Are you haunted by FOMO? We can cure your Fear of Missing Out. Join the Chicago Friends of Apollo’s Fire, and receive special invitations to delightful Soirées, house-concerts, receptions, and more!
Launched only three years ago, the Chicago Friends of AF have grown to over 100 under the dynamic leadership of Judy Bundra.
How do you become a Friend? It’s easy! Make a donation of $100 or more, and you’re in. Not only are you supporting the musicians, but also… the special invitations start coming your way.
This summer, the Friends enjoyed two delightful Soirées – intimate house-concerts with refreshments and a chance to mingle with the musicians and with your fellow arts-lovers.
On June 30, we packed 75 people into the large and gracious home of Doug Miller and Ellen Burke in Evanston. Doug and Ellen provided an amazing buffet of hors d’oeuvres and treats, while violinist Emi Tanabe and three other Chicago-based musicians of AF treated us to a stunning concert. See video below.
Our July 1 Soirée in downtown Chicago was attended by an astonishing 170 people. We were hosted by Elisa and Jonathan Ross in the beautiful atrium of Lake Point Tower at Navy Pier. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s the sketch of the concert, drawn by an artist in the audience.
On August 15, many of the Friends gathered on the fabled lawn of RAVINIA before AF’s concert, “Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Rediscovered.” With Prosecco in hand, we enjoyed meetings Friends new and old.
A small gift: Have you picked up your Apollo’s Fire sunburst pin yet? It’s available at the ticketing table at upcoming concerts for members of the Chicago Friends. Pick yours up and wear it at the next concert so we’ll be able to thank you in person.
Don’t Miss Out! – another Soirée is coming in early October.
Become a Friend Now
Donate $100 or more to support Apollo’s Fire’s work in Chicago.
Three ways to donate:
By phone: call AF at 800.314.2535 x 1
By check: send your check to Apollo’s Fire, 3091 Mayfield Rd, Suite 217. Please indicate “AF Chicago” on the check.
Online: click on the button below, then choose “Chicago” from the drop-down menu.
Thank you for your support and for becoming part of AF’s Chicago family!
“When my child plays the violin, it speaks to my heart and soul, and reminds me that here in this great county, nothing is impossible.” – Mother of a student in the Side-by-Side program
It’s 11am on September 3. A tall, skinny young man carrying a violin case and a friendly fellow lugging a cello walk into Sauk Elementary School. A 10-yr-old child runs up to them and gives them a hug. “Hey Mr. Dylan, I missed you this summer!” “Hi Mr. Chad, that’s a cool new cello case!”
Soon the classroom is full of children excitedly unpacking their string instruments.
“Oh Mr. Dylan, look, I need a new E string!”
“Mr. Chad will you help me tune my cello?”
“Mr. Dylan, are we going to listen to Beethoven’s 5th today? That’s my favorite.”
These are the children of our SIDE BY SIDE String Program – a partnership between Matteson School District 162 and Apollo’s Fire. The program is starting its 4th year, now including over 70 students at 4 elementary schools, 1 middle school, and the renowned Southland College Prep Charter High School. And it’s a kind of miracle.
Have you ever been to Matteson?
Dr. Blondean Davis Superintendent of Matteson School District 162“We are a proudly diverse community,” says Dr. Blondean Davis, the award-winning CEO and Superintendent of Matteson School District 162. “A hard-working community. The support from the parents is tremendous. And they are thrilled that their children can play in a string program. When our SIDE BY SIDE string students perform at our Winter and Spring concerts each year, the auditorium erupts in cheers and wild applause.”
Dr. Davis knows what she’s talking about. A nationally recognized educational leader, she was inducted into the Illinois Black Hall of Fame in 2022. She has been changing the lives of Illinois students for 5 decades. She is the founder of Southland College Prep Charter High School, the only charter high school to earn the state’s highest designation of “exemplary.” The school has a 100% college acceptance rate, and several of its alums are now at Ivy League schools – on full scholarships.
Dr. Davis wanted a string program. So, Apollo’s Fire gave her one. The SIDE BY SIDE program, designed by Jeannette Sorrell, is modeled on the famous youth orchestra of orphan girls led by composer Antonio Vivaldi in the 18th century. Apollo’s Fire teaching artists play side-by-side with the students, so the teachers and students become a kind of musical family. The repertoire, chosen by Jeannette and the teaching artists, is mainly baroque pieces and traditional/historical folk melodies from various world cultures, including African American spirituals.
