Jackie Evancho says working with Foster was 'amazing'- www.jackie-evancho.dk

Eleven-year-old singing phenom Jackie Evancho's upcoming debut album features collaborations with such vocal heavyweights as Barbra Streisand and Susan Boyle, but she says Canadian producer David Foster made sure to keep the recording sessions breezy. "It was amazing," Evancho said of working with the 16-time Grammy winner during an interview in Toronto on Monday. "(It) was so much fun for me. ... He never really gave me (any) advice, really, just fun. He's a fun guy."

The Pennsylvania prodigy will release "Dream With Me" on June 14, less than a year after she shot to stardom with an appearance during the fifth season of the reality TV singing competition "America's Got Talent." She appeared last August, singing Giacomo Puccini's "O mio babbino caro" to a rapt audience -- shocked by the tiny blond girl's impossibly massive voice -- which then lavished her with a standing ovation.She went on to finish second in the competition behind blues crooner Michael Grimm while the Internet buzzed about her performance (videos of Evancho singing have more than 30 million combined views on YouTube).

She soon dropped the Christmas EP "O Holy Night," which went on to reach platinum certification in Canada and the U.S., but she says her new record will showcase her diversity. "There's many different genres, from pop to 200-year-old opera arias, which is awesome," said Evancho, clad in a cream-coloured dress, with her parents and siblings seated nearby. "It was really fun to sing. There's duets, and it was one of the best CDs I've recorded." Asked about her career goals beyond the release of the record, Evancho is happy to get specific. "One of my major goals is to become a professional singer and to be able to stand on a red carpet with Christina Aguilera and Hannah Montana and all those people."

Evancho will sing a free public show in Toronto's Dundas Square on Tuesday to coincide with the evening launch of a new season of "America's Got Talent." She says she isn't nervous about the gig, comparing it to the Pine-Richland school district fairs she performed at when she was (even) younger. Indeed, the bubbly pre-teen says that life isn't that much different than it was before her TV breakthrough.

"The only thing that's really changed for me is I travel a lot more and there's a lot more people that go: 'Oh my gosh, it's Jackie Evancho.' I'm just not used to that." The hardest part? Being away from the impressive roster of household pets she's amassed back at home. "I have three dogs, two cats, one lizard, three frogs, two guinea pigs, three ducks and a crayfish," she beams proudly. "I get to see them often enough, luckily."