如果说有人生来就属于舞台，叶璐毫无疑问就是这一类人。

        她是从温州走出去的世界级女高音歌唱家，在音乐路上，她先后收获了“意大利歌剧终身成就奖”、意大利“文化骑士”和“文化形象大使”等烙着音乐印记的荣誉勋章。

        她很喜欢奥黛丽赫本说的一句话:“The word IMPOSSIBLE means I’m POSSIBLE（“不可能”意味着“我可以”）”。这也是她的座右铭。

生而为歌者

        聊起艺术之路，叶璐用四个字来形容：逆流而上。

        叶璐是一位地道的温州人，出生于温州鹿城一个高级工程师家庭。叶璐觉得，自己与音乐十分“投缘”。从3岁起，她就喜欢唱歌，愿望是长大以后当一名歌唱家。

        叶璐的朋友、原温州电台资深主持人林达这样评价他对叶璐的第一印象：“进入广播电台不久，有一次去看温州市中学生的一个文艺汇演，整台节目下来给我印象最深的就是一个扎着两条辫子的当主持人的小女生，声音很甜美，普通话没的说，表情呢很到位，形象又好，对我来说这是一个很少见的很有潜力的小女生。”

        中学的时候，叶璐作为艺术特长生被温州第二中学录取，并得到了温州声乐教育家胡成辉的悉心指导，毕业后她顺利考上了杭州师范学院音乐系。

        上世纪80年代，多才多艺的叶璐如鱼得水，开始了她在艺术之路上的实践之旅。她在浙江省歌舞团、上海歌剧院当过独唱演员，曾是浙江电视台戏曲栏目的主持人，还上过中央电视台的金牌栏目“正大综艺”。

        当年，香港一家名为“永恒”的唱片公司找叶璐签约，一签就是三张唱片。这家曾推出过徐小凤、张明敏等歌星的唱片公司，为叶璐制作了《叶璐·女人的勇气》《叶璐·现代小周璇》《叶璐·系列1》等三张专辑，收到了不错的市场反响，叶璐也因此入选“中国最佳流行音乐百名歌手”。

        但是身为高级工程师的父母，却始终不同意她选择这样一条艺术道路，要送她去意大利学习贸易和经济学。

        在意大利求学期间，她阴差阳错地靠一曲中国民歌《兰花花》，结识了恩师雷纳托·萨巴蒂尼。这个机缘，也开启了叶璐的音乐专业的学习之路，她毅然开始寻找自己的生命道路。

        在学习意大利音乐史、意大利艺术史及文学史的同时，她还在意大利名闻世界的无伴奏合唱团“I C antori di Perugia”里担任独唱及领唱演员。

重拾歌者身份

        勤奋加上天赋，叶璐很快便在意大利的舞台上占有了一席之地。热爱音乐的她也有着无比浪漫的情怀，正当她的事业如鱼得水之时，她却为了爱情远赴加拿大蒙特利尔。

        婚后，叶璐一直以家庭为重，成为加拿大国家航空公司的白领职员。期间有5年，叶璐都不敢听音乐，把自己封闭起来。

        可是对音乐的爱赶不走，也逃不脱。一边是无比热爱的音乐事业，一边是骨肉至亲的温馨家庭，叶璐难以抉择。没有了音乐，就好像没有了生命。就在她独自纠结时，儿子的一席话鼓励了她，“如果你觉得意大利能对你的发展有好处，你就放心去吧。我没关系，再说你不是还会回来的吗！”

        儿子的理解与支持，给了叶璐再次前往意大利发展的勇气。就这样，她带着提前录制好的唱片重回意大利，她也终于在阔别舞台多年之后重返舞台。

        2004年，叶璐受朋友之邀参加当年的加拿大蒙特利尔国际电影节，就在她等待朋友之际，被一位好莱坞导演看中。于是，这一年，叶璐连拍了两部电影：在好莱坞电影《维克·帕克》中，叶璐饰演一名中文女翻译；在加拿大法语片《希望》中，她扮演一名寡妇。

        2013年6月到7月，叶璐在不到一个半月的时间里，先后4次出现在意大利国家电视台特别节目的转播演出现场。在意大利最重要的文学节上，她曾作为国际女高音歌唱家上阵。

        同年，她以国际歌唱家的身份在一年一度、由意大利国际台向世界各地转播的圣诞音乐会上献唱。

        2014年，在蒙特利尔举行的北美冰球职业联赛上，叶璐受邀演唱加拿大国歌。

        2017年，她接受了由意大利欧洲经济文化关系科学院颁发的“终身成就奖”，表彰她为加强意大利在国际文化社会经济上的专业形象作出的努力和贡献。

难忘故乡情

        近年来，叶璐开始频繁地往返意大利、加拿大和中国之间，传播着不同国家的文化。

        多年闯荡海外，叶璐对家乡的思念和依恋之情溢于言表：“温州在我心里就是温暖、温情的地方，是我出生成长的地方，有亲人、有同学、有回忆，是我生命中很珍贵的一部分。”

