Jackie Evancho Comes to the Van Wezel Tonight

Platinum-selling, 14-year-old vocal sensation Jackie Evancho released her third studio album, Awakening, back in September. The album quickly jumped to the #1 spot on the Classical Billboard Chart. In August, she will film a new PBS Special which is set to air in December. In the meantime she will hit the road to support the new release, stopping at the Van Wezel Performing Arts hall tonight, March 24 at 7:30pm.

Awakening signals some new directions for Evancho. Without foregoing the beautiful and lush classical-crossover compositions for which Evancho has become famous, she also extends her stylistic reach with contemporary material on songs such as the haunting folk song "The Rains of Castamere" from HBO's hit series Game of Thrones. She also takes a bigger step forward on her version of U2's "With or Without You." Moreover, Evancho sings several original songs including the anthem "Take Me There" and "Open Fields of Grace."

"Some of these songs are more on the pop side, and have a little faster beat than the songs I usually sing - but it was really fun."

She also tackles the ethereal ballad "Memories" by the Dutch band, Within Temptation, in addition to the popular classic "Think of Me" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera.

"That's how it started for me," says Evancho. "When I first saw the Phantom movie I was inspired by the way the actors sang and really wanted to try to sing like that too. Their passion must have got to me!"

Awakening's classical standards include Caccini/Vavilov's "Ave Maria" and Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise."

"I'd never sung Rachmaninoff's 'Vocalise' before," says Evancho. "It was fun for me because there aren't any words to learn, so I could focus on the beauty of the music."

Tickets are $37.10-$122.70 and are available at VanWezel.org, the Box Office, or by calling 941-953-3368.

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