When the LAPD posted this clip of an apparently homeless woman singing opera on the subway...the world was blown away.
Mystery Of LA's Subway Soprano Solved
https://patch.com/california/hollywood/mystery-las-subway-soprano-solved
LOS ANGELES, CA — She's the subway Soprano, whose voice echoed across a Los Angeles subway platform and across Twitter, forcing the world take notice of a homeless woman.
Within hours of a Los Angeles Police Department officer posting video of a homeless woman singing next her worldly belongings at a metro station platform Friday, hundreds of thousands of people had watched the haunting video and Emily Zamourka's world was changed in an instant. Five GoFundMe pages were started to support her, and reporters flocked to the metro station in search of her.
Zamourka, a classically trained violinist from Russia, had been living on the street after she was brought down by catastrophic medical bills. Her $10,000 violin had been stolen from her, leaving her to earn money by singing for passersby. She had no idea how her world would change last week when she performed on a quiet platform for an LAPD officer.
He recorded her performance and uploaded it to Twitter from the official LAPD twitter account, noting, "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."
Zamourka is grateful for the post, mainly for the outpouring of kindness it provoked.
"If they would not be there that day I wouldn't be here and I wouldn't hear so many comments about me, good ones," she explained to Inside Edition.
Lately, life has been hard for Zamourka.
"I was sleeping outside, wherever I could go," she said.
Now Zamourka may soon have help getting back on her feet thanks to supporters touched by her voice. She might even get a violin back thanks to a fellow artist.
Solo violinist Eliza James saw the video and volunteered to give Zamourka a violin.
One GoFundMe page raised more than $4,000 in just hours. It called for the community to help get Zamourka off the street and back doing what she loves most.
"Emily is homeless she sleeps on a sheet of cardboard in a parking lot with a towel for a pillow and plastic for a blanket not to mention she is a woman alone on the streets, winter is coming, the sooner we get the funds to her the better," according to the GoFundMe post. "Emily could be anyone of us she didn't become homeless because of her vises, she has none, she was the victim of a crime and an assault that stole her livelihood but not her heart and mind. I want to help Emily because unlike so many people out there she doesn't need a hand out she needs a hand up. She is a brilliant talent that needs to be heard and enjoyed once again in Los Angeles, I for one look forward to that day."