, was the Knox College Students’ Club President in 2009 for its 100th year, I was a member of the Capping Show Sextet for three years, I was a bouncer at the mighty Captain Cook Tavern, then a DJ for a few years.

“And I met my best friend and wife Maia Amosa (née Vegar) at Otago in 2010. She’s also a singer. We sung our first opera together – she played my on-stage wife and I was the cheating husband!”

Joel went on to complete a Postgraduate Diploma in Music (PGDipMus) in Vocal Performance in 2013 and is now based in Auckland, working as a freelance opera singer and an ASB community engagement manager (where he also co-chairs the ASB Pasifika Network).

“I’ve been with ASB for 11 years now and they’ve supported my passion for singing year on year, allowing me to work and sing in different cities across the country while maintaining fulltime employment.”

In 2018, Joel won the prestigious Lexus Song Quest, now known as the Kiri Te Kanawa Song Quest.

“That opened a lot of doors for me in the singing space – resident artist for NZ Opera in 2019, vocal masterclasses in Italy, various operas with NZ Opera, Wellington Opera, Auckland Opera Studio, Festival Opera (Napier), Opera Otago and many other oratorio organisations nationwide."

“Currently, I have just finished singing in the Marriage of Figaro with NZ opera in Wellington, the role of Escamillio in Carmen in Blenheim and Wellington, I’m prepping for Faure Requiem in Auckland Town Hall, Mozart Requiem in Hawkes Bay and a concert series in Brisbane, and a last concert in Waitangi with NZ Opera at the end of November.”

While there may not seem to be an obvious link between weightlifting and singing, Joel says they share the same journey in terms of length of time required to master the craft.

"It’s just you on a stage, meeting the moments for the heaviest lift of your life or the highest note in your range in front of an audience who want the best for you but ultimately will have an opinion you can’t control."

“Also, both are individual and both display you at your most vulnerable. It’s just you on a stage, meeting the moments for the heaviest lift of your life or the highest note in your range in front of an audience who want the best for you but ultimately will have an opinion you can’t control.

“The techniques for both lifting and singing are similar – stamina, fitness, confidence, resilience etc… There are so many parallels between the two.”

Maintaining training and coaching sessions, daily work life, singing commitments, being a husband and a father of six and three-year old girls is a juggle, he says.

“But we can do hard things and I’m grateful for my wife, family, work and my gym aiga, who continue to support these endeavours.”

*Anyone interested in supporting Joel can follow his journey on Instagram

– Kōrero by Internal Communications Adviser Laura Hewson