Jackie Evancho at Boston Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, October 23, 2015

           8:03 PM:  As the house lights dim, a muffled murmur fueled by excited anticipation rumbles through the audience like distant thunder on a hot New England summer evening.  Jackie’s uber-talented music director Peter Kiesewalter, seated at a massive, brand new Steinway concert grand piano, the largest, shiniest, most imposing piano I’ve ever seen,[1]  begins playing one of his unique trademark-style, edgy, slightly off-kilter arrangements of …. of what? It sounds kind-of-sort-of familiar, but I can’t quite place it. Peter is playing with the audience, teasing us, making us pay attention.

          Gradually, almost imperceptibly, Peter’s composition begins to take shape, becomes more familiar, more accessible, and suddenly, without understanding exactly how or exactly when, I realize, excitedly, that I am hearing the introduction to “Take Me There.”  I know, then, that Jackie’s entrance is imminent. Time stops. I can hear my heart beating. I have to remind myself to breathe. An eternity passes…

          Finally, Jackie appears from between the curtains behind the orchestra and begins gliding gracefully toward the front of the stage, right toward me. She looks regal, radiant, beaming. Although this was my 9^th Jackie Evancho concert, I was dumbstruck anew by her sophisticated elegance.  The only word I could muster up from my internal thesaurus at the time was… “Wow.” At first, I wondered why they had turned the house lights back on. Then I realized it was Jackie who had just lit up Symphony Hall.

         

          As Jackie moved closer to the front of the stage, I couldn’t help but turn my attention toward her gown. It was dazzling, shimmering, gorgeous – in a word, sensational.  The stage lights reflecting off of the meticulous, silvery, filigreed detail created an impromptu light show as bright as a thousand sparklers on the 4^th of July.

          Actually, as I look back on it, the concept of Jackie “wearing” something just doesn’t apply here at all. That concept implies a duality, a separation between Jackie and the gown that just didn’t exist. Jackie and the gown were in a perfect symbiotic relationship. Yes, this gown was beautiful, but Jackie made it look even more beautiful. And yes, Jackie is beautiful, but this gown made her look even more beautiful. And in turn, the more beautiful Jackie looked, the more beautiful the gown looked, and so on, back and forth, round and round, in a delicate dance, until Jackie and the gown were One, bound together in an infinite loop…[2]

           Ok, enough hyperbole. Now for the record, here is the set list.  I’m not going to comment on every song individually. Almost all of Jackie’s songs carry with them for me a myriad of memories and emotions - mostly joyous, but some bittersweet, and some sad. I don’t think I could comment in any detail on Jackie’s performance of these songs without talking about the emotional impact that they had on me, or what it meant to me to see Jackie perform them. That would be too personal, not to mention emotionally draining.

          Take Me There

          Made to Dream

          Memories

          The Music of the Night

          Nessun Dorma - instrumental by Peter Kiesewalter

          The Impossible Dream

          Your Love

          Je t’aime

          Intermission

         

          Lovers

          Ave Maria

          Nessun Dorma!

          Overture to Carmen – instrumental by Peter Kiesewalter

          My Immortal

          Wonderful World

          Ombra Mai Fu

          Think of Me

          The Lord’s Prayer (encore)

          There were two unscheduled surprises. The first one may have even been a surprise to Peter Kiesewalter, because it was not on the playlist that was taped to the floor of the stage. Jackie treated us to the most touching, exquisite rendition of “Over the Rainbow” that I have ever heard. It alone was worth the price of admission. Sorry, Judy Garland – Jackie owns this song now.

          The second unscheduled surprise was a second encore. Yes, you heard right – a second encore. It has been a long time since Jackie has sung more than one encore - at least two years, I think - but the entire Boston audience leapt to its feet after the first encore, for the third standing ovation of the evening, and roared its approval en masse, with ear-splitting shouts of “Encore,” “Brava,” and “Bravissima.” WE WOULD NOT BE DENIED!

          Jackie returned to the stage and told us that she hadn’t prepared a second encore, but that she would sing a song that she and Peter were working on for “future concerts.”  We were thrilled to hear her deliver a flawless, beautiful rendition of “Somewhere” from “West Side Story.”

          Though, as I said, I’m not going to comment on every song, there were several other concert highlights that I want to mention:

          “Memories”: 

          This has become my favorite song from the “Awakening” CD/DVD/Tour.  The emotion that Jackie brings to this song is incredible. I tried not to cry, unsuccessfully, as usual. Oh well…

          “The Impossible Dream”:

          I love this song because it embodies everything that Jackie is all about. She dedicated it to her mother, who is fighting Lyme disease. On more than one occasion, this song has inspired me to dream my own impossible dreams. They haven’t all come true – yet.

