While immersed in the captivating performance of Lisette Oropesa at Italy’s prestigious Teatro Regio di Parma, opera enthusiast Liu Jianwei, a 24-year-old student, noticed an incomplete harmony in the air.
It was during Oropesa’s fourth encore, where her vocal prowess had already enchanted the audience, that the absence of a tenor to accompany the iconic “Sempre libera” became apparent.
Seizing the moment, Liu lent his voice to the performance, delivering the tenor’s notes from his seat, much to the surprise and delight of both Oropesa and the audience.
Thankfully, someone captured the unexpected duet and shared it on social media. It was surprising that it quickly went viral, garnering 2.8 million viewers. Watch it in the video below:
Initially surprised to hear the tenor part sung from the audience, Oropesa’s shock turned into delight and gratitude towards Liu for completing the arrangement. She gestured for him to continue and held her hands to her heart, expressing appreciation with an “oh grazie!”
Liu, feeling concerned about being rude, apologized to Oropesa after the show. To his delight, she was pleased to meet him, took a photo together, and even signed an autograph for the young singer.
The video caught viewers’ attention as a flood of positive comments were seen. One Youtube viewer wrote, “It wasn’t rude, it was brilliant. He filled the missing part in the show and gave everyone in the audience a unique performance.”
Another continued, “Honestly this was very delightful. It’s an encore piece which is more casual than the main performance and she looked genuinely glad he joined in. It shows the audience really liked her performance so in my opinion it was a huge compliment for her.
Because some viewers said he was rude or impolite for stealing the artist’s lines, many raised their voice to defend Liu’s support. A person commented, “He was not singing her parts. He was singing a part that has been missing which completes the entire piece. It was an unplanned encore piece.”