Dream with Me is the second full-length album (first on a major label) by American singer Jackie Evancho. It was released on June 3, 2011 on digital download format, and on June 14, 2011 in the standard CD format.Dream With Me, Amazon.com, accessed November 26, 2011 Evancho was eleven years old when this album was released, although she was still ten when it was recorded. The album was produced by 16-time Grammy Award winner David Foster.PBS Great performances About the Program. Retrieved 9 July 2011
This album features duets with Barbra Streisand and Britain's Got Talent runner-up Susan Boyle, as well as twelve solo tracks.The Target deluxe edition includes four bonus tracks. The album debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart,"Dream With Me – Jackie Evancho", Billboard 200, accessed October 19, 2011 reached number 1 on the Billboard's US Classical Chart,[ "Dream With Me – Jackie Evancho"], Billboard Classical Albums, accessed October 19, 2011 and was certified gold by the RIAA.Micco, Cindy Cusic. "Jackie Evancho's CD Certified Gold with 500,000 Sales", Pine-Richland Patch, July 29, 2011, accessed October 19, 2011 The singer promoted the album on talk shows, in a popular PBS Great Performances special and through a national concert tour with symphony orchestras at Lincoln Center, throughout the U.S. and elsewhere.
Promotion and concerts
Evancho promoted the album on talk shows on every major U.S. networkSee "Jackie Evancho: Credits", TV Guide, accessed October 27, 2011; "Jackie Evancho: Tiny Desk Concert", NPR, May 23, 2011, accessed June 28, 2012; and Micco, Cindy Cusic, "Jackie Evancho Making History at Heinz", Pine-Richland Patch, November 17, 2011, mentioning appearances on The Today Show, Piers Morgan Tonight, Fox & Friends, The View, The Talk and The Tonight Show. and concerts in the U.S., London and Toronto.Fitzharris, Dustin. "Jackie Evancho takes time out to be a kid", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 29, 2011"Musical prodigy Jackie Evancho performs as part of Citytv's Summer in the Square" , CityTV, May 31, 2011 A deluxe edition of Dream With Me, available exclusively from Target, featured four bonus tracks: "Someday", "Mi Mancherai", "The Impossible Dream" and "A Time For Us"."Dream With Me (Deluxe) – Only at Target", Target.com, accessed June 4, 2011
Evancho performed nearly the same songs as those on the Dream With Me CD for her first solo concert televised special, which first aired in June 2011 on PBS stations ("The Prayer" was omitted, but "Dark Waltz" and "Mi Mancherai" were added).Sauers, Kathleen. "The Countdown to Jackie Evancho's Next CD Begins" , Pine-Richland Patch, May 26, 2011, accessed July 19, 2012 The program was part of the PBS Great Performances series, co-produced by SYCO/Columbia. It was frequently rebroadcast during 2011, and by early August 2011, the special had been broadcast nearly 2,000 times."SYCO/Columbia Records Announce the Release of Dream With Me In Concert Starring 11-Year-Old Soprano Prodigy Jackie Evancho, PRNewswire, August 15, 2011 It became "one of the most viewed specials in the 38-year-history of the Great Performances series [and] raised record amounts of money for PBS stations."Benson, Bruce. "Jackie Evancho Goes to the Movies for PBS Concert", Pine-Richland Patch, June 14, 2012 The special continued to be shown into 2013."Great Performances: Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me in Concert", SOPTV.org, June 6, 2013
