In Nicholas Vincent Martorano’s eyesmilyon88, he and Elizabeth Wheatley Novella were destined to meet each other.

In 2015, Mr. Martorano and Ms. Novella, who are opera singers, were both vocal fellows at the prestigious Aspen Opera Center, part of the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado. Each learned later that the other had been accepted into a similar program in Canada, where they might have crossed paths instead of Aspen.

“It was definitely fate that we were supposed to meet,” Mr. Martorano, 32, said, adding, “The moment I met Liz, it was like I’d known her my whole life.”

At first it seemed that they were meant to only be great friends. They lived on opposite sides of the country: Ms. Novella resided in New York City, while Mr. Martorano was based in Los Angeles, pursuing a master’s degree in music, voice and opera at the University of Southern California. (He received a bachelor’s degree in voice and opera from Carnegie Mellon University.)

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“I knew when we first met that Nick was going to be an important person in my life,” Ms. Novella, 35, said. “I didn’t know the capacity, but you just have that feeling when you meet somebody to pay attention to this person.”

After the program was over, they stayed in touch for the next two and a half years through social media and occasional texts. In late 2017, Mr. Martorano moved to New York to pursue singing opportunities. He began spending a lot of time with Ms. Novella, with whom he shared a voice coach. It was that coach who observed their obvious rapport and pushed Mr. Martorano to make a move.

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