Apollo’s Fire ends the season in an explosion of virtuoso fireworks. Bach’s famously fiery Concerto in D Minor is usually heard on keyboard, but was originally intended for violin (and is even better that way!) Acclaimed soprano Amanda Forsythe returns for AF’s first-ever performance of Bach’s sparkling “Jauchzet” cantata, featuring dazzling coloratura for soprano and trumpet. The AF strings take the spotlight in the beloved Brandenburg Concerto no. 3.
 
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In 1600, Italy was home to a fascinating melting pot of Jews from northern Europe, Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East. Though confined to crowded ghettos, the Italian Jews enlivened Italy with a vibrant mix of Sephardic and Ashkenazi musical traditions. In Venice and Mantua, Jewish and Catholic composers such as Salamone Rossi, Claudio Monteverdi, and Benedetto Marcello worked side by side and influenced each other. Our 15 musicians weave a musical tapestry, from prayer to feasting. Hebrew chants and baroque settings of the Psalms meet instrumental virtuosity – including a sparkling Sammartini concerto featuring Israeli recorder virtuoso Daphna Mor.

“Innovative and brilliant… a magic carpet that swept Sunday’s large audience away.”
– COOLCLEVELAND.COM
 
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Anna O’Connell, baroque & Celtic harps, soprano
with Amanda Powell, soprano

The harp was the voice of the marginalized peoples of the British Isles – Irish, Welsh, and Scots. Ireland’s legendary blind harper, Turlough O’Carolan, was one of several great harpers of the 17th and 18th centuries. Today’s young harpist troubadour, Anna O’Connell, sings and accompanies herself on the harp in the manner of the old Celtic harpists. Six Apollo’s Fire musicians on violins, flute, cello, hammered dulcimer, and lutes join Anna in sparkling music by O’Carolan, Dowland, and Purcell, along with Scottish and Irish folk songs.
 
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Jeannette Sorrell, conductor/harpsichord
Amanda Powell, soprano vocals
Ross Hauck, tenor vocals

In this communal celebration of the American immigrant experience, fiddlers, medieval harp, hammered dulcimer, bagpipes, and singers join with children’s voices to evoke the Celtic roots of an Appalachian Christmas. From Christmas Eve in medieval Scotland to folk carols and shape-note hymns at a toe-tapping Christmas gathering in Virginia… we follow the journeys of the Irish and Scottish settlers who bravely crossed the Atlantic. The people of the mountains welcome Christmas with LOVE, SINGING, DANCING and PRAYER.
 
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Amanda Forsythe & Amanda Powell, sopranos | Amanda Crider, mezzo-soprano

Long ago in the palace of Ferrara, three renowned ladies entertained princes with their astonishing musicianship. The “Tre Donne di Ferrara” (Three Ladies of Ferrara) were probably the first female professional musicians. Apollo’s Fire collaborates with three stunning Amandas in virtuoso trios written for the Ferrara ladies, alongside soulful songs by Barbara Strozzi and Francesca Caccini and lively duets from Monteverdi’s playful Scherzi Musicali. Eight instrumentalists join in the fun with dances from the palace and the countryside.
 
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London, 1665: A year-long plague held the city in its grip, but haunting folk ballads and laments of Dowland and Purcell wafted from the windows of empty streets. Two centuries later, outbreaks of cholera and dysentery could not prevent Americans – black and white – from singing in joyous harmony at the end of the Civil War. In this new program from Jeannette Sorrell, we conjure up these two historic pandemics through music, diaries and poems as we celebrate the resilience of the human spirit. WE SHALL OVERCOME.
 
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Jeannette Sorrell, conducting
Kristine Caswelch & Ashlee Foreman, sopranos
Reggie Mobley, countertenor
Jacob Perry, tenor
Jonathan Woody, bass
with AF instrumentalists and the Musettes Ensemble (youth chorus)

Back by popular demand! This uplifting program by Jeannette Sorrell premiered in May 2021 and now returns in an expanded version. Monteverdi’s beautiful Nigra Sum (I am Black & Beautiful) from the Vespers of 1610 meets a stunning 2019 composition of the same title by Black composer Jonathan Woody. Renowned countertenor Reggie Mobley shares tales of his childhood growing up Black (and beautiful) in the Deep South. A suite by Joseph Bologne (known as “The Black Mozart” in the 18th century) leads to Civil War-era spirituals. The Apollo’s Musettes (youth choir) join AF musicians and soloists in this celebration of our shared humanity.
 