          “Your Love” and “Je t’aime”: 

          These two songs sung together pack a “one-two” emotional punch that should come with a warning label. They tore me apart. They left me weak and whimpering, in a crumpled-up heap on the floor of the theater, begging for mercy. Thank goodness for intermission.         

          “Lovers”:

          This is my #1 all-time favorite Jackie Evancho song. It moves me on many emotional levels, in complex ways that I don’t fully understand.  Perhaps someday I’ll attempt to write an essay about this song, and the impact it has had on me, but not tonight.

          “Nessun Dorma”:

          This was by far the “high point” of the evening. And when I say “high,” I mean “HIGH.”   I was aware of the fact that Jackie had performed it at two or three of her recent concerts, so it didn’t come as a complete surprise, but there were no assurances that she would sing it in Boston.

          Jackie’s regular fans in the audience all knew what a big deal this was. They knew that until recently, she had only performed this aria about six times, with the last time being, I believe, at least 3 or 4 years ago, with her mother insisting that Jackie would never perform it again. I suspect that most of the audience probably didn’t realize how fortunate they were to witness this performance.  I’m very grateful to have been among them, because there are no guarantees that she will sing it again in future concerts.

          And oh yes, I almost forgot:  I said “Nessun Dorma” was the “high” point of the concert. How high, do you ask? Well, remember that high note at the end of the aria? The one you thought was a high note? Well, instead of singing that note, Jackie launched her voice into the stratosphere and finished off the song (and the audience) with the highest note I have ever heard her sing. It was, quite possibly, in the “whistle” register, a range of notes beyond falsetto, that only a few sopranos can reach. It was nothing short of spectacular!

          If you are reading this review and have never been to of one of Jackie’s concerts, you owe it to yourself to go to one, so you can experience first-hand the genius of this “once-in-a-lifetime” prodigy.

Stephen K. Fischer

October 23, 2015

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[1] Here’s Steinway’s official description of the “action” of this 9 foot long monster piano:   

          “White, quarter-sawn maple parts are bushed with specially treated wool  action cloth for freedom from friction. Parts are anchored in hard maple dowels housed in inflexible seamless brass tubing to assure precise & stable regulation. Exclusive single, combination phosphor bronze repetition and fly spring provides constant crisp touch response. Specially designed to respond 14% faster fortissimo & 6% faster pianissimo by using an exclusive  combination of half-round balance rail bearings and strategically placed key leads.”

          Got that? Peter Kiesewalter said it more simply. He told the audience that it was one of the finest pianos he has ever played. He also praised Boston Symphony Hall, saying that its acoustics were among the finest in the world. Only the best for Jackie… Only the best.

[2] I couldn’t find a picture of the gown that even begins to do it justice. Here is the best picture I have found so far (From the Hartford concert, courtesy of Len Rausch).

Review of Jackie Evancho Concert, Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, New Jersey (December, 2011)

          After a long bus ride from Boston via New York City, the first tangible sign of what was to come were the billboards lining the road into Atlantic City, advertising the various acts at the casinos. Diddy, Mary J. Blige, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, L’il Jon with DJ Vice, and…. Jackie Evancho!

          The bus dropped everyone off at Bally’s.  I walked about a mile down Pacific Avenue to my motel. Pacific Avenue runs parallel to the Boardwalk, behind the casino/hotels which front on the Boardwalk. The side of Pacific Avenue across from the casino/hotels is a mix of small storefronts, old houses and small apartment buildings, many of them boarded up. If I had been with a bunch of my buddies, we could have sold our gold chains at any one of about ten different pawn shops, eaten some great fried chicken, gotten tattoos, and thrown several pretty wild bachelor parties. The contrast between the old and the new was jarring. Further inland from Pacific Avenue, the rest of Atlantic City looked like any other place.

          After a quick shower and change into appropriate attire, I headed over to the Trump Taj Mahal. Check-in time for the VIP tour and the meet & greet was 4:00 PM to 4:30 PM. It’s a good thing I got to the casino early, because once inside, it took me almost 15 minutes and asking directions three or four times to find the Box Office for the Mark G. Etess Arena. Once you’re inside a casino, they don’t want you to know where you are or what time it is.   I got to the Box Office, and met up with several fans, including Joe, Alex, Ian, Frank, Russ, Grace and Shu Shu, and I’m sorry if I omitted your name.

