Review of Jackie Evancho Concert, Nashville, Tennessee, June 17, 2015

I. Introduction

“Fly me high through the starry skies,
  Maybe to an astral plane.
  Cross the highways of fantasy,
  Help me to forget today's pain.” [1]

(Note: [1] Excerpted from “Dream Weaver,” Gary Wright (1975) )

          “I wonder,” wondered I, as I was flying at 36,000 feet en route from Boston to Nashville to attend my eighth Jackie Evancho concert in four years, “Will the magic still be there? Will I experience that same sense of awe and wonder that I had felt seven times before?” As I thought about these questions, a recent conversation with a friend of mine came to mind.

          My friend, a therapist by trade, told me that my interest in Jackie Evancho’s music represented a fantasy. I must have looked at him like he had two heads, and one big eye in the middle of his forehead. [2]

 (Note: [2] Oops, sorry - awkward mix of metaphors - well, anyway, I’m sure you get the idea. )

          “OMG, d’ya’ think???” I replied.  My therapist friend didn’t respond - he knows a rhetorical question when he hears one - so I continued on: “Of course it’s a fantasy. Jackie’s in the fantasy business. That’s what she does.”         

           That’s what she does, all right. Jackie is 15 years old now, and while the novelty of her being a child prodigy is finally beginning to wear off for me, she remains a masterful story-teller, a weaver of dream-tales, a purveyor of illusion… all wrapped up in beautiful orchestral music, and delivered with genuine heartfelt emotion by a vocal artist with unmatched interpretative skills, in one of the most beautiful soprano voices you’ll ever hear.

          It starts the minute she enters the stage, wearing a “yet-even-more-beautiful-than-the-last-gown” gown [3], flashing a captivating smile, and greeting the audience with her “trademark” two-handed wave. That’s Jackie inviting you to enter her dream world. Then she begins to sing, and you are swept away, “helpless to resist the notes she sings,” to paraphrase from “The Music of the Night,” Jackie’s favorite song from “The Phantom of the Opera.”
 
(Note: [3] Of course, this excludes “The Dress,” which will forever reign supreme in the hearts of Jackie’s fans. See for yourself what the fuss is all about at http://bestofjackieontheweb.com/2013/01/30/jackie-evancho-the-dress/)

          And what is Jackie’s dream world? Well, she told us that in the spoken introduction to “Dream With Me in Concert,” her first PBS television concert special, taped when she was 11 years old:

              “What do young girls dream about? Do we dream of a beautiful world
                full of make believe and fantasy? Or do we dream about growing up? 
                I like to dream about a life filled with music and the happiness I feel when I sing. 
                And sometimes my dreams turn into even bigger dreams.” [4]

(Note:  [4] Introduction, “Dream With Me in Concert,” Jackie Evancho (2011)

           

          But Jackie doesn’t want to dream alone. The title of that concert itself  (“Dream With Me in Concert”) is of course a clear invitation to the listener. But to reinforce this invitation, she continues in her spoken introduction to tell us that dreaming works - that dreams really can come true. 

                   “But one thing I can tell you is that if you wish hard enough

                   and follow your dream, it can come true.” [5]
 
(Note: [5] Same ) 

          However, Jackie knows that we didn’t buy the DVD or CD to hear a lecture from her about dreams and dreaming. We want to watch and hear her sing.  So, continuing the theme of dreams and dreaming, Jackie opened that concert with the Disney song “When You Wish Upon a Star,” in which she reminded us again, this time in song, about the power of dreams:

                          “If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme,
                    When you wish upon a star, as dreamers do.

                    Fate is kind, she brings to those who love, 

                    The sweet fulfillment of, their secret longing.” [6]

(Note: [6] Excerpted from “When You Wish Upon a Star,” originally sung by Cliff Edwards in the movie “Pinocchio” (1940)).

          In the very next song, “Nella Fantasia” [“In My Fantasy”], Jackie continued the theme, elaborating on her dream world:

                  “In my fantasy, I see a just world,
                    Where everyone lives in peace and honesty.
                    I dream of souls that are always free,         

                   Like clouds that soar,              
                   Full of humanity in the depths of their soul.” [7]

                                                                                                         

          That works for me!  
 
(Note: [7] Sung by Jackie in Italian. English translation adapted by the author from “Google Translate.” Excerpted from “Nella Fantasia,” originally sung by Sarah Brightman. Music by Enrico Morricone; lyrics by Chiara Ferrau (1998).

