Yan, Alice. (2021, October 19). Chinese opera fan becomes online celebrity after standing in for male lead during encore performance. South China Morning Post.
Cuban-American soprano, Lisette Oropesa, was singing her 4th encore after performing in an opera, in Italian, in Italy. The song she was singing was from La Traviata, and has a tenor part, but there was no tenor on stage at that point. Chinese student Liu Jianwei is a tenor studying opera in Italy, and he was in the audience. He joined in. Despite the fact that she seemed delighted, he’s concerned that it was inappropriate, and asks that others not imitate him. At the same time, it’s a lovely example of how the arts can bring people together across national boundaries.
The video clip has been widely posted to social media (incuding Reddit and Facebook) and has garnered a lot of attention.
Center for Intercultural Dialogue 