LAURA BRETAN: 13 Year Old Opera Singer America’s Got Talent 2016 Auditions (@LAURABRETAN)

Laura Bretan is from Chicago, Illinois. Encouraged by her mother, Laura Bretan has been singing in church since she was a four-year-old girl. At age seven, while listening to Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty,“ she realized she can sing in a different manner, however she continued to sing only Christian music. In 2014, she started to listen to other genres and to learn some arias. She fell in love with classical music and has been an aspiring opera singer ever since. She believes she can touch people’s hearts with her voice and hopes she can inspire others, especially teenagers, to enjoy opera as much as she does after realizing that it is the most complex form of art. Her favorite composers are Giacomo Puccini and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Along with being American, Laura is also Romanian, born to Romanian parents. She went to Romania for her Romanian grandfather’s funeral and while there, she auditioned for the sixth season of Romania’s Got Talent at his wish. She eventually won the series. When she receives the cash prize, she will donate a big portion of it for orphans and to help end homelessness, two causes in which she strongly believes in. It was always a dream to perform on the America’s Got Talent stage, since the US is her birthplace. Audition Laura Bretan’s audition in Episode 1101 consisted of singing singing “Nessun dorma“ from the opera Turandot. The act received a standing ovation from Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Mel B, and Howie Mandel. Moved by her performance, Mel B pressed her Golden Buzzer to send Laura straight to the Quarterfinals.