An opera singer who stunned stag do revellers with his astonishing version of Nessun Dorma has said he is ‘flabbergasted’ after a video of the rendition went viral.
Welshman Timothy Richards was recorded belting his heart out in Tallinn, Estonia, where he gave the ‘once in a lifetime’ performance to a room full of Brits.
Footage filmed in the Satumaa Karaoke Bar shows dozens of men brought to their feet by the powerful performance as they sing along to the iconic piece of Italian opera.
But the most soul-stirring moment of all comes at the aria’s climax where the partygoers raise their arms high in the air with whoops and cheers as Mr Richards perfectly hits the famous concluding note.
Following the spectacular showing of May 11 this year, a video was finally uploaded last night – though it was only a matter of hours before it surpassed one million views and amassed thousands of likes.
Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Richards, who currently lives in Germany but had been performing in Richard Wagner’s romantic opera Lohengrin the night before in Estonia, said he had arrived at the karaoke bar in a group of six – having never previously been to one in his life.
The singer said: ‘I was in town at the same time as these guys – I didn’t even know who they were.
‘We had a few drinks and soon I was up. I enjoyed it. They [the revellers] all knew it that’s why sang together.
‘I just went with it. I left the building straight away and then sort of forgot about it – until today.
‘I only heard about the video from children who use TikTok. I was ecstatic and flabbergasted to see the response and I am still pinching myself.’
Mr Richards, who studied at the Royal Northern College of Music Manchester, made his professional operatic debut in 1998 as Alfredo in La Traviata for Welsh National Opera.
The Tallinn stag do groom, Sam Stride, who Mr Richards is now in contact with, also recounted the memorable event which he described as the last night of his stag do.
Mr Stride also told MailOnline he was now looking into the process of ‘re-uniting for the big day’ with Mr Richards.
He described the experience as a ‘just a complete right time, right place’.
‘It’s not something you expect to see. I’ve seen Fulham get promoted and a lot of other big things. But this was better than all of that together.
Mr Stride recalled the bar was ‘pretty packed with British people’.
He said people from the smoking area came ‘flooding in’ as the song was performed and the moment was ‘pretty magical’.
Following circulation of the video on X, a number of people commented to sing the praises of Mr Richards.
Someone said: ‘Cancel the wedding, it does not get better than this.’
Another person added: ‘Absolutely unreal.’
And a third said: ‘As good as it gets. Delighted for you.’