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Sonya Headlam, soprano
Francisco Fullana, violin

MOZART Don Giovanni Overture
BOLOGNE Suite from L’Amant anonyme
BOLOGNE Violin Concerto
MOZART Symphony no. 41, Jupiter

Two geniuses: one called Mozart, the son of a musician; the other called Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the son of an African slave and her white master. In the 18th century, both were revered. Bologne became a beloved violin soloist, composer, champion fencing master, and hero of the French Revolution. Hearing both composers side by side in glorious music, we ask why one was forgotten…?
 
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Apollo’s Fire and Jeannette Sorrell set sparks flying in this program from the historic Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, New York. Bach’s beloved Brandenburg Concerto no. 3 meets Vivaldi’s Concerto in A Minor for Two Violins, featuring Olivier Brault and Susanna P. Gilmore. Spanish violinist Francisco Fullana performs Bach’s extraordinary Violin Concerto in D Minor and in Vivaldi’s fiery Concerto for Two Cellos, cellists René Schiffer and Mimé Brinkmann show why AF thinks of Vivaldi as the “rock-n-roll composer of the 18th century.”
 
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Francisco Fullana, violin – Four Seasons
Alan Choo & Emi Tanabe, violin – La Folia
René Schiffer & Sarah Stone, cello – Vivaldi Double Cello Concerto

Not your mother’s Four Seasons…. Jeannette Sorrell and Francisco Fullana become musical storytellers – celebrating along with the 18th-century Italian peasants, whose joys and sorrows Vivaldi described so vividly. Dueling cellists evoke Vivaldi’s rock-n’-roll personality in the stormy Concerto for Two Cellos. The party ends in exuberant madness when the group whips up Vivaldi’s La Folia (“Madness”).

“Sorrell’s vivid approach makes these familiar works seem freshly minted, full of astonishing incident. Exhilarating… the tension exploded in the final squall.”
– SEEN & HEARD INTERNATIONAL (UK)
 
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Sonya Headlam & Erica Schuller, soprano
Amanda Crider, mezzo-soprano
Steven Caldicott Wilson, tenor
Edward Vogel, baritone

Sound the trumpet! Jeannette Sorrell, soloists, and chorus bring their nationally acclaimed interpretation of Messiah back home to Northeast Ohio. The singers become musical storytellers, bringing spirituality and theatricality to Handel’s richly layered masterpiece.
 
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The exoticism of the East and the structure of the West. They met in Venice in 1610 – and the splendor resounded. Jeannette Sorrell leads chorus, strings, brass, lutes, and soloists in Monteverdi’s sumptuous masterpiece.
 
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In this vibrant musical journey from 16th-century Spain to baroque Latin America, music of Spanish composers Diego Ortiz, Gaspar Sanz, and Santiago de Murcia blends virtuosity with lively dance rhythms. Sephardic ballads from the Jewish Quarter of Seville celebrate love and life. Crossing the Atlantic, we encounter a joyful mix of Hispanic and Caribbean influences. Internationally-acclaimed Puerto Rican soprano Sophia Burgos joins friends on strings, harp, guitars, and percussion.
 
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Christmas night in Ireland, 1849: Families and friends gather for singing, storytelling, plenty of wassail, and tearful farewells – as many of them prepare to depart for America the next day.

This heartwarming program from Jeannette Sorrell follows the hopes and fears of the Irish who bravely crossed the Atlantic, bringing their music with them. Irish singer Fiona Gillespie joins with fiddlers, medieval harp, hammered dulcimer, and bagpipes in this communal celebration of the American immigrant experience – welcoming Christmas with LOVE, SINGING, DANCING and PRAYER.

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Handel’s Water Music and Other Royal Festivities

Purcell and Handel gave artistic voice to the British royal family’s most festive and poignant moments. From Handel’s Water Music, written for a royal boating party, to lively excerpts from Purcell’s King Arthur, to the heartbreakingly beautiful Funeral Music for Queen Mary, Jeannette Sorrell leads the acclaimed Apollo’s Singers with a sumptuous orchestra worthy of Buckingham Palace.

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A Dramatic Oratorio
Adaptation by J. Sorrell

Premiered in 2017, Jeannette Sorrell’s new adaption of Handel’s neglected oratorio has won rave reviews. In addition to being a colorful showpiece for the virtuoso players and chorus of Apollo’s Fire, the work is a gripping emotional journey – from plagues and pyramids to the crossing of the Red Sea… The Israelites’ daring escape from Egypt comes to life with reverence and triumph through Handel’s sumptuous music.

“Presented with a sense of theatre as Handel intended… scintillating and superb.”
—CLEVELANDCLASSICAL.COM

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