2017 – A Year in Review

As 2017 comes to a close, it is once-again time for the review of some of the significant events that have occurred this past year involving Jackie Evancho.

One of the biggest (and somewhat controversial) events that involved Jackie Evancho started at the beginning of the year when Jackie performed the National Anthem at the presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump.  Unfortunately, Jackie received a lot of backlash for her decision to accept the invitation to sing the National Anthem at the Inauguration.   In addition to the buzz that was being stirred up regarding the Inauguration, there was also a stir regarding Jackie’s older sibling coming out as transgender.  Jackie handled it with the same grace she has shown throughout her career.

Here is an interview Jackie did before the Inauguration where she discusses life, her career, and the inauguration.  In addition, Jackie and her older sister Juliet discuss the struggles they faced regarding the inauguration and the announcement of her transgender sister.

Although there were many people criticizing Jackie regarding the circumstances surrounding the Inauguration, I am proud of how she handled the situation, and equally proud of how she sang that day.  How many 16 year-old girls can make the claim that they sang the National Anthem at a historic presidential Inauguration?  As far as I know, Jackie is the first of her age to do it.  Here is a video of Jackie singing that day.

After the Inauguration, Jackie participated in another TV interview with ABC news show Nightline.  In this documentary, Jackie and Juliet are presented in more detail regarding the inauguration, Jackie’s career, and the challenges that occur as a result of Jackie’s support of her transgender sister.

As the dust settled after the Inauguration, Jackie continued her concert tour, performing at several venues throughout the country.  Here is a map of the known performance locations in 2017.

 

I had the pleasure of attending one of Jackie’s concerts this year when she performed at the Benedum Center in her hometown of Pittsburgh.  You can read my review of the concert by following this link:   Jackie Coming Home To Pittsburgh

Shortly after the hometown concert in Pittsburgh, Jackie released her seventh album titled “Two Hearts.”

The album “Two Hearts” is a mixture of many different musical genres and is one of her finest albums to date.  The album is available on Amazon or from Jackie’s official website http://www.jackieevancho.com/ .  You can read my detailed review of the album on my blog at the following link:  Two Hearts Album Review

Jackie made several appearances on talk-shows to promote the album  Here is a video of Jackie appearing on The Today Show.

In April, Jackie would set another milestone in her career by being the youngest artist to appear in-residence at the Cafe’ Carlyle in New York city.  She would give 12 performances at the famed venue – a first for Jackie.

Here is a link to a review of the show:

• http://screenpicks.com/2017/04/theater-review-jackie-evancho-cafe-carlyle/

Later in the year Jackie would be involved with a major production in Beijing China.  She was the US Ambassador to the Troy horse show.   This was a very large and prestigious multi-million dollar show.  More information on the show can be found at the following links:

• https://beijinginformer.com/33319/jackie-evancho-us-ambassador-to-troy-horse-show-beijing-china-beijing-video/
• http://chinachristiandaily.com/2017-08-02/culture/-troy–horse-show-set-to-premiere-in-beijing_5466.html
• http://jackie-evancho.dk/troy.html

One of the key significant aspects of this appearance is that the theme song for the show was written specifically for Jackie and she was featured as the soloist to perform it.

Here is a video of Jackie promoting the show:

You can hear a live recording of Jackie singing the theme song, “Set Me Free” at the video link below:

A studio recording of the song “Set Me Free” was later released as a single on Amazon.  I absolutely adore this song and believe it is a perfect match for Jackie’s voice.

Jackie Evancho and her family were featured on a mini-series show titled “Growing Up Evancho” presented by TLC.  The show gave a glimpse into the life of Jackie and her family by filming them at home.

You can purchase the full-episode of the show via TLC’s YouTube channel below:

Needless to say, Jackie certainly keeps herself busy.  It is undoubtedly a challenge for her to accomplish so much each year while still trying to balance her life with school and family.  Next year, Jackie turns 18 and will be making the transition into adulthood.  It is hard to say what lies ahead for her in the coming years.  I am sure she will still continue to pursue her passion for singing.   But there are questions that remain.  Will Jackie attend college?  Will she take a sabbatical from her career if she goes to college?  Will she ramp up her schedule even more?  Will she release another new CD?  It is anyone’s guess.

I hope everyone enjoyed this brief summary of 2017.   Have a Happy New Year!

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