There are those rare occasions when a concert encore completely eclipses the performance preceding it. That was definitely what happened at an October 2021 recital in Parma, Italy. The soprano Lisette Oropesa was drawing to the end of her performance when she decided, on the spur of the moment, to add a fourth, completely unrehearsed encore. A wonderful moment of spontaneity - with just one problem. The aria she wanted to sing, ‘Sempre Libera’ from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La traviata, requires a tenor. And there was no tenor in sight.
What happened next was a little bit special. Sensing the impending silence, one Liu Jianwei, a music student from a nearby conservatory, rose from his seat in the audience and reeled off the offstage tenor part, much to Oropesa's (and the audience's) delight.
Audience members captured the magical moment on video, and soon enough clips of Liu Jianwei's happy intervention were circulating across social media, YouTube and TikTok. The impromptu star later met with Oropesa backstage to offer an apology. No apology needed.
Watch the moment - and Lisette Oropesa's stunned, joyous reaction - below: