2526 featured artists – Apollo's Fire

HYUNKUN CHO

Cellist HyunKun Cho is from Gwangju (South Korea) and lives in Barcelona (Catalonia). He began playing the classical cello at 15 and graduated from the Korea National University of Arts with Myungwha Chung.

His path led him to the Berlin University of the Arts, where he studied with Markus Möllenbeck baroque cello and received chamber music lessons with Prof. Mitzi Meyerson.

He continued his studies at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona with Bruno Cocset and Emmanuel Balssa for historical cello and Chamber music with Pedro Memelsdorff, and he did a specialized degree at the Geneva University of Music with Bruno Cocset.

HyunKun Cho has created various ensembles as a musical leader and played in others. He has been awarded several times, such as:

With the ensemble “La Prosperina”, they won the 1st prize for Early Music and the Audiences Award in Saarbrücken in 2010.
With the ensemble “Matis”, they won the 2nd prize at the International Telemann Competition for Chamber Music Ensemble of 2013.
He was awarded at the Berliner-Bach competition in 2013. The same year, he got a prize from the York Early Music Competition with Ensemble Nexus-Baroque and was invited to a musician residency in Ambronay.
In 2014, he won the Early Music competition in Yamanashi, Japan, with Camerata D’Amico, a classical period quartet.
As a soloist, he was awarded 3rd prize at the International Competition Musica Antiqua Bruges 2014.
With his new Ensemble Chorda Elegans, he participated in the Berliner-Bach competition 2018; he was awarded three prizes: 1st prize, audience prize, and best interpretation prize.
He won the 1st prize, audience prize, and special prize at the International Telemann Competition in 2019 in Magdeburg.

He has recently collaborated with Pedro Memelsdorff and his Arlequin Philosophe ensemble on their concert-seminar tour “Opera and Slavery in the French Caribbean” / “Kourou, Musica nel naufragio di un’utopia migratoria, Guiana francese 1763-1765” (2019-2024) in Venice, Potsdam, New Orleans, Wroclaw, Basel, and Berlin/Postdam; he has carried out coaching tasks for the musicians of the Freiburg Conservatory orchestra at its Early Music Festival, with Jean Christophe Dijoux (2023); and has published with Michael Form and the Au Pieds du Roy ensemble “Bach: Recovered Chamber Concertos” (2023). He has also collaborated on the seminars “Franz Schubert, ammiratore di Beethoven” (2023) with Pedro Memelsdorff and Andreas Staier, and “Pulcinella musico e filosofo. Arie e cantate comiche napoletane nel Settecento” (2023), with Pedro Memelsdorff and Pino De Vittorio. His most recent published work is “A la Mode Française” with Patrimonio Sonoro (2024).

ALAN CHOO

Violinist Alan Choo, whose performances have been described by The Straits Times Singapore as “an intoxicating brew of poetry and dare-devilry,” appears on the global stage as a leading soloist, chamber musician and historical specialist. He made his solo debut with Apollo’s Fire at the Tanglewood and Ravinia Music Festivals in 2017, and currently serves as Concertmaster and Assistant Artistic Director for the ensemble. He is also Founder and Artistic Director of Red Dot Baroque, Singapore’s first professional period ensemble and Ensemble-in-Residence at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. In May 2019, he was invited as guest concertmaster and soloist with the Shanghai-based baroque ensemble, Shanghai Camerata. He has also appeared as a soloist with the FVG Orchestra (Italy), St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Orchestra of the Music Makers and more.

Alan is the recipient of the Early Music Award 2016 from Peabody Conservatory, the Paul Abisheganaden Grant for Artistic Excellence 2015, the Goh Soon Tioe Centenary Award 2014, the Grace Clagett Ranney Prize in Chamber Music 2014 and 1st prize in the National Piano and Violin Competition 2011, Artist Category. He has also given masterclasses and lectures in violin performance, performance practice and stage presence to college students at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Michigan State University, Baldwin-Wallace College, Bowling Green State University, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.

Alan holds a Doctorate in Historical Performance from Case Western Reserve University, as well as degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory. His teachers include Julie Andrijeski, Risa Browder, Victor Danchenko and Alexander Souptel. His solo debut album with Apollo’s Fire, the complete Mystery Sonatas of Heinrich Biber, was released on AVIE Records in 2024 and debuted at #2 on the Billboard Classical chart.

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KEVIN DEAS

Kevin Deas has gained international renown as one of America’s leading bass-baritones. He is perhaps most acclaimed for his signature portrayal of the title role in Porgy and Bess, having performed it with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, as well as the most illustrious orchestras on the North American continent, and at the Ravinia, Vail and Saratoga festivals.

