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

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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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