What first seemed like an unremarkable moment with her choir buddies, singing into a “well in Italy with a nice echo,” has turned into a life-changing one for Kansas teen Tiffany Ruan.
The high-school junior was travelling in Italy last month with Wichita Collegiate School’s choir, the Madrigals, when they stopped at the wishing well in Spoleto.
A video of Ruan singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah into the well spread quickly across the internet, with some saying Ruan had the voice of “an angel.”
“I was not expecting so much support from people. It got super-overwhelming,” Ruan told CBS-affiliate KWCH.
The 17-year-old singer shared the video last Monday, which garnered reactions from around the world, many calling the moment “precious” and “so beautiful.” Her high-school vocal music teacher Matt Webber described the moment as “special.”
The adulation and demand for more of her singing from new fans has encouraged Ruan to pursue music professionally.
“A week before I posted that video, I had made up my mind. I told myself that I’m going to go for the more realistic, more stable route and just pursue, like, engineering,” she said.
Ruan said music has been her passion in life — she’s a classically trained pianist and violinist — but never thought she’d get the opportunity to turn it into a living.
“Now that this video has kind of gotten big and I’ve been presented with all these opportunities, I think my mindset has changed and I’d really love to pursue music professionally.”
She’s been mum on what those opportunities are, but she has promised to post more videos of her performing original songs and has posted a full-length rendition of Hallelujah on her YouTube channel, where she goes by her stage name, Tiffany Day.
Her dream is to keep sharing her music with the world.
“I want to produce music that has that effect on people and help people have a better day,” Ruan said. “Especially songs that are more strong in the message they give. I feel like that’s something that’s really important to me.”
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