Kevin Deas’ 2023-24 season includes performances of Mozart’s Requiem with the Vermont Symphony and Mobile Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the North Carolina Symphony, National Cathedral, Houston Symphony, and the NAC Orchestra in Ottawa. Other notable performances in the season include a Gershwin program with Oregon Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Pacific Symphony, Brahms’s German Requiem with Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, and will be performing the role of Commendatore in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Boston Baroque, as well as the role of Dick Hallorann in Paul Moravec’s critically acclaimed opera The Shining with the Opera Atlanta.

Kevin Deas past season highlights includes performances of Haydn’s The Creation with the Minnesota Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with the Toronto Symphony, Eugene Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Orchestra Iowa, and National Philharmonic & Chorale, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Florida Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the New York Philharmonic, National Cathedral, Saint-Saens’ Henry VII with Odyssey Opera of Boston, Verdi’s Requiem with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria and Rhode Island Philharmonic, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Pacific Symphony and Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, and William Walton’s Façade at the Virginia Arts Festival. He has performed selections from Gershwin with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, selections from the musicals Les Miserables, Show Boat, and Ragtime with Providence Singers, in “The Spiritual in White America,” a presentation of black spirituals transformed for the white concert stage by Harry Burleigh and Nathaniel Dett, at the Phillips Collection, and a Christmas concert with the Portland Symphony.

MATTHEW DEXTER

Matthew Dexter is a bass-baritone from McKinney, Texas. As an undergraduate at the University of North Texas, he performed the roles of Mícha in The Bartered Bride, Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, Zúñiga in Carmen and the conductor in Lisa DeSpain’s That Hellbound Train with UNT Opera. As a vocal fellow at Spoleto Festival USA, Matthew has sung in multiple choral concerts, appeared in the world premiere of Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’ Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Omar in 2022, and covered the role of the old doctor in Samuel Barber’s Vanessa in 2023. In addition to receiving the audience favorite award, he placed third in the James Toland Vocal Arts competition and recently participated in Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy.

SONYA HEADLAM

Born of Jamaican parentage, soprano SONYA HEADLAM has been praised as “an entrancing soloist… with elan, flawless intonation, a velvety middle voice, and on-the-mark coloratura” (South Florida Classical Review). Engagements in 2022 include her Philadelphia Orchestra debut in Handel’s Messiah; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Handel’s Messiah with the North Carolina Symphony; Bach’s B Minor Mass with the Grand Rapids Symphony; a much praised debut with the New World Symphony (Miami) in Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate; and her Severance Hall debut with Apollo’s Fire, with critics calling her “the highlight of the concert… she sang flawlessly and with seeming abandon” (ClevelandClassical.com).

Sonya’s previous solo performances include Carnegie Hall, Trinity Wall Street, Bang on a Can All-Stars, and venues in South America, Europe, and Asia, as well as a Caribbean tour with members of the Cuban Philharmonic. On the opera stage, her favorite roles have included Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte with Light Opera of New Jersey. Sonya holds a Doctorate in Vocal Performance from Rutgers University, where she has also held a visiting scholar appointment.

MICHAEL JONES

Born into a musical family, Michael Jones is a GRAMMY® award-winning international soloist, chamber musician and clinician. Noted as singing “particularly beautifully” by the Chestnut Hill Local (Philadelphia), Michael has appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Choral Arts Philadelphia, Academy of Sacred Drama, Haverford University Choir and Orchestra, Disney’s All-American College Band and Peoria Area Civic Chorale, among several others. Michael has sung at the Finnish National Opera House, Lincoln Center’s Merkin Hall, Los Angeles’ Disney Hall, and Philadelphia’s Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, to name a few.

In addition to his extensive solo career, Michael also regularly performs with some of the nation’s finest choral ensembles. Most notably, Michael sings with two GRAMMY® award winning groups, The Crossing and Conspirare, as well as Santa Fe Desert Chorale, True Concord Voices and Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, Apollo’s Fire, Variant 6, ekmeles, Les Canards Chantants, Madison Choral Project, Music of the Baroque, William Ferris Chorale, Grant Park Opera Chorus, Constellation Men’s Ensemble, Bridge Ensemble, Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, Alium Spiritum and Chorosynthesis. Michael has been a finalist in callbacks with Chanticleer and Cantus and was one of eight, internationally, selected to audition for Voces8 in spring of 2019.

Michael studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music for his bachelors in jazz trumpet. While there, he was under the tutelage of David Adams, Kim Pensyl, Dr. Scott Belck, and Rick VanMatre. For his graduate degree, he attended Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music for a masters in jazz trumpet, studying with Victor Goines, Donald Nally, Brad Mason, and Keven Keys.

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RONNIE MALLEY

A Chicago native of Palestinian descent, Ronnie Malley is a multi-instrumentalist that has been performing for audiences since his youth. Ronnie began guitar lessons at age nine, later moving on to piano, Middle Eastern percussion, and being self-taught on his principle instrument, the Oud (Mid- Eastern lute). As a member of the family band with his father and brother on percussion, Ronnie’s stage experience began by performing at weddings, concerts, festivals and local Middle Eastern clubs accompanying renowned artists such as Kazem Al Saher, Majdi Husseini, Wael Jassar, and Tony Hanna.