Meet Haley, a viola student. [See video below, where Haley plays a stunning Bach duet with her teacher, the amazing Eric Gratz.] Despite huge challenges from the outside world, Haley was the valedictorian of her class at Southland. Now she is at Yale, on full scholarship. She loves playing Mozart in the university orchestra. But you will probably see her one day as an anchor person on the TV news. (That’s Jeannette’s prediction.)
You may recall our other high school students, who have appeared three times in “Prelude Performances” at Apollo’s Fire concerts in Chicago and Evanston. Last year, when they opened for the AF concert at the Art Institute, their professionalism was mentioned by the critic of Chicago Classical Review in his glowing review of the concert. But what the critic didn’t know was that two of the students practiced their instruments backstage straight through the dinner break before the concert.
“It was a crowded backstage scene,” says Jeannette. “There were Subway sandwiches everywhere. But Tyson and Shawn couldn’t be bothered with sandwiches. They had more important things to do – practicing a 17th-century fiddle tune called Bellamira.”
Our program also takes inspiration from the El Sistema method – the music-education program that has transformed the lives of hundreds of underprivileged children in Venezuela. Gustavo Dudamel, the renowned conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, got his start in El Sistema. He has said, “music saved my life…like food, like health care, like education, music must be a right for every citizen.”
Eric Gratz Senior Teaching ArtistThe Apollo’s Fire team of Teaching Artists, hand-picked by Jeannette, are in Matteson 4-5 days per week. Eric Gratz, the team’s Senior Teaching Artist in Residence at Southland College Prep, is one of the finest young violinists in the United States. In 2013, at the age of 22, Gratz became the youngest Concertmaster in North America, accepting the post with the San Antonio Symphony.
When Eric arrived at Southland in spring of 2022, he quickly inspired and transformed the students. They listened to Eric play, and wanted to play like him. Now they bring passion and commitment to music such as Vivaldi’s Winter Concerto, a sinfonia by the esteemed Black composer Florence Price, a Japanese fantasia, and African American spirituals.
“When I recruited Eric to be our Senior Teaching Artist in Residence, I feared he might only stay for a year,” said Jeannette. “He’s a concert violinist with a national career. But he’s now been with us 2.5 years. That tells you how special these students are. And how special Dr. Davis’ leadership is.”
This string program costs over $100,000 per year. How is Matteson 162 paying for it? “With difficulty,” says Dr. Davis. “We are used to pulling off miracles. Not a penny is wasted. But how can this program continue after this year? I ask myself this every night. We urgently need donations from the arts-loving community.”
If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to the SIDE BY SIDE program, please click the DONATE button below.
Thank you for believing in us. We can’t wait for you to hear our students this year!
As the August tour forges on, AF musicians take in the beautiful scenery of San Quirico d’Orcia as they rehearse this week. Telemann and Bach will be the featured composers on Friday’s concert at the Church of Santo Stefano in Cennano Castelmuzio (built in 1285 AD!) as part of the Festival Paesaggi Musicali Toscani.
The Sugarloaf troupe had a busy few days with 3 consecutive concerts in Derry and Ballymena (Northern Ireland) and Wexford (Ireland), which required over 7 hours of bus travel! Despite the grueling schedule, Sugarloaf Mountain still captivated audiences with its warmth and fiery spirit. One patron noted “Thanks to Apollo’s Fire for brightening up a dull cloudy evening in Wexford.”
The next stage of the tour involves the group splitting off in multiple directions. Several musicians are on their way home to Cleveland today, while others go onto the next stop in Tuscany for a performance at the Paesaggi Musicali Toscani (Tuscan Landscapes Festival). The next time the Sugarloaf troupe will reunite is in Cleveland for Christmas On Sugarloaf Mountain concerts in December!
We had an extremely fun and successful concert at the Irish National Opera House in Wexford! Getting there was tough – a 3-hr drive from Northern Ireland during the middle of the night, following our Saturday night concert in Ballymena. But it was worth it!
This is known as the finest small opera house in the world, and we agree! Excellent acoustics and a wonderful and enthusiastic audience. An immediate standing ovation at the end of the concert. And… they already invited us to return! Afterwards, we gathered at a nearby pub for a “Parting Glass” – sad farewells at the end of a very special tour.
Sugarloaf Mountain UK/Ireland tour is half way done – 3 concerts down and 3 more to go! After several busy consecutive days of concerts and travel, the company has a well-deserved day off. Several members of the group ventured out on their own to see the sights of Northern Ireland (including the Giant’s Causeway!) while others stayed back in Belfast to tend to more practical items like laundry and catching up on emails.
