Homeless soprano: Overnight fame for street singer after brilliant opera performance captures the world
A homeless Los Angeles woman has achieved instant viral fame, and a potential chance at a professional career after her brilliant opera singing caught the attention of an LAPD officer.
Underground the Californian metropolis’ Koreatown district, the unknown woman who had shopping bags and a trolley in tow could be heard belting out a Puccini classic, O mio babbino caro.
Once she noticed she was being recorded, she continued the performance, as her vocals were heard throughout the Metro station.
4 million people call LA home. 4 million stories. 4 million voices...sometimes you just have to stop and listen to one, to hear something beautiful. pic.twitter.com/VzlmA0c6jX
— LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) 27 September 2019
The woman was later identified as 52-year-old Emily Zamourka, who grew up in Russia and immigrated to America as a 24-year-old classically trained violinist and pianist.
But to everyone’s surprise, she’s never had any formal voice coaching.
Zamourka says she found it hard to work after dealing with a number of debilitating health problems.
She would then busk on LA’s busy streets, until her $10,000 violin was stolen three years ago.
“[The violin] was my income. It was my everything to me – I could not actually pay any of my bills and could not pay any more of my rent,” Zamourka told local television networks.
“I am sleeping, actually, on the cardboard in the parking lot. I’m sleeping where I can sleep.”
The original video has been viewed over 560,000 times with many people trying to get Ellen DeGeneres and America’s Got Talent’s attention.
For Zamourka, she just wants to leave her current circumstances behind.
“I will be so grateful to anyone who is trying to help me get off the streets,” she said.