LOS ANGELES — Less than two weeks after her viral serenade from a California subway platform stunned viewers across the country, a homeless opera singer performed onstage Saturday for a crowd in Los Angeles.
According to KABC-TV, Emily Zamourka, 52, sang Puccini's "O Mio Babbino Caro" at an event on San Pedro's new Little Italy strip after Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino's office offered her the gig.
"Thank you so much for all of this that's happening right now," she told the audience. "I really thank you. I'm so overwhelmed."
The performance came as the songstress, who is originally from Russia, weighed a possible record deal from producer Joel Diamond, KABC reported. Meanwhile, fans continued to donate to two GoFundMe campaigns for Zamourka, raising more than $110,000 as of Monday morning. Buscaino's office also provided her with a hotel room and is helping her find a home, according to the TV station.
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Zamourka, who is primarily a violinist and pianist, said she taught herself to sing, the Los Angeles Times reported last week. She came to the United States nearly three decades ago, initially taking jobs at a nursing home and restaurant before she eventually began to teach piano lessons, Zamourka told the newspaper.
But Zamourka's health started to deteriorate, and she hit a financial rough patch, she said. She was able to make extra money as a street musician until someone broke her violin, the Times reported. She later became homeless, she told the newspaper.
Things finally started to look up after the Los Angeles Police Department shared a video of her singing the Puccini aria in a subway station on Sept. 26.
"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," the department captioned the clip, which has been viewed more than 1 million times.