          In 2012, Jackie performed her second PBS television concert special, “Music of the Movies.” [8] Once again, she opened the concert inviting the audience to join her in her dream world:

                “Come with me and you'll be,

                    In a world of pure imagination.

                   Take a look and you'll see into your imagination.

                 We'll begin with a spin,

                   Traveling in the world of my creation.

                   What we'll see will defy explanation.”  [9]

 
(Note: [8] The studio CD version is entitled “Songs from the Silver Screen.” )

(Note: [9] Excerpted from “Pure Imagination,” originally sung by Gene Wilder in the movie “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” (1971)).

          In 2014, Jackie performed her third PBS television concert special, entitled “Awakenings.” In this concert, Jackie explored several new songs from different genres, but to make sure that no one would forget one of her most important themes, she included a song, written especially for her, entitled “Made to Dream”:

                      "There are times I close my eyes

                     and wish upon a star.
                      I tell myself my fairy-tale’s

                     not far, not far.

                     I close my eyes and look deep inside.
                     Let the dreams that I have take flight.
                     I lift up my head and just believe,
                     knowing I was made to dream.” [10]

(Note: [10] Excerpted from “Made to Dream,” from the CD/DVD “Awakenings,” Jackie Evancho (2014). Words and music composed for Jackie by Jean-Pierre Steyn.)

               Most of us probably first saw Jackie sing when she was 10 years old, on “America’s Got Talent,” or when she was 11 years old, on her first PBS television special. We only learned a bit later that Jackie had self-produced a CD when she was nine years old, entitled “Prelude to a Dream.” By the time most of us learned about this CD, it was too late to purchase it. Her family had withdrawn it from circulation, and it is now only occasionally available via private party sales on eBay, for beaucoup bucks. [11]
 
(Note: [11] Buyer beware: Many of the copies of “Prelude to a Dream” offered on eBay are counterfeit. However, from time to time, the Evancho family will offer a copy autographed by Jackie, for auction on eBay, sometimes with the proceeds going to charity. This is your best bet to buy one of these CD’s without the risk of buying a counterfeit copy. But be forewarned: expect to pay as much as $3,300 for a genuine autographed copy.)

          The title of this CD itself, “Prelude to a Dream,” hints not-so-subtly as to what is to come in the future, but even in this her very first CD, Jackie can be found to be singing about dreams, in a moving cover of the Hayley Westenra song, “River of Dreams.” Since this is not a very well-known song, I include the complete lyrics here:

                   “River of dreams take me with you tonight.
                   Lying in your arms we'll drift to
                   Islands of wonder that gleam and glow under the stars
                   As we glide through the dark to the heart of the night.

                   River of dreams gently hold me again.
                   I remember all you told me.
                   All of the secrets you whispered as we crept away
                   From the daylight and melted back into the night.

                  

                   Was I awake, or did I dream?
                   The kiss of waves, the silver slipstream
                   That tumbles as it turns again towards the sea.[12]

                   River of dreams softly flowing away
                   Let me follow where you are going
                   And make me a part of you deep in the heart of you
                   Let my reflection be clear in the water of life
                   That tumbles as it turns again towards the night.” [13]  

 (Note: [12] “The kiss of waves?” “The silver slipstream that tumbles as it turns again toward the sea?” Nine years old? Are you kidding me? This is a third-grader? Perhaps some of you who are reading this had a different experience, but when I was in the third grade, I was singing songs like “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” and “Eentsy, Weentsy Spider.” )
  

 (Note: [13] “River of Dreams,” from the CD “Pure,” Hayley Westenra (2003). Not to be confused with the 1993 Billy Joel song “The River of Dreams,” from his album “River of Dreams.”)
  

          So, having taken the time to reflect back on prior concert experiences, and thinking about who Jackie is and what she accomplishes on the stage, I satisfied myself that my eighth Jackie Evancho concert would be just as wondrous and awe-inspiring as the first seven. I settled into my seat on the plane, closed my eyes, and began preparing myself for the real journey – the one that would begin at 7:00 PM that night at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in downtown Nashville, Tennessee.

II. The Schermerhorn Symphony Center

          Jackie has performed at many of the country’s most beautiful classical venues, but the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in downtown Nashville deserves special mention. Looking at this very imposing, very impressive structure from the outside, you would think it has stood there for about 2,000 years:

Entrance to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Nashville, Tennessse

        
Would you believe that it is less than 10 years old??? Here are a few interesting “tidbits” of information about the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, from Wikipedia:

            At the heart of Schermerhorn Symphony Center is the 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2), 1,844-seat Laura Turner Concert Hall, which is home to the Nashville Symphony. The hall is of the shoebox style. It features natural lighting, which streams in through 30 soundproof, double-paned clerestory windows.