          At about 4:30 PM, the VIP group (I think about 15-20 couples and 10 more guys) were led into to the arena to quietly observe part of the rehearsal/sound check. The arena is not fancy, to be sure. It’s a large open arena, with a bare concrete floor. It’s quite suitable for boxing matches and trade shows. There’s a stage on one side, and bleacher style stadium seating around the other three sides. Total capacity would be about 5,500, but the side seats were curtained off.      On the positive side, there was a huge sound board and good theatrical lighting.[1]

          From the seating chart, there looked to be about 2,400 seats on the floor (folding chairs, held together at the legs with plastic ties) and over 1,100 rear stadium seats. The stadium seats looked to me like they were retractable, and I believe they only pulled out about half of them. The floor seats were fairly full, except for the rear corners, and the rear stadium seats were about half full. I chatted with the Atlantic City Fire Marshall at the intermission, and he estimated that there were about 2,000 people in the audience. I think it was more like 2,200-2,300.

          The rehearsal/sound check was very interesting. We got to watch for about 45 minutes. Mostly it was the orchestra playing, but Jackie came out and sang “Imaginer.” Even in the sound check, her concentration and emotion were intense. When she came out onto the stage, the conductor introduced her to the orchestra, apparently for the first time. To me, the implication of that (i.e., that they hadn’t rehearsed together before) was amazing.

            At the end of the rehearsal, we were moved from the front rows over to a group of seats at the side of the arena, for the meet and greet. The meet and greet itself was very disappointing. Non-existent actually. Apparently, nothing had been set up or arranged in advance. They just brought Jackie out onto the concrete arena floor, near where they had seated us. There wasn’t any place for her to sit. She just stood in front of the black curtain hiding the side bleacher seats, and posed for pictures with each of us. There was no chance to say anything to her beyond a quick “hello.”  Basically, what we got was a 10-second photo-op in a very unattractive setting.

          For the price of the VIP ticket ($250), something – anything - should have been set up in advance at a more suitable location. There were only about 40-50 people in the VIP group, so there would have been time for something a little more organized. On the plus side, my VIP ticket got me a front row seat, right in front of the stage, about 5 seats from dead center.

          The concert itself was out of this world. Jackie’s getting better by the day. Overall, Jackie was in complete control, with total command of the stage. She owned every song. She delivered each one flawlessly. She was pitch perfect, with no trace of the nervousness I saw last month at Avery Fisher Hall, in New York City. She can do it all - power, finesse, emotional intensity, dramatic flair, delicate phrasing, exquisite diction. She was at the top of her game - and she keeps raising that bar higher and higher. And through it all, she stayed true to her personality.

          For this concert (and I assume for Buffalo) Jackie had a mike stand with a removable mike, so she could use it as a stationary mike, or a hand-held mike. This worked very well for her. Some of the songs really benefited from the hand-held mike, and for others, the stationary mike was more suitable or appropriate (like “The Lord’s Prayer.”)

          One notable (and very welcome) difference from the concert at Avery Fisher Hall was that Jackie spoke frequently between songs. For her first remarks, after the first song, she warmly and graciously welcomed the audience, sounding very mature and confident. She told us that during the first half of the concert, she was going to sing some of her favorite songs from “Dream with Me,” and that after the intermission, she would sing some songs from “Heavenly Christmas.”  She was poised, relaxed, bright, confident, engaging and totally charming, with no trace of the nervousness she showed at Avery Fisher Hall.

          Except for jotting down the title of each song, I didn’t take notes during the concert, so I don’t remember how often she spoke, but she did address the audience in a like manner between several of the songs. She also introduced Chris Dallo before each of his songs.  Later in the concert, she acknowledged the conductor and the orchestra. Seeing her speak so much and so well between songs added a nice new dimension to the whole concert experience.

          The orchestra warmed us up with an upbeat familiar piece or two from one of the popular comic operas. There were no programs, so I can’t tell you what they were. The conductor was young, energetic and animated. The orchestra was excellent – very professional. Jackie attracts the best.

          The beginning of Jackie’s part of the concert was very dramatic. The lights were low, and the orchestra began playing “All I Ask of You” before Jackie entered the stage.  A single spotlight was directed to the edge of the stage to our left. Jackie entered the spotlight just as she began singing. It was reminiscent of the opening to “Lovers” at the Sarasota concert.  She remained there for a few moments, and then walked slowly to center stage, still illuminated by the spotlight. That set the tone for the whole evening.

