Pianist leaves audience stunned after impromptu performance takes a surprise twist
A pianist has become an overnight sensation after his performance at a cafe took an unexpected twist. Emil Reinert was at the Dritan Alsela coffee shop in Dusseldorf, Germany, earlier this week when he launched into a piece from the opera ‘La Traviata’. The surrounding diners looked bewildered at the musical outburst as they sat casually sipping their drinks. However, Reinert himself was left with “goosebumps” when a man sitting across the room suddenly erupted into song. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The stranger with the Royal Albert Hall-worthy voice accompanied the piano player until the end of the verse, at which point a second surprise performer piped in. The man’s friend, who was sitting opposite him, also turned out to be an opera singer and, together, the trio wrapped up the impromptu rendition to rapturous applause. @emiliopiano I met 2 SINGERS in a CAFÉ!! ? @Dritan Alsela Song: Libiamo ne' lieti calici Opera: La Traviata #piano #singing #verdi #traviata #libiamo #publicpiano #classicaltok #classicalmusic #opera #dritanalsela Reinert, who goes by the username emiliopiano on TikTok, posted a video of the spontaneous show, with the caption: “I met 2 SINGERS in a CAFÉ!!” In the overlay text to the two-minute clip, he wrote: “This is what happens when you play Italian music in a café.” He then wrote that he was “so happy” when the man joined him and noted that everyone in the room “soon became silent” and started filming on their phones. The Franco-German musician concluded his video by hailing the experience as proof of the unifying power of music. The recording racked up a staggering 53.9 million views in just two days, as fellow TikTokers shared their delight at the heartwarming display. “These people just got free tickets to a very expensive show,” one commented. “It’s fun cause they probably get paid to sing [...] so this was just for the moment,” wrote another. “As a former dancer I can tell you some people just love their art and share it anywhere anytime,” pointed out a third. “Music is a universal language even if you don’t understand the lyrics you can find beauty in the song,” said a fourth. And a fifth said: “I would love to be somewhere when this happens. It makes me so happy to see spontaneous joyful music.” Meanwhile, a number of killjoys were quick to flag that the whole thing was most probably “staged”. Reinert has amassed 2.2 million followers on TikTok thanks to his videos which have been shot in unlikely settings around Europe, from airports to beaches. Each one sees him happily tickling the ivories on his own before he’s joined by a “surprise” bystander who happens to have brought along an instrument or an exceptional singing voice. @emiliopiano I met a VIOLINIST at the Airport ?! ❤️ #piano #pianogare #mentalhealthawarenessweek #tohelpmyanxiety #pianoengare #pianoairport #violin #violinist #pianoduo #pianoduet #pianoduetchallenge #pianotutorial #pianomusic #pianolesson #pianoplayer #pianist #pianocover #pianotok @RIOPY And yet, as many fans point out, it doesn’t matter that the whole thing is pre-planned. “I know these are staged,” one viewer wrote. “But they still make me cry the happy tears.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
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The biggest talking points about Elon Musk from Grimes's revealing interview
Grimes has recently opened up about her relationship with ex-boyfriend Elon Musk, who is the father of her three-year-old son X Æ A-XII and one-year-old daughter Exa Dark Sideræl also known as "Y". During the in-depth interview with WIRED, the Canadian musician - whose real name is Claire Elise Boucher - told the interviewer "You get one Elon question," when the Space X, and Tesla CEO and Twitter owner and CTO was mentioned. However, the Oblivion singer covered everything from what she and Musk have learned from each other to her thoughts on the alleged cage fight anticipated to take place between Musk and Meta found Mark Zuckerberg. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Here are some of the biggest talking points from the WIRED interview: What she and Musk learned from each other Grimes described her time with Musk as "the best internship ever," and how "incredible" it was to witness everything he's doing with Space X. "That’s a master class in leadership and engineering and makes you understand how rare it is to have a leader of that quality," she said. She also said she believes she helped Musk to "have more fun," "soften him up" and "build family culture". She added: "And he steals a lot of my memes." On Musk and Twitter Recently, Musk has made headlines with the different choices he's made since he acquired Twitter. The company has consequently gone under some changes, from firing 80 per cent of the entire workforce to changing the name of the social media platform to 'X'. "He didn’t build the culture there. And the cultural fit has obviously been very intense," Grimes said. She noted how Musk has really high standards and the difficulty of his role "to be a great general and do something of that magnitude". The musician went on to say: "Elon has an old-world kind of discipline I really respect. And I think it rubs a lot of people the wrong way. They don’t want to be in that hardcore zone. If you’re not consenting to being in that hardcore zone, I get it." Grimes thinks Musk and Zuckerberg's cage fight will go ahead Grimes was asked for her take on the ongoing beef between Musk and Meta founder Zuckerberg which saw the pair agree via Twitter earlier this year to go head-to-head in a cage fight. She believes the fight will go ahead and commented: "Elon is very strong, but Zuck seems like he’s been training a ton." However she did add that she “would prefer that it didn’t happen”, but she believes it might be a good outlet for “trad masculinity". In one of their Twitter exchanges, Musk challenged Zuckerberg to a “literal d***-measuring contest," a tweet in which Grimes said she would "take credit" for. She further clarified that she didn't tell Musk to write the post, and said: “No, I was like, ‘Why don’t you cut to the chase and get out a ruler.’ I didn’t think he was going to tweet it.” Her children are "little engineers" When asked about Musk bringing their son X into business meetings, Grimes expressed her support given the youngster's interest in rockets. "He knows more about rockets than me," she said, calling him a "little engineer". So much so, Grimes gave an example of her son's "obsession with space," recalling the time he had a "three-day PTSD meltdown," when Starship blew up back in April. Grimes also described her daughter Y as a "little engineer". "She likes industrial shipping. She’s very strange," she added. On Musk's differing views Previously, Grimes and Musk have shared disagreements on Twitter, most notably their different positions on gender with Musk tweeting "'pronouns suck," back in 2020, with people online calling his comment “disgusting” and “transphobic". "I love you but please turn off ur phone or give me a call. I cannot support hate. Please stop this. I know this isn’t your heart," Grimes replied at the time in a since-deleted tweet. Recently, Musk tweeted in June that the words “cis” and “cisgender” are now considered slurs on Twitter. "I don’t want to talk about this too much. But take the trans thing. After that, we had a big, long conversation. I was like, 'I want to dissect why you’re so stressed about this.' "I was like, OK, you don’t hate trans people, you hate woke culture. I get that it can be annoying, and you have concerns about the fertility thing." "He’s just on Twitter, and he’s unhappy with woke people, and the arguments happened," the artist added. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
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Boost morale and win over the fans – The issues facing Gary O’Neil at Wolves
Gary O’Neil has been appointed as the new Wolves head coach on a three-year contract following the departure of Julen Lopetegui. Here, the PA news agency looks at the key issues in his in-tray at Molineux. Steady ship and pick up morale It has been a turbulent summer at the club. Relegation was ultimately avoided with something to spare last season, but then problems began as the reinforcements Lopetegui wanted did not arrive and some key players left. With rumours of disquiet growing louder by the week, the players left have effectively been told throughout pre-season that they are not good enough. Morale will likely be low and one of O’Neil’s first tasks will be to restore some order. Get the fans onside As well as getting the players on board, O’Neil is going to have to win over the fans. After the high-profile appointment of Lopetegui, a former Spain and Real Madrid coach with a strong reputation, the arrival of the former Bournemouth boss is underwhelming by comparison. It was clear some supporters were beginning to tire of Lopetegui’s complaints and perhaps felt replacing him now was better than allowing the situation to deteriorate further, but they could be forgiven for having doubts about the new man at the helm. Despite making an impression at Bournemouth last season, he remains relatively inexperienced and needs to prove himself. Identify modest targets The root of Lopetegui’s problems with the club was their need to balance the books. After spending heavily prior to the Spaniard’s arrival, a tightening of the purse strings has been necessary to ensure compliance with Financial Fair Play regulations. The implication from Lopetegui was that he was not aware of the extent to which this was necessary and consequently felt let down. After that rumpus, O’Neil should be more aware of the club’s financial constraints. The squad will need strengthening in areas, particularly in terms of strikers, and he will need to identify realistic targets. Make a point to Bournemouth This will not be in his in-tray as such, but O’Neil will also be driven by personal ambitions as well as those of the club. He took over in difficult circumstances at Bournemouth early last season, when Scott Parker was sacked after saying his squad was “under-equipped” to compete in the Premier League. He took the same group of players and guided them to a 15th-placed finish. His subsequent dismissal by the Cherries was widely regarded as harsh. By making an impact at Molineux he can undoubtedly make a point. Prepare for Old Trafford There will be little time to settle before the first game of the Premier League season arrives, and it is hardly a straightforward opener. Wolves travel to Manchester United on Monday. He will need to catch up quickly on Wolves’ pre-season performances, analyse what he has at his disposal and put a team together. It is a tall order but, in terms of assessing United, he may at least have some recent work to fall back on, having faced Erik ten Hag’s side in his penultimate match with Bournemouth. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live
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