            Seats in Laura Turner Concert Hall are distributed over three levels, including a special choral loft behind the stage that can seat up to 146 chorus members; the seats are made available to audience members during non-choral performances. The stage can accommodate up to 115 musicians. The hall also features a custom-built Martin Foundation Concert Organ, crafted by Schoenstein & Co. of San Francisco, which has 47 voices, 64 ranks, and 3,568 pipes with three 32-foot stops.

            The building's interior incorporates technological and acoustical features. The orchestra- level seats are mounted on motorized wagons that can be driven forward and lowered through the floor on a system of lifts, revealing an ornate Brazilian cherry and hickory parquet floor. These "chair-wagons" enable the concert hall to be converted into a 5,700-square-foot (530 m2) ballroom in approximately two hours.[14]  The Laura Turner Concert Hall is insulated from exterior noise by an acoustical isolation joint, a 2-inch gap of air that encircles the hall and prevents transmission of sound waves in or out.[15]

            In May 2010, unusually severe flooding caused significant damage in and around Nashville, including approximately $40 million in damages to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. At the height of the flood the lower reaches of the building were filled with 24 feet of water (!) Repairs to the center began almost immediately, and it reopened less than eight months later… [16]

(Note: [14] After the concert was over, one of our “front-row regulars” got to see these motorized sections of the orchestra floor in action. There is a small gap in the floor where the first row of orchestra seats meets the bottom of the stage, and he inadvertently dropped his cell-phone through this gap. They had to lower the front section of the orchestra floor, and move it out of the way in order to retrieve his phone.)
 
(Note: [15]  It’s a good thing, too, that the concert hall has this sound insulation. The outdoor Rolling Stones concert at LP Field (home of the Tennessee Titans NFL football team), was not much more than ½ mile away.)  
  
(Note: [16]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schermerhorn_Symphony_Center )

III. The Concert

                

                 It was a very hot and humid Wednesday night in the middle of June, in Nashville, Tennessee, the country music capitol of the Universe. One short block away from the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, throngs of college students roamed up and down Broadway Street in front of one raucous night club after another. Sounds of country music, rockabilly, and good ol’ rock and roll, mixed with some really bad Karaoke singing, poured out of every door-front. There were plenty of cowboy hats and boots, leather biker vests, tank-tops, and cut-off jean shorts (aka “Daisy Dukes”). The Rolling Stones were performing outdoors at the local NFL football stadium, barely a “stone’s throw” from downtown.

                 Nonetheless, inside the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, as I sat listening to the world-class Nashville Symphony Orchestra tuning up and waiting for Jackie to take the stage, I looked around, and thought to myself that I could have just as easily been in the Wiener Staatsoper, in Vienna, Austria, the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, in Rome, Italy, or the Palais Garnier, in Paris, France.[17]  The “catch-phrase” for the evening was very definitely going to be “sophisticated elegance.” 
 
(Note: [17] Palais Garnier, one of the venues where the Paris Opera performs, was the setting for "The Phantom of the Opera.")

A.  The First Set

                 The orchestra opened the evening with, I believe, a selection from the overture to the opera “Carmen.” Then came the unmistakable introduction to “Take Me There.” The hushed anticipation in the auditorium was palpable. Then, from stage left, Jackie entered, beaming and as beautiful as ever, wearing a fabulous, form-fitting, floor-length fuschia-colored gown. Within seconds, she had the audience “in the palm of her hand.”

                 I haven’t been able to find a photograph that even begins to do justice to her gown, but this one should give you an idea. It was right in keeping with the tone of the evening: “sophisticated elegance.”[18]

    (Note: [18]  Cropped by author from photo originally posted by “Blingcon” at https://www.facebook.com/blingcon/photos/pcb.1663810430515108/1663809360515215/?type=1&permPage=1 )
 

                  I hadn’t seen this gown before, but I was told by “someone-who-was-here” that she wore this gown last November in Morristown, New Jersey, for the first concert on this “Awakenings” tour.

                 If Jackie had the audience in the palm of one hand, in her other hand she was holding her wireless microphone, newly-encased in a very sparkly rhinestone-studded mike sleeve. It might seem like a small detail, but it was immediately noticeable, and added very nicely to the overall elegance of the evening.

