Imaginer

"Imaginer" (to imagine) is a French-language song first performed and recorded by American singer Jackie Evancho in 2011. The song uses the music from a 1999 English-language song, "Broken Vow", by Walter Afanasieff and Lara Fabian. The same songwriters wrote the new French lyrics for Evancho, who recorded it on her 2011 gold album Dream With Me, which was recorded when Evancho was 10 years old.

Evancho in early 2011, when she recorded "Imaginer"

Lara Fabian: "Broken Vow"

The music of "Imagine" was originally written for an English-language song, "Broken Vow", by the record producer and songwriter Walter Afanasieff and the Belgian-Italian, naturalised Canadian international singer Lara Fabian. Fabian recorded it for her first English-language album, Lara Fabian, released in France in 1999. It was subsequently recorded and performed by many other singers.[1]

New lyrics and 2011 recordings

Afanasieff and Fabian wrote the new French lyrics to "Imaginer" especially for Jackie Evancho, for her 2011 album Dream With Me, produced by David Foster, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200[2] and No. 1 on the Billboard's US Classical Chart.[3] The album was certified gold by the RIAA.[4] The meaning of "Broken Vow", about a sad love, is completely changed in "Imaginer", which describes a dream of a peaceful world. Part of the lyrics translate as follows: "Imagine a world as pure as the sun, / Where war is only a memory. / Imagine a world without hunger".[1][5]

Evancho also performed the song in her 2011 PBS Great Performances special Dream With Me In Concert, which was also sold on CD and DVD.[6] On both Dream With Me and Dream With Me In Concert, Conrad Tao played the piano solo in "Imaginer".[7]

"Imaginer" on tour

Evancho included the piece in her 2011–12 Dream With Me tour[8] and her 2012–14 "Songs from the Silver Screen" tour.[9] In The Salt Lake Tribune, reviewer Robert Coleman commented: "Singing in French to Lara Fabian's 'Imaginer' and in Italian for Puccini's 'O mio babbino caro,' Evancho showed her expertise with languages as well as some pretty respectable interpretation."[10]

References
  1. "Recording: Imaginer", Second Hand Songs, accessed July 13, 2012
  2. "Dream with Me - Jackie Evancho", Billboard 200, accessed October 19, 2011
  3. "Dream with Me - Jackie Evancho", Billboard Classical Albums, accessed October 19, 2011
  4. Micco, Cindy Cusic. "Jackie Evancho's CD Certified Gold with 500,000 Sales", Pine-Richland Patch, July 29, 2011, accessed October 19, 2011
  5. Sheet music to "Imaginer", Sony/ATV Music Publishing, 2011 accessed April 27, 2012
  6. "Production Announcement for Jackie Evancho: Dream with Me in Concert", PBS.org, 29 April 2011, accessed December 30, 2011
  7. Conrad Tao Archived 2012-10-28 at the Wayback Machine, TheGilmore.org, accessed November 2, 2011
  8. Coleman, Robert. "Review: Evancho charms Maverik Center audience", The Salt Lake Tribune, 31 March 2012
  9. inside pages of theatre program, Bunkamura Orchard Hall, Tokyo, August 19, 2012; Set list from May 18, 2013 Baltimore concert, Setlist.FM, accessed December 17, 2013
  10. Coleman, Robert. "Review: Evancho charms Maverik Center audience", The Salt Lake Tribune, April 2, 2012, accessed December 17, 2013
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