02/13/2015 - 6th Concert of Awakening tour
Conductor: Karin Hendrickson
Orchestra: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Heinz Hall Set List:
1. Orchestra: Cavalleria Rusticana
2. Take Me There
3. Made To Dream
4. Memories
5. Orchestra: Pirates Of The Caribbean
6. The Impossible Dream
7. Your Love
8. Je T'aime
Intermission
9. Lovers
10. Ave Maria (Vasilov)
11. With Or Without You
12. Orchestra: Theme From Jurassic Park
13. Vocalise
14. My Immortal
15. Music Of THe Night
16. Think Of Me
17. Encore: The Lords Prayer
Jackie announced at the beginning that she was suffering with a cold.
She coughed at the end of With Or Without You and said she had overdone it.
She also coughed and had trouble during My Immortal and Music Of The Night,
but had no problem with the last two: Think Of Me and The Lords Prayer.
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From David N. Young:"Just got back from the concert. Yes Jackie announced at the very beginning that she was suffering with a cold. More on that in a minute. The first set and 1/2 was flawless, Jackie at her very best. The PSO was just excellent and the young conductor, Karin Hendrickson did a great job. Short of Jackie's full time conductor, John Mario, the best she has had to date.
Half way thru the second set, I can't remember the song, we heard the first cough. Jackie struggled from that point on to the end. I have never been more impressed with Jackie than I was with her effort and determination to finish the concert. It was an amazing thing to see. And I think the very large crowd agreed as well as by far the largest ovations were for her efforts on the songs that she struggled with the most. And it was by no means a pity ovation. It was an incredibly impressive thing to witness.
Her banter with the audience has reached in orders of magnitude, a very much higher level than it was just months ago. We heard her say that despite the fact that she was "coughing up a lung" she was going to continue. She had us laughing with her all night, despite our worries for her health. After huddling with her conductor at center stage she turned to the audience and announced "Jackie Evancho does not quit". She then proceeded to give us a very respectable Music of the Night, followed by an even better Think of Me. She promised us she was going to nail the last note even if she only had one lung left
. And she nailed it. She then asked for a "less than a minute break" and she would sing us one more song. She then delivered what might just be the best "The Lord's Prayer" ever to a very rousing standing ovation.
I think that although it would be inaccurate to say that this was Jackie's best concert from a musical point of view. It just can't be denied that she really struggled after an amazing start, this concert will be my favorite to date. I really believe that most singers struggling as much as she was would have quit. Not only did she deliver, she did it with a great sense of humor and determination. One more time I will say it......it was an impressive thing to witness!!!
I am more of a fan now than ever before, if such a thing is even possible
"
From Be of Good Cheer:"It's accurate too. The trouble started near the end of WOWY, (for which she had people clapping to the music, and a few brave old and not so old folks dancing even). She dropped out for a phrase near the end for having to cough. Said something along the lines of having overdone it.
Songs below with asterisks had some trouble coughing and having to skip a few measures - MOTN she had multiple difficulties with; OTOH, Vocalise was fine. While she was both apologetic and funny in her remarks, it was clear she was not about to throw in the towel. Sure enough, she nailed the last two, although you could see the concentration (not tension per se, but the look of someone doing something consciously that they'd normally not have to think through that carefully). The audience was not just sympathetic, but very appreciative of her determination. Again, it demonstrated that she doesn't panic (even when admittedly a bit nervious with friends and extended family in the audience), and if there is a problem, she knows where to come back in again correctly.
Oh, and the opening instrumental for the 1st half was Cavalleria Rusticana.
In the first half, she was rock solid from the start (rather than as sometimes, a bit weak on the first song). OTOH, someone noted that compared to her most dramatic previous renditions, she was holding back on some songs (might have been JT they referred to). It might have been accurate that she overdid it on WOWY, and the cautious accuracy of the first half was justified.
The conductor was quite good; different dynamics that JM, but not different worse (or necessarily different better). You can tell she's worked patiently with young people, but also enjoys working with an exceptional orchestra; she seemed to be able to be emphatic when necessary without any trace of agression.
Heinz hall
1st half was:
instrumental
TMT
made to dream
memories
pirates of the Caribbean
the impossible dream
your love
je taime
intermission
2nd half was:
Lovers
Ave Maria (Vasilov)
With Or Without You
Theme from Jurassic Park (instrumental)
Vocalize
My Immortal *
Music Of The Night *
Think Of Me
The Lord's Prayer "
From VarnK over on Proboards:
"Since returning home from Jackie's concert last night I have been trying to process the experience and put it into words. Jackie's concerts always seem to put me into a euphoric fog afterwards and it can be a bit of a challenge to adequately describe the experience. I am still trying to sort out all of the mental notes that I took. My wife and I drove home right after the concert, so we didn't have a chance to talk with fans afterwards at the post-concert fan gathering. However, the fan gathering before the concert was amazing! I would like to send out a big huge THANK YOU to Len (
navvet1092) for putting together a fantastic fan gathering! Everything was done up with class and was a great tribute to Jackie. There were posters and banners of Jackie on the walls, a large video screen playing the Awakening PBS broadcast, customized menus with Jackie's name on them, and buttons galore (BTW, I was flattered to see that the buttons had the picture of Jackie that I took at Detroit concert last year).
