Chinese student goes viral after he stands up during opera performance to sing male lead

October 26, 2021

An opera fan was praised on Chinese social media as a “hero” for his impromptu performance during a concert featuring Cuban American operatic soprano Lisette Oropesa.

The opera’s hero: During Lisette Oropesa’s encore performance in Teatro Regio di Parma in Italy, opera fan Liu Jianwei stood up from his seat and sang the male lead portion of a song, reported South China Morning Post.

Liu, a graduate student at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Nicolini di Piacenza, had been a fan of Oropesa for years. When the singer chose to sing “La Traviata,” which required a male singing partner, Jianwei took on the role.
“I stood up to sing because Lisette Oropesa is a musician I love very much and I happened to have learned this opera before,” Liu said.
According to South China Morning Post, he joined in during the song’s second bar since no male singer sang for the first bar.

While Oropesa was surprised, as captured on video, she smiled after hearing the student sing.
After the singer’s concert, Liu reportedly apologized. Oropesa gave him her signature as well as took photos with him.

Reactions: According to the reports, Liu became a topic of national pride in China as many people called him “a Chinese hero at the concert.”

On Weibo, users praised him. One person wrote, “Hats off for this young guy.”
However, Liu felt that his act in the concert was considered “rude” and that he does not want others to follow his example.
“It is definitely not something worthy of pride, nor something worthy of being advocated,” Liu stated in a video posted to Weibo.
“Please don’t interrupt singers when they are singing on stage. It’s impolite behavior,” he added. “Don’t imitate me and I will never do this again in the future.”

Featured Image via 163.com

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