        2018年夏，世界温州人博物馆展品征集团队赶赴欧洲三国，征集展品，在意大利征集的第一件展品，就是叶璐的“意大利歌剧终身成就奖”的荣誉奖牌。她虽有不舍，但还是很高兴，并表示将自己在音乐领域上获得的最高荣誉捐献给了世界温州人博物馆，是一种荣耀。

        “温州，是我生命中非常重要的一部分，把这个荣誉捐赠给世界温州人博物馆，是希望能和家乡父老分享我用心血换来的在国际舞台上的点滴成功。”叶璐笑着说，希望能用自己多年在国外从事音乐、影视及文化交流的经历，为有需要的温州年轻艺术家、艺术团队提供帮助，并寻求与企业的更多合作，“文化与经济的协同发展是一条共赢互惠之路，借助国际上的文化活动、文化盛事，把温州商品推向世界，也让更多的温州人才在世界舞台崭露头角，这是我的一大心愿。”

        在海外多年，除了思念亲人、朋友，叶璐最想念的是温州的美食。“鱼丸汤、温州馄钝、江蟹生、牡蛎、鸭舌等等……每当想起这些，我都会流口水呢。”

        叶璐告诉笔者：“我觉得走遍天下，美食还是温州的最好。我去巴黎、纽约、罗马等很多大都市演出的时候，都会特意去找温州人开的中餐馆。有时候还特地从我居住的科莫城，坐一小时火车去米兰的中国城喝鱼丸汤。”

        对美食的怀念，其实也是对家乡情的另一种表达方式。

Born to be Heard around the World

Ye Lu is one of those born for the world stage. A native of Wenzhou, a port city in southeastern Zhejiang and now a Chinese-Canadian, she is a soprano who has conquered numerous hearts across the world and won some honors including a Medal of Excellence, an International Prize for Lyric Music, and an Opera Music Award. She was appointed an ambassador of Italian culture to the world.

Ye Lu was born into a family of engineers. Her genius for singing showed when she was three years old. As a special student, she was recruited into No. 2 Middle School of Wenzhou where she studied under the guidance of Hu Chenghui, a music educator. She majored as a vocal student in Hangzhou Normal University in Hangzhou, the capital of her home province Zhejiang.

In the 1980s, she was a high-profile soloist and presenter who appeared at various important television programs at the provincial and national studios. A Hong-Kong-based studio made three albums of her singing.

However, her parents didn’t wish to see her become a professional soprano. So she studied trade and economics for a while when she first arrived in Italy. However, she switched to study singing later. Pretty soon, she made her reputation as an excellent soprano in Italy. After she got married, she settled down in Montreal, Canada and did office work for Air Canada. For five years, she painfully kept herself away from music. In 2004, she appeared at a film festival in Montreal, Canada where she was spotted by a film director. In 2004, she appeared in two Hollywood films.

In June and July 2013, Ye appeared on Italian national television RaiUno & RaiNew24 as actor, presenter and soprano; at “Premio Letterario Cimitile” as soprano soloist; at first edition Italian Film Festival “Green Road Movie Festival” as presenter; at “Premio Braille” as Madrina; and at “Festival Magliano Ti Amo” as soprano soloist. In December 2013 she sang at the annual Christmas concert in Rome, Italy, which was broadcast live to the world. In April 2014 she sang the Canadian anthem at the beginning of a NHL match in Montreal, turning her into the first artist of Asian descendent to sing the Canadian National Anthem in hockey history.

As a principal actor, she has appeared in the Hollywood feature film Wicker Park, Canadian feature film I’Esperance, Canadian television series “Un Tueur Si Proche “, American reality show series “The Property Shop” and the documentary Import-Export. She has more recently been invited as a special guest to “The Actors Studio” in New York.

In recent years, Ye has frequently visited China as her part of work schedule. She has appeared as special guest and solo singer on CCTV, Beijing TV, Nanjing TV, Zhejiang TV and Wenzhou TV. She hopes for closer ties with Wenzhou and share her experience with budding artists there.

In the summer of 2018, a team from World Wenzhounese Museum came to Italy in search of exhibits to put into its collection. Ye donated the medal of Opera Music Award she won in 2017. It was the first donation the team collected in Italy.

“Wenzhou is important in my life. I donated this medal to the museum simply because I want to share this honor with the people of my hometown,” says Ye Lu. “Coordinated development benefits both culture and economy. One of my wishes is to promote Wenzhou overseas and make more talents from Wenzhou find international audiences through cultural activities and events.”

Though living abroad for years, the soprano loves the local food of Wenzhou very much. “Merely thinking of these hometown delicacies makes my mouth water,” she confesses. “I have traveled a lot, but Wenzhou cuisine is the best. When I am in Paris, New York and Rome, I go out of my way to find Chinese restaurants where chefs from Wenzhou work. Occasionally, I travel from Como where I live an hour by train to visit China Town in Milan for the only purpose of having a taste of fish ball soup.”