Consumer Critique: Jackie Evancho - Awakening

Disclosure: I received complimentary products to facilitate this post. All opinions are my own.

I currently teach a general music class, and we recently talked about the concept of a crossover artist. Jackie Evancho, a talented young teen, is an excellent example. At her young age, she displays tremendous versatility, including, on the recently-released Awakening, original songs and covers of music from screen and stage, as well as classical melodies. My favorite was Rachmaninoff's Vocalise, which I've more often heard as an instrumental (and was one of the pieces my husband learned for sax in college). I also enjoyed the first track, "Think of Me." It's not a perfect album, as Jackie still has room to grow and mature (she's only fourteen, but debuted on America's Got Talent at ten). For her age, it is a wonderful compilation.

Evancho dazzled American television audiences at age 10 gaining global recognition with her stunning debut on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. She was immediately signed to Columbia Records where she released a string of successful recordings including O Holy Night, Dream With Me, Heavenly Christmas and Songs From The Silver Screen. She has since acted in Robert Redford’s The Company You Keep alongside Susan Sarandon, Shia LeBeouf and Nick Nolte, and performed as a special guest in Cirque du Soleil’s “One Night for One Drop” benefit at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. She also starred in the Fall 2012 GUESS Kids clothing campaign, and in June, she performed the classic film song “Over the Rainbow” at the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Evancho has also participated in the lighting of the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C., where she delighted President and Mrs. Obama. She performed before 100,000 people in Russia with opera stars Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Sumi Jo prior to the opening of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, and has performed in Japan before the Royal Family at the Imperial Palace. Her first PBS special was one of the top pledge producing performances in PBS history. Her wide-ranging achievements caused Billboard to include her on its list of “music movers-and-shakers under the age of 21” in 2011 and 2012.