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 9th 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 4th 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.”
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
[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).
