Meet Luciano Carvarotti, the opera-singer-turned car salesman who has gone viral

inquire st. Andrew Hiers well-nigh his vocation and until of late, he could name one of three things: Opera singer. Voice teacher. Voice actor.

But in January, the day after he turned 38, he added a new line to his resume: car salesman. 

And now? Tack on viral sensation. Because, somehow, he’s managed to roll all those professions into one. 

Videos of the classically trained bass-baritone on Instagram and TikTok are racking up millions of views, likes and shares, all of which feature him on the car lot, hitting the high — and low — notes about why a new Corvette or Nissan Rogue might be in your future. 

That said, he did not expect to get quite this much attention from his videos. He says he hoped to set himself apart from his colleagues and earn enough to finance a move within a year, likely to New York City or Los Angeles, where there are more opportunities for work onstage. 

But he’s leaning into it, including setting up a new Instagram account for his online persona Luciano Carvarotti and jumping on requests from comments about what to sing. He creates the lyrics, but uses traditional opera songs as the musical score. 

In one video, Nessun dorma, a song from Puccini’s final opera, Turandot, became Nissan dorma — inspiring a pitch-perfect video about the Nissan Rogue. If you want to buy a car, all you have to do is, “Ask for Andrew,” he sings in the video, with the operatic notes swelling behind him.

His voice is the star, shooting the videos with little setup besides a tripod, the car in question and, sometimes, a billboard featuring the dealership, Boniface Hiers Chrysler Dodge Jeep.

“Sometimes you'll hear the cars going by, but I think that might add to the authenticity,” he said with a laugh. “People don't think it's AI, you know?”  

Viral videos haven’t translated yet into many sales, though some of his followers were indignant upon learning the Corvette he featured in his first video got sold by someone else. But Hiers had sold his first car around the time of this interview, and he’s getting leads thanks to the music, recently meeting a man who saw his videos and brought his son in to look at a Jeep.

“He told his son that this guy, he only negotiates if you're gonna sing,” he said. “So we'll see if his son does that.”

And on Friday, shortly after this story was first published, he got in touch to say he had sold a truck that afternoon.

The company’s owner told him that he’s done more for the dealership’s social media profile in two months than he himself has in his entire career, Hiers said.

“It just shows how powerful social media can be if you know how to use it,” Justin Jarek, general manager at the dealership, told The Washington Post in an interview. 

Hiers started singing in church as a kid, before honing his voice in high school and at Florida State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance. He moved to New York for a few years before earning a masters degree in vocal performance at Binghamton University. 

While he built a career in theatre and opera, a cancer diagnosis at 30 and the pandemic — with its shuttering of live performance — had a significant impact on his ability to work.

After surgery and chemotherapy, Hiers worked with Manny Perez, a vocal teacher in Miami, to strengthen his voice. 

“It took my voice and body to [the] limit,” he said of the illness and treatment. “I had to completely rebuild my voice and stamina.”

Now, he sees this latest detour in his musical career as something he can use in auditions: the art of small talk, negotiation tactics and how to market himself for a role. And the success he’s had with the latter, has made him reconsider whether this current gig could be more lasting. 

"I'm a natural performer,” he said. “I eventually do wanna get back to the stage, but these [videos] are opening all sorts of doors I wouldn't have realized.”

Senior writer

Interview with Andrew Hiers produced by James Chaarani

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