Three years after a popular television talent show launched child soprano Jackie Evancho on a meteoric career, she still has no singing coach, can't read music and sticks to a modest rehearsal routine.
As she makes the transition from pre-teen singing sensation to professional artist, Evancho, who turns 14 in April, is seeking to balance schoolwork - and playtime - with a busy concert tour schedule and recording her sixth album.
"She has the challenge of going from child star to legitimate artist," says Lisa Evancho, who tours with her daughter, helping to steam-press her dresses before performances and supervising her rehearsal routine. "It's no longer 'Let's go see the circus freak - the little girl with the grown-up voice'. It's more like wanting her to stand on her own ability and keep the career going in that direction. And, it looks as if it is."
A runner-up finish on America's Got Talent in 2010 introduced Evancho, from Pittsburgh, as the newest - and youngest - classical crossover singer. Since then, Evancho has packed concert halls across the US and overseas, as well as landing duets with Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett and Jose Carreras, plus two solo TV specials for PBS. She also appeared with Robert Redford in a 2012 movie, The Company You Keep.
Evancho recently received a standing ovation at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts, where she displayed her mature vocal power, phrasing and range in a rendition of My Heart Will Go On, from the movie Titanic, as well as her personal favourite, The Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera.
Onstage, she still has a little-girl-lost look between songs, accompanied by nervous little waves and glances at the audience. These days, however, she opts for wearing an elegant evening gown, over the knee-length skirts she wore on America's Got Talent. "I still get very nervous," she says after the show. "But I enjoy it all immensely."