                Here is a publicity photo posted by Blingcons, the company that sells the mike sleeves:

                 Onstage, the mike sleeve was way more sparkly than shown in the photo.

                 The set list contained no new songs, but the order of the songs was a bit different from some of the recent concerts on this tour:

Set list for first half:

                 1. Take Me There

                 2. Made to Dream

                 3. Memories

                 4. Impossible Dream

                 5. Your Love

                 6. Je t’aime

                    I won’t comment on every song, but here are a couple of random observations:

                    Jackie’s performance of “Memories” was intense. This song provides us mere mortals with a “stellar” showcase for Jackie’s raw emotional power. I don’t have a photo from Nashville, but here’s a “screen cap” from the concert in Palm Desert five months ago:

                       Jackie Evancho performing “Memories,” McCallum Theater,

                       Palm Desert, CA (January 16, 2015)

                 As for “Your Love” and “Je t’aime,” all I can say is that it’s not fair for Jackie to sing them one after another. Just when I’m barely beginning to recover from “Your Love,” where Jackie sings

“Your strength has made me strong, though life tore us apart,”

Jackie launches into “Je t’aime:”

“A bout de mots, de rêves, je vais crier: Je t'aime, je t'aime..”

[“At a loss for words, and all out of dreams, all I can do is cry out: I love you, I love you…”][19]

                    I fought back tears as best I could, but I didn’t stand a chance. Fortunately, it was intermission time. If she had continued right on to sing “Lovers” with no break, they would have had to scrape me up off the floor after the concert.

 (Note: [19] My interpretative translation, loosely adapted from “Google Translate.”)

B.   The Second Set

                   After the break, Jackie re-opened the concert with “Lovers,” from the movie soundtrack for “House of Flying Daggers.”  In an instant, I was swept away to ninth century China, during the Tang Dynasty:[20]

                     “There was a field in my old town
                     Where we always played hand in hand.
                     The wind was gently touching the grass
                     We were so young, so fearless.

                     Then I dreamt over and over
                     Of you holding me tight under the stars.
                     I made a promise to my dear lord
                     I will love you forever…”[21]

(Note: [20] Well OK, I guess I wouldn’t have made the connection between the song and ninth century China if I hadn’t seen the movie “House of Flying Daggers.” If you haven’t seen the movie, you really should. It’s quite remarkable.)

(Note: [21] “Lovers,” from the movie soundtrack for “House of Flying Daggers,” written by Shigeru Umebayashi (2004)).

                 Jackie’s gown for the second half of the concert was just as spectacular as we have come to expect. It was mostly form-fitting, with a flared bottom, sheer below the knees. It was very-nearly backless. These photos, one close-up and two from a distance, will give you a sense of it. 

                  The first photo was posted by Blingcons. The second photo was cropped from a photo posted by first-time concert-goer Mark Berry with his wonderful review of the concert. Be sure to read it if you haven’t already. His review can be found on Facebook, in the “Jackie Evancho – America’s Sweetheart” Group.[22]  The third photo is courtesy of George Dunham.

(Note: [22]  https://www.facebook.com/groups/160024457441608/permalink/734189860025062/ 

                              

 

Here is the complete set list for the second half of the concert:

                 7.   Lovers

                 8.   Ave Maria

                 9.   With You or Without You

                 10. Vocalise

                 11.  My Immortal

                 12. Ombra Mai Fu

                 13. The Music of the Night

                 14. Think of Me

                 Encore: The Lord’s Prayer

                 Again, I’m not going to comment on each song. Honestly, part of the problem is that having reviewed several of Jackie’s concerts in the past, I’ve run out of adjectives. There are no superlatives left that have been left unsaid. However, I would like to note that Jackie extended to the audience yet another invitation for us to dream, in “The Music of the Night,” from “The Phantom of the Opera:”

                    “Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams.
                     Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before.
                     Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar.
                     And you'll live as you've never lived before.”

                 As many times as I have heard Jackie sing this song, when she sang the high note on the word “soar,” I still shivered. My goosebumps got goosebumps. It was right on pitch, and as crystal clear as ever, completely unforced, without a trace of shrillness. It was powerful yet exquisite at the same time.

IV. Conclusion

                        

                 On the plane headed back from Nashville to Boston, I had to ask myself: “Was it worth it?”  Well, the ticket for my third-row center seat for Jackie’s concert cost $69.00. Two fourth-row seats for the up-coming Rolling Stones concert in Detroit are being offered by a re-seller on StubHub for $15,000 - each(!) 

Enough said. 

 

Stephen K. Fischer

June 21, 2015

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