Evancho was the youngest solo artist ever to headline a special on the Great Performances series.Fallick, Alan H. "Fast Chat with singing gem Jackie Evancho", Newsday, November 3, 2011 "Jackie Evancho: The Girl Who Amazed the World", Pittsburgh Music History, a virtual museum, accessed January 4, 2011 The concert was taped in April 2011 at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida,Lawson, Kyle. "Jackie Evancho's star continues to rise". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, accessed May 11, 2012Kurpiela, Heidi. "Evancho Tapes Solo Concert at Ringling Museum", Sarasota Observer, May 26, 2011, p. 3 and was co-hosted by David Foster, who played the piano in the orchestra for many of the selections, while Conrad Tao played piano and violin in some selections. The performances are available as a CD/DVD titled Dream With Me In Concert.Micco, Cindy Cusic. "Jackie Evancho to Sing on Tonight's Finale of America's Got Talent", Pine-Richland Patch, September 14, 2011, accessed February 22, 2017 Allmusic noted: "the concert version ... sounds nearly identical (outside of the waves of applause) to the studio album ... but the accompanying DVD, which features the heavily choreographed performance, as well as an extensive photo gallery and interviews with both Evancho and Foster, should provide enough eye and ear candy to appease fans of the gifted young vocalist until a proper follow-up appears.Monger, James Christopher. "Dream With Me In Concert: Review", accessed October 19, 2011
In July 2011, the singer began her first official tour across the United States, to promote the album. It consisted of a series of performances with symphony orchestras, beginning with the Sun Valley Orchestra on July 31, followed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on August 5, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra on August 7, the Omaha Symphony Orchestra on August 26, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra on August 31 and her hometown Pittsburgh Opera on October 16. Conductor Antony Walker took the opportunity to introduce her fans (many of whom were newcomers to opera) to the Pittsburgh Opera's chorus and soloists, who performed several numbers from Verdi, Bizet and Puccini along with Evancho's repertoire. Evancho made her New York City concert debut at Avery Fisher Hall with songs from the album on November 7, 2011."Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me", Lincoln Center program, Playbill, November 7, 2011 Her last concert of the year was in Las Vegas with David Foster in Las Vegas on December 29.Leach, Robin. "Jackie Evancho shines with David Foster at Mandalay Bay" , Las Vegas Sun, December 30, 2011
After presenting her concert in Japan in January 2012 with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Evancho resumed her U.S. "Dream With Me" tour later the same month in California.Salkin, Judith. "See Jackie Evancho, the tiny performer with a huge voice", Desert Post Weekly, January 25, 2012 She gave three more concerts in February, with the San Diego Symphony,"Jackie Evancho @ Copley Symphony Hall" , Wots-On?, San Diego, February 22, 2012 in Los Angeles, and with Fresno Grand Opera's orchestra,Munro, Donald. "Jackie Evancho makes the Saroyan swoon" , The Fresno Bee, February 27, 2012 and another three in March, in San Francisco,Kosman, Joshua. "Jackie Evancho review: The kid can sing", San Francisco Chronicle, March 27, 2012, p. F1 Sacramento,"Jackie Evancho & Symphony Orchestra at Theater March 28" , SacramentoConventionCenter.com, accessed March 29, 2012 and West Valley City, Utah.Coleman, Robert. "Review: Evancho charms Maverik Center audience", The Salt Lake Tribune, 31 March 2012 In June 2012, she concluded the tour with performances in Alpharetta, GeorgiaPepalis, Bob. "Jackie Evancho Helps ASO Open Its Summer Season", Alpharetta-MiltonPatch, June 5, 2012 and Newark, New Jersey.Spelling, Ian. "Jackie Evancho to perform at NJPAC", The Record, NorthJersey.com, June 7, 2012New Jersey Performing Arts Center theatre program, June 8, 2012
Reception
