How exciting for this 9-year old to be able to share her gift with such a large crowd, one which couldn’t be more appreciative or enthused. Little Amira Willighagen of Nijmegen in The Netherlands stepped in front of the judges and audience on “Holland’s Got Talent” in 2013, When they saw her, they surely thought she was going to be a typical kid singing yet another cover a fluffy pop song.
Amira looked a bit nervous — she has never been before such a large audience…However, she was about to give everyone a big surprise. Jury doubt her more when she said she chose an opera for her debut performance.
The judges couldn’t hide their surprise over this difficult choice, looking at that tiny figure standing on the stage, no one had probably even imagine that she would nail it from the first to the ever last note. they were about to be blown away!
One of the judges admitted that the young girl was going to sing a kiddie song, but Amira fired back by saying that she had always loved to sing opera since they are beautifully soothing. Looking at their facial expressions, the judges seemed to be already planning to gently let her down at the end of the performance.
Just moments after opening her mouth, the judges and audience were all taken aback by her powerful voice, no one could imagine those incredible vocals would be coming from a tiny girl! She has such strong lung power that fills the entire stadium.
Now, you have to know the best part of this whole performance, which is the story behind Amira’s incredible voice. Her brother plays the violin, and she wanted to do something special for Queen’s Day with him.
So she searched on YouTube for opera videos and spent days learning how to sing.. This is unbelievable!
Take a peek at the video below to see this amazing self-taught talent wow the judges with her pitch-perfect rendition of Puccini’s “O Mio Babbino Caro” from the opera “Gianni Schicchi.” You will be truly stunned!
The jury (Gordon, Dan Karaty and Chantal Janzen) were stunned and gave her one of their “golden tickets,” which meant that Amira went directly to the live shows. Gordon is not the only one who was amazed to hear about how she was self-taught. She has had nothing to go by but the recorded works that she has listened to and sung with, over and over, till they became part of her.
Gordon speaks of the purity and beauty of her voice and how the spirit of her singing reminds him of the great Maria Callas.
Wow, this girl is definitely an old soul. Bravo, Amira. Bravo!