          I immediately forgot that I was sitting in a temporary chair on a concrete floor in a trade show hall. Jackie delivered a beautiful performance of “All I Ask of You”– pitch perfect vocals, as clear and flawless as the studio version on DWM deluxe, and the “usual” emotional intensity – which we have come to expect, but should never take for granted.

                Her next song was “Imaginer.” It was light-years beyond Sarasota. Her French diction was clear as a bell, and her accent sounded very, well, French. And also, she added a verse and a line that I believe she had not sung before – at least not before Buffalo. The translations are mostly mine, with some help from Google Translate, and are not entirely literal. Also, I made some changes to the lyrics available on the Internet, because they were clearly not correct French:

          “J'ai ramasse toutes mes prières

          celles que pour nous necessite de faire.

          Je garde l'espoir que l'on entendra dans ma voix

          la certitude qu'on survivra.”

(“I have said all my prayers, the ones we need to say. I remain hopeful that people will hear in my voice the certainty that we will survive.”)

          “Ne laisse rien ni personne te decourager. Il te suffit de chanter.”

(“Do not let anything or anyone discourage you. You just have to sing.”)

          I won’t comment on each of Chris Dallo’s songs separately (except for the duet with Jackie). He’s a good tenor, and very entertaining, but he can’t do what Jackie does (who can?). He doesn’t emote like Jackie does and he doesn’t draw the listener into the song like Jackie does. Like many other singers, he sings at the audience, not for the audience. But I don’t blame Chris. People expect bravado from an operatic tenor. They expect an unspoken “Ta-Da” at the end each song. If I had to pick, I’d say his best individual offering was “O Solo Mio.” All in all, it was certainly a good idea to have Chris singing at the concert.  Jackie got three nice breaks, and you can be sure that helped her sing 14 songs without a trace of fatigue.

          The next song, “The Impossible Dream” was “most excellent.” Soaring, dramatic, powerful - but I can’t say it was better than her performance in Atlanta. That one will be hard to beat. If ever.

          Then came “Mi Mancherai.” It was great to see it in the line-up. I don’t think she sang it at any of the DWM tour concerts. It’s a beautiful song, and she performed it with impressive precision. The only phrase I can think of to describe that aspect of her singing is “attention to detail.” “Mi Mancherai” really showcases how she can combine technical skills, energy and emotion into a cohesive performance. For me, this song alone was worth the price of admission.

          “The Lord’s Prayer:” As powerful and moving as ever – technically as good as the studio version, and emotionally, nearly as powerful as Dallas. But not better than Dallas. Like her performance of “Impossible Dream” in Atlanta, I think her Dallas performance will always be the benchmark for “The Lord’s Prayer.”

          Jackie ended the first half of the concert with “A Time for Us” and “Angel.” Wow and wow!!

          “A Time for Us” is my personal favorite, and Jackie did not disappoint. It was as haunting and desperate as ever - I would say every bit as good as her performance in Atlanta. I thought her Atlanta performance would stand right up there as her best, for a long time, but it appears that won’t be the case.

          “Angel:” What can I say?  It just keeps getting better and better. Jackie knows the song inside and out – every nuance, every note, every syllable. In my opinion, “Angel” was her strongest song at Avery Fisher Hall, and was one of her strongest songs in Atlantic City. It certainly was the crowd’s favorite solo effort of the evening. Sorry, Sarah McLachlan, I know you wrote the song, but when it comes to singing it, it’s Jackie’s song now.

          The second half of the concert was the Christmas half. It began with two or three more entertaining orchestral pieces (from “The Nutcracker,” I hear tell). Then Jackie sang several Christmas songs. “The First Noel” and “White Christmas” were merely perfect. “I’ll be Home for Christmas” went further than that. It was heartfelt, beautiful and gut-wrenching all at the same time.

          “Believe.” I want to say it was incredible, but of course that means un-believable, which just isn’t the case for me anymore. I have listened to it and watched her sing it so many times that I know it’s real. I believe. I was mesmerized. The way she sings “Snow is softly falling…” was just another exquisite moment that was by itself worth the price of admission.

          OK, and now to THE duet. It was clearly meant to be the highlight of the concert, and I think for most of the audience, it was just that.  Musically, it was moving and magical. Jackie’s duet with Susan Boyle on the “Dream with Me” CD is pretty good, but I thought Jackie and Chris made a much better duo. I also thought the part where he sang in Italian was very cool.

