Videos go viral on social media for lots of reasons. But opera singer Jennifer Rowley has a theory as to why a video of her recent Frost School of Music masterclass has racked up more than one and a half million views on social media: It’s because of how high she and the student, Haojin Mo, were singing.
“I post a lot of videos, and to get a lot of views, you need to be good at high notes,” says Rowley. “Last week, I did one just singing a high B for 10 seconds, and it got a ton of views. So there’s that. Also, any video focused on advice for singing usually does well because people are hungry for that info.”
The now-viral video was shot at a masterclass in which Rowley gave pointers to Mo, a first-year doctoral student in Vocal Performance at the Frost School, as she sings excerpts from what’s known as the „Doll Song“ from Offenbach’s „Tales of Hoffman.“ Rowley responds with enthusiastic bows to Mo’s acrobatic vocal performance, while cheers and applause ring out in the background.
A post shared by Jennifer Rowley (@larowley1)
In addition to more than 1.6 million (and counting) views on Facebook, the video picked up another 200,000-plus views on Instagram — the most views Rowley has ever had for a video. There were also hundreds of comments and thousands of likes on both sites. News of the video’s virality appeared in Musical America.
“Having something go viral like this is very beneficial for all of us,” says Dr. Frank Ragsdale, Chair of the Frost School’s Department of Vocal Performance. “The students get so much out of it because maybe something clicks just because they hear it from someone else. And it helps Jennifer’s profile. As artists and teachers, part of our reward comes from paying it forward, which she does all the time.”
A classical soprano, Rowley has been a major star in the opera world since her 2017 debut with New York’s Metropolitan Opera in “Cyrano de Bergerac” (deemed her “break-through moment” by the New York Times). Along with singing at engagements worldwide, she keeps busy teaching college-level masterclasses all over the country. She also runs the Aria Bootcamp in Sarasota, Florida.
Rowley came away from her class at the Frost School impressed with its students.
“Every student was eager to improve and learn,” she says. “Everyone was open to new ideas, which isn’t something I see all the time, and they all had the technical knowledge to apply what I told them. They made massive improvements in the 20 minutes each had, which means they’re being taught well.”
“Haojin Mo is especially super-talented. What she did in that video was just other-worldly, which is why I reacted so enthusiastically. A lot of the video commenters were saying, ‘This is the kind of passionate teaching we need to see in the arts’ or ‘I don’t normally like opera, but I love this.’”
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High notes – and high numbers – University of Miami
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