Allmusic gave the album 3-1/2 stars out of a possible five, commenting: "Dream with Me hits all of the right notes, though there are few surprises or big moments to be found ... resulting in a solid "official" debut from a rising star at the dawn of her career." Female First magazine wrote: "To say expectations were high for this would be an understatement. However, every expectation for a talented child were blown away from the first track. ... [T]here is constant emotion from a truly talented voice.""Album Review: Jackie Evancho – Dream With Me, Female First, First Active Media Ltd, 3 June 2011, accessed January 9, 2012 USA Today rated the album 2-1/2 stars out of four: "[Evancho's] sweet, unblemished vocal tone and slow, careful vibrato hardly betray her young age. ... But Dream's predictable and often bombastic odes to love and faith can undermine the tween's most appealing quality: innocence. I'd have preferred a little less pomp and Puccini and more youthful wonder."Gardner, Elysa. "Listen Up: Battles, Owl City, Jackie Evancho, more", USA Today, June 13, 2011, accessed October 27, 2011 People magazine gave the album three out of four stars, comparing Evancho favorably with her duet partners Barbra Streisand and Susan Boyle.Arnold, Chuck. "Picks and Pans: Music – Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me", People magazine, Vol. 75, No. 25, June 27, 2011 The reviewer for Kelowna Capital News in Canada called Evancho a "massive talent [who] seems equally adept at operatic arias, pop songs and show tunes."Mitchell, Bruce. "Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me (Columbia)" , Kelowna Capital News, June 15, 2011, accessed March 4, 2014 A Yahoo! review commented, "This new album ... is a comparative stunner".DiMartino, Dave. "Jackie Oh!", Yahoo.com, June 14, 2011
In the US, the album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 161,000 copies. The only album ahead of it was Bad Meets Evil's EP Hell: The Sequel.Kaufman, Gil. "Eminem ... Tops Billboard Chart; Bad Meets Evil's Hell: The Sequel barely outsells Jackie Evancho", MTV.com, June 22, 2011 Dream With Me debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, spent 17 consecutive weeks in the number one position on Billboard's US Classical Albums chart, and was certified gold by the RIAA. The album remained on the Billboard 200 for 30 consecutive weeksIt re-entered the Billboard 200 for an additional week in the week dated May 19, 2012: Classical Albums, Week of May 19, 2012, Billboard.com, accessed May 10, 2012 and remained on the Classical Albums chart for 74 consecutive weeks.Classical Albums chart dated week of November 17, 2012, Billboard.com, accessed November 15, 2012 The album also reached #5 in Canada, #4 in the UK (where it was later certified silver),"Certified Awards" , BPI, accessed August 18, 2013 #4 on the World Albums Top 40 chart, #8 in New Zealand, #15 in Ireland, #26 on the Mexican chart and #37 in Japan, where it remained on the charts for 16 weeks. With Dream With Me, Evancho became the youngest artist ever to debut on the UK charts in the top 5."Youngest popstars: Jackie Evancho", Virgin Media, accessed February 3, 2012
In November 2011, after the release of Evancho's new album, Heavenly Christmas, sales of Dream With Me increased, and the album climbed to number 55 on the Billboard 200.[ Dream With Me], Billboard.com, accessed December 15, 2011 In its 2011 year-end charts, Billboard ranked Dream With Me as the second-best selling Classical Album for the year (behind Evancho's O Holy Night)""Best of 2011: Classical Albums", Billboard.com, accessed December 9, 2011 and as the number 45 album of 2011 in the U.S."Best of 2011: Billboard 200 Albums", Billboard.com, accessed December 9, 2011 After Evancho's singing appearance on Dancing with the Stars on April 30, 2012, the album regained the #1 ranking on the Billboard Classical Albums chart"Classical Albums", Billboard.com, Week of May 19, 2012, accessed May 10, 2012 and rejoined the Billboard 200 at #178 for the Billboard week dated May 19, 2012."Billboard 200, 161–180", Billboard.com, Week of May 19, 2012, accessed May 10, 2012Caulfield, Keith. "Chart Moves: Coldplay's American Idol Gain; Avengers Soundtrack Debuts; Jackie Evancho Returns to No. 1" , Billboard.biz, May 10, 2010 As of October 2012, the album had sold 682,000 copies.Caulfield, Keith. "Under the Covers with Unconventional Stars", Billboard magazine, 20 October 2012, p. 41 Billboard ranked the album #5 on its 2012 year-end Classical Albums chart."Best of 2012: Classical Albums", Prometheus Global Media, December 15, 2012