          My only reservation about the duet performance was that Jackie and Chris held hands and looked at each other through most of the song. That made it look like they were singing a romantic ballad to each other. “The Prayer” is a religious song, not a popular ballad. I know they are good friends, but I thought Jackie was just too young to be holding hands with 20-year old Chris. Perhaps they could have held hands standing side-by-side, like she did with Sarah Brightman. In my opinion, Jackie’s stunning and powerful performance of “The Prayer” in Los Angeles, on the AGT tour, was the way it should be sung.

          After the duet, almost everyone in the audience gave Jackie and Chris a standing ovation. We were prepared to applaud for as long as we had to in order to get an encore, but Jackie didn’t make us work too hard for it. She and the conductor came right back out onto the stage and Jackie sang “O Holy Night.” Like “Angel,” she knows this song backward and forward and can deliver it with great self-confidence. Also, it’s clear that she really enjoys singing it. It’s one of the few songs in her repertoire where she can smile frequently during the song.

          After “O Holy Night,” Jackie and the conductor left the stage amidst more enthusiastic applause, and again, came right back out. Jackie sang a beautiful rendition of “When You Wish Upon a Star.” I didn’t put my stopwatch to it, but I believe she exceeded the usual 15-second-long note at the end. I’m thinking about 18 seconds. Pretty impressive when you remember that this was song number 14 for the evening. She obviously had prepared two encores, but no more. After WYWUS, the house lights were turned on, signaling the end of the concert.

          One final comment: “Lovers” was notably (and regrettably) absent from the set list, but for her to sing 14 songs, while including some songs from “Heavenly Christmas,” something had to give. For me, the very welcome addition of “Mi Mancherai” made up for the omission of “Lovers.”

          My overall opinion of the concert  – outstanding.  In my book, it gets an A+…..5-stars…..10 out of 10, however you want to say it.

-SKF

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[1]        More overall impressions of the venue: I read someone else’s comments somewhere that he thought Avery Fisher Hall was a better venue for Jackie. I have to disagree. Avery Fisher Hall certainly has the “classy” reputation, elegance, and permanent comfortable theater seating that were lacking at the Mark G. Etess Arena, but Avery Fisher Hall is a single-purpose venue – namely, for the New York Philharmonic. Therefore, there was no theatrical lighting or spotlighting for Jackie – just house lights. So, as much as I enjoyed Jackie’s concert at Avery Fisher Hall, I was disappointed with the bright lighting – I kept wishing for a more Sarasota-like experience.

          Also, I wasn’t impressed with the sound mixing at Avery Fisher Hall – if indeed there was any.  On the other hand, the sound board at the Mark G. Etess Arena was impressive, and I thought the mixing was excellent. I agree with another poster who wrote that the sound system at the Arena was clearly designed for rock concerts (multiple huge speakers hanging from the ceiling) and that overall, the volume was a bit too loud. But I’m a little hard of hearing, so it all worked for me! (lol).

Review of Jackie Evancho Concert, Portsmouth, New Hampshire (August 6, 2014)

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend this concert. This review was written by a friend for a group of fans on Facebook. I have edited it slightly.

Hello Everyone!

Jackie started her new tour after her summer break on August 6th, 2014, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I was very lucky to have the chance to attend this concert!

 
I'm not good at writing long and detailed reports, however, I still want to say a few words.
This was my fourth time seeing Jackie live in concert. I have probably heard recordings of the songs that she sang a thousand times, and I have seen her perform most of them 2 or 3 times in the live concerts I previously attended. However, I want to say that this time I still felt goosebumps just the same as when I heard Jackie for the first time. Jackie's voice was so powerful, I could feel the vibration under my feet. Her voice echoed inside of me. It was a breathtaking feeling!

Another incredible thing was that at this concert I still saw that little girl who won my heart a few years ago. At some points while Jackie was singing, I was mesmerized by that penetrating, pensive, shy look which I've seen thousands of times before in her videos and concerts. I could never get enough of that look! Jackie has changed, but I could still see that 10-year old little girl in her movements, her double waves, her radiant happy smiles and her sparkling eyes. It was so enjoyable!

I wish everyone could have the same delightful experience as I did! I really hope it will happen for all of you.

I also want to say that it was very nice to meet some other fans, as always! We are all on the same "Jackie Wave "!

In about two weeks, I will be at the taping of Jackie’s third PBS special in Longwood Gardens. I know it will be an incredible experience, and I hope to share it with many of you. See you soon!