Fan review:
thefischeye.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2016-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=1Jackie Evancho Concert Reviews and Related Musings of a Die-Hard Fan
MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2015
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 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.”
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
, how lucky these fans having heard a voice of a angel some where , hell I didn't know they could sing 
but from were i'm going I surely will 
