Young Artist Fellowship Program
“Occasions when the Young Artists have appeared with the ensemble…have been highly transformative, the rarest of rare opportunities to not only sit amongst professional musicians but also to employ early-music performance and tuning techniques.”
–THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER
For over 20 years, Jeannette Sorrell and her principal players have helped to train the next generation of outstanding baroque musicians by working with advanced students and emerging young professionals – sharing AF’s particular style and approach to baroque music. AF’s Young Artist alumni are among the leading up-and-coming young professionals of the national and international early music scenes.
Young Artist Fellows are hand-picked by Jeannette Sorrell for a 1- to 3-year apprenticeship. The Fellows gain invaluable experience by playing with AF in rehearsals, subscription concerts, educational concerts, tour performances, and recording sessions – immersing themselves in not only the artistic, but also the promotional and presentational elements necessary to build a career in early music. They also receive individual coachings on solo repertoire with leading AF artists, and are offered the opportunity for solo performances in a chamber setting.
Meet the 2024-2025 Fellows
Click on the names to read about each Fellow
To date, over 20 young artists have passed through the program. Alumni who are now professional musicians and period specialists include violinists Alan Choo, Johanna Novom, Adriane Post, Augusta McKay Lodge, Evan Few, Carrie Krause, violists Karina Schmitz and Maya Johnson, violist/fiddler Caitlin Hedge, cellist Rachel Henderson, and soprano Madeline Healey. Recent emerging AF alumni, at the start of their professional careers, include violinists Guillermo Salas Suárez and cellist/gambist Luka Stefanović.
Multi-generational performance of Bach’s Coffee Cantata,
featuring AF principal players, Young Artist Apprentices and Musettes.
Watch AF’s former young artists in action in a semi-staged performance of Bach’s Coffee Cantata! (Direction, choreography, and English singing translation by Jeannette Sorrell.):
- Part 1 features primarily the Apprentices.
- Part 2 features Madeline Healey as the rebellious daughter and guest artist Jeffrey Strauss as the frustrated Papa.
- Part 3 is the Finale including all Apprentices and 3 Musettes.
“The concert… featured the talented members of the ensemble’s Young Artist Apprentice Program performing alongside AF regulars, with a special appearance by three even younger members of Apollo’s Musettes. The evening culminated in a cleverly staged performance of Johann Sebastian’s amusing ‘Coffee Cantata.’ Jeffrey Strauss perfectly captured the personality of Schlendrian — bumbling and at his wits’ end — singing with excellent diction and a fine sense of comedy.
Madeline Healey’s strong, clear voice and supple delivery beautifully suited the frequently ornate music Bach wrote for [teenage coffee-addict] Lieschen, and her acting fit the character of a dizzy daughter like a glove. Sorrell’s imaginative staging brought the instrumental ensemble into the action and sometimes coyly made good fun of itself.”
-CLEVELANDCLASSICAL.COM
For further information on the Young Artist Fellowship Program, contact Edward Vogel at 216.320.0012 or evogel@apollosfire.org.