Following a 2.5-hr drive from Dublin to Belfast, we had a Gala concert and dinner at the amazing Belfast Castle. The concert was filmed by a major production company for use in a future promotional program for Tourism Ireland.
It was also a live radio broadcast carried by the Associated Press of Europe, meaning that various stations across Europe were broadcasting parts of it at various times, whenever they had a gap to fill between news reports etc. (No pressure!). So in Berlin they may have heard Wayfaring Stranger, whereas in Paris they may have heard Glory in the Meeting House….
The Castle is amazing and would be so much fun to play Hide-and-Seek in! At dinner we sat with the patrons, who were donors and dignitaries of Northern Ireland, and people from the BBC. All of them were so warm and friendly, as is everyone we’ve met in Ireland.
The first photo is the charming pub across the street from our lovely hotel. The 2nd is the entrance to our hotel.
The rest are behind-the-scenes photos of Belfast Castle.
Some of our Sugarloaf aficionados might have noticed in the photos of our Aldeburgh concert on our Facebook page that Amanda was not wearing her usual costume. She actually had to borrow a dress from our flutist, Kathie Stewart, because Amanda’s luggage was still missing. Thankfully, Amanda’s luggage has been found in Dublin!
The story goes that the airline was to deliver Amanda’s bag to the hotel in Dublin. However, at the Dublin airport, Tina went to look for her dulcimer in the large bag area, when she noticed a familiar bag….Amanda’s at the Dublin airport. EXCEPT they tagged it with the name “Tina Bergmann.” But the luck of the Irish had it that Tina noticed Amanda’s bag (which apparently must have had quite a tumble with a gorilla and got badly smashed). If it were not for that, that bag would still be looking for a Tina and not an Amanda.
All is well now, and Amanda celebrated by enjoying some Cottage Pie at a local pub. We look forward to playing for another fantastic audience in Dublin!
Susanna Perry Gilmore (violin) and Tina Bergmann, (hammered dulcimer) exploring the charming streets of Ipswich
After a stressful start to the tour because of the lost luggage and costumes, the first performance in Aldeburgh was a great success! We thoroughly enjoyed playing to a wonderful and enthusiastic full hall.
A short 90-minute flight will now take us to Dublin for a performance at the National Concert Hall!
SATURDAY. Arrived in London, minus the luggage of Amanda, Tina, and Ian. Their costumes were in their luggage. Will the bags arrive in time for tomorrow’s FILMED performance at the Aldeburgh Festival?
After a 3-hr drive to Ipswich (near Aldeburgh) where the group is staying, the tired group takes a much-needed nap while Jeannette and our British tour manager Vicky Shilling go shopping to look for dresses and vintage boots for Amanda and Tina.
Jeannette to shopkeepers: Excuse me, I wondered if you have any lace Boho dresses with asymmetrical handkerchief skirts? Like this picture…? (Shows photo of Sugarloaf troupe)
Shopkeeper: Nice photo! Are you all on tour?
Vicky: Yes, they’re from America and they’re playing at the Aldeburgh Festival tomorrow. But some of the luggage did not arrive…
Shopkeeper: Ah, I’m so sorry but that dress is rather a summer style. We’ve already got our autumn clothing in. I hope your bags arrive!
On to 6 more shops, with similar results… at least it’s a nice way of wandering the streets of Ipswich.
Following two fabulous performances and send-off receptions in Cleveland and Bath, the orchestra has packed their bags (not to mention their microphones, music, instruments, concert dress, extra strings, and props) to fly to London. Ten musicians, our incredible Production Manager Tom Frattare, and our General Manager Noha Ryder will take a combined total of seven different flights. All of these flights were meticulously scheduled and booked by our own Director of Touring, Allison Richards.
Curious about how to you get a cello from Cleveland to the UK? It actually has its own seat on the plane next to our esteemed principal cellist René Schiffer, who will secure it using a seat belt extension. We are waiting to see if the cello will get its own meal on the plane and will report back!
But there will be no time to rest when they arrive, because they will all board a bus first thing in the morning to Ipswich in preparation for our first performance at the Aldeburgh Festival.
Are you haunted by FOMO? We can cure your Fear of Missing Out. Join the Chicago Friends of Apollo’s Fire, and receive special invitations to delightful Soirées, house-concerts, receptions, and more!