It was awesome to reconnect with some fans whom I've met before at past concerts, as well as meet some fans whom I have only corresponded with on-line. It is great to be among a group of people who "get it" when it comes to Jackie. We all come from different backgrounds and different walks of life, but we all have that one common bond in Jackie that binds us together. It is a very special relationship that we all have.
The weather in Pittsburgh was bitterly cold, but the skies were clear and sunny. Thank God the concert was yesterday, because the weather in this area today is downright bad! I only live 2 hours away from Pittsburgh in NE Ohio and we are getting pummeled with snow, and the temps have dropped into single digits. I couldn't imagine driving to Pittsburgh today.
For me, Pittsburgh concerts are extra special because the concert is at Jackie's home-turf and many of her family and friends come to see her too. I could see many familiar faces of family members and friends of Jackie whom we have seen before in videos and pictures that have been shared with fans. The atmosphere of excitement is really hard to describe. There were several opportunities where I could have approached family members, but I chose to respect their privacy and let them be.
The stage and the venue looked very elegant. I cannot say for sure if the entire Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra was there at the concert, but it appeared as though it was mostly a full orchestra - a real treat for sure!
My wife and I were in the second row just slightly to the left of Jackie's mic stand. Excellent seats for sure! I knew this concert was gonna be great just by the atmosphere alone. Soon the lights dimmed, the orchestra tuned to the concert master, and out comes the conductor - Karin Hendrickson. This would be her debut with the PSO and I can say she did not disappoint in the least bit. She did an excellent job conducting the orchestra and working with Jackie on-stage. Karin also interacted nicely with the audience too. I hope that she and Jackie get the chance to work more together - even though Jackie admitted that she had a hard time pronouncing Karin's name correctly
(sounds like it is pronounced "car-in"). The orchestra opened the concert with the Intermezzo to Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni. It is a great set-up piece for Jackie. The orchestra performed it beautifully! They would perform a total of 3 pieces without Jackie, which also included the themes from Pirates of The Caribbean, and Jurassic Park. Although these are hardly the demanding pieces that an orchestra of the caliber of the PSO normally plays, they did a splendid job with them and the audience was very receptive.
When Jackie finally came out on stage for the first time, she was wearing a beautiful blue dress that almost had a peacock-like appearance to it. It had shimmers down the one side of it with various colors of blue mixed in. Jackie started off with the song Take Me There. At first i thought the orchestra took the tempo a little slower than what I was accustomed to hearing on the CD, but it really didn't matter. Jackie followed along and sang with a lot of energy. The orchestra was slightly over-powering of Jackie at times, but nothing too over-the-top. As stated by others, Jackie admitted that she was fighting a cold, but she was determined that she was going to put this concert on for her home crowd. In the first half of the concert it would have been impossible to tell that Jackie was fighting a cold. We kept saying that if she sounded that good with a cold, imagine how she would sound without it. She was incredible! I absolutely love the way Jackie interacts with the audience. She treats the audience like individuals and speaks as if she is speaking to each of us personally. Her on-stage banter never seems artificial or staged. She just rolls with the moment and shares her thoughts with the audience in such a way that you almost feel like she is carrying on this conversation like she has known us personally all her life. It is really quite special!
For me, in many ways each song is literally breathtaking to hear Jackie sing live. I lose myself in her music and I can tell that she does the same by the expression on her face. I find myself taking a big sigh after a song completes, almost as if I forgot to breath while the song is being sung. You can tell that Jackie loves performing for the home crowd even though she admitted to being extra nervous because many of her family and friends were in attendance. No worries, the hometown audience was giving Jackie a lot of love back.
In the second half, Jackie wore a gorgeous red dress that I hadn't seen before that was absolutely stunning! In the latter part of the second half of the concert it was obvious that the cold was taking a toll on Jackie. She finished a rousing performance of With Or Without You with the audience clapping along and even some people dancing in the aisles. Right at the end of the song after she finished singing she let out a little cough. Jackie would fight against the coughing attacks throughout the remainder of the concert. Yet, through it all, she kept her composure and remained steadfast in her performance. It was inspirational and impressive beyond belief that she could push through such adversity for the benefit of her fans. I can add a new level of appreciation for Jackie to my list. She has my deepest and utmost respect for pushing on like that. Anyone else would have panicked and given up. Instead, Jackie made light of the whole situation to put us at ease and to push onward. The song she struggled with the most was Music Of The Night. She tried her hardest to hold off the coughs, but missed a few entrances because of it. The conductor (Karin) did a wonderful job with being attentive to Jackie and keeping the orchestra with her. When Jackie ended the regular program with Think of Me, she had forgotten to announce that it was the final song. However when she finished the song through all the adversity she was going through, the audience gave her an enthusiastic standing ovation throughout the theater. It was magical! Jackie triumphed, and the audience knew it! Jackie stayed out on stage and told us that she wanted to do one more song for us, but that she needed a minute to go back stage (probably to try and cough it out). When she came out, she sang an encore of The Lord's Prayer. Jackie sang this song about as beautiful as I have heard her sing it. I must say that I was offering up prayers for Jackie while she sang this song, and deep in my heart and soul I know that God helped pull her through it. I can't even describe the emotions that were running through me when the concert was over. It was heart-wrenching at times to know that Jackie had to struggle so much and yet it was inspiring beyond belief that she handled it so amazingly!
I hope that Jackie knows how much her performance last night meant to so many of us. As a fan I am tremendously proud of how Jackie handled the whole situation. She is a consummate professional beyond her years.
Thank you Jackie!
"
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