After years of playing Middle Eastern and American rock music, Ronnie expanded his musical palette to explore different traditions from around the world. He has studied and collaborated with musicians from – Senegal, Sudan, North Africa, India, Kashmir, Macedonia, Iran, Greece, Turkey, as well as with Afro-Peruvian folk artists, Rodolfo Munoz and Miguel Ballermos. Through these experiences, he has gained a vast repertoire of folk, classical, and spiritual songs from various cultures.

His more recent credits include principal musician and actor in the Lookingglass, Berkeley, and Arena Stage Theatre productions of “Arabian Nights”, assistant music arranger and performer in the Goodman Theatre production of “Mirror of the Invisible World”, both written and directed by Mary Zimmerman, French FTS Production documentary,“Modou The Hang Player – One World Music”, and MPEF Productions documentary, “At The Gate”.

Ronnie currently teaches at the Old Town School of Folk Music, conducts Arabic music workshops for Chicago Public Schools and the University of Chicago’s Startalk camp, composes and records for various film projects, as well as performing and touring with music groups Lamajamal, Mucca Pazza, Duzan Ensemble and the U of C Middle Eastern Music Ensemble.

DAPHNA MOR

Daphna Mor has performed throughout Europe and the United States as both a soloist and ensemble player. Mor’s “astonishing virtuosity” (Chicago Tribune) has been heard in solo recitals in the United States, Croatia, Germany and Switzerland. She has performed as a soloist with the New York Collegium, the New York Early Music Ensemble and Little Orchestra Society, and as a member of the orchestra with the New York Philharmonic, New York City Opera and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Mor was awarded First Prize in the Settimane Musicali di Lugano Solo Competition and the Boston Conservatory Concerto Competition, and has appeared in a duo with Joyce DiDonato on the singer’s promotional tour for the album In War and Peace. Devoted to new music, Mor has recorded on John Zorn’s Tzadik label, and has performed the world premiere of David Bruce’s Tears, Puffes, Jumps, and Galliard with the Metropolis Ensemble. Also active in the world music community, Mor has performed in festivals and on stages worldwide, including New York’s Summer Stage and Munich’s Gasteig. She can also be heard on Sting’s album If On A Winter’s Night for Deutsche Grammophon. Mor serves as the Music Director of Beineinu, a New York initiative dedicated to the modern cultivation of Jewish culture, and is a performer and teacher of liturgical music of the Jewish diaspora. She leads programs for the Education Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

REBECCA MYERS

Philadelphia-based soprano REBECCA MYERS is a soloist, vocal chamber singer, collaborator, recording artist, and creator in high demand. She has appeared on three GRAMMY®-winning albums, most notably as a soloist on The Crossing’s Born, winner of the 2023 GRAMMY® for Best Choral Performance. In recent seasons Rebecca has appeared as a soloist with The New World Symphony, Tempesta di Mare, Verità Baroque, Portland Baroque, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, and TENET Vocal Artists. She appears regularly with Seraphic Fire, Lorelei Ensemble, Ensemble Altera, and The Crossing. Rebecca grew up in Cleveland, is a graduate of Orange High School, and is thrilled whenever she can come home to perform with Apollo’s Fire. She is proud to be the Artistic Director, and a founding soprano, for the cutting edge vocal chamber music ensemble, Variant 6.

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DEBRA NAGY

Praised for her “dazzling technique and soulful expressiveness,” (Rocky Mountain News), and a musical approach that’s “distinctly sensual…pliant, warm, and sweet,” (New York Times), Debra Nagy is one of North America’s leading performers on the baroque oboe. She is principal oboe with Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society and performs with ensembles around the country including the American Bach Soloists, Apollo’s Fire, Boston Early Music Festival, and others. Passionate about chamber music, Debra is the founder/director of Les Délices (whose debut recording was named “One of the Top Ten Early Music Discoveries of 2009”) and also performs late-medieval music as a regular guest with Boston’s acclaimed Blue Heron and Chicago’s Newberry Consort. Debra has received many awards for her creative and scholarly pursuits including first-prize in the American Bach Soloists Young Artists Competition, a 2009 Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and a 2010 Creative Workforce Fellowship from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. She has recorded over 30 CDs with repertoire ranging from 1300-1800 and has had live performances featured on the radio across the U.S., Canada, and in Europe.

Debra’s passion for unearthing little-known masterpieces caused the New York Times to dub Les Délices “an early music group with an avant-garde appetite,” adding, “concerts and CDs by Les Délices are journeys of discovery.” Inspired by a creative process that brings together research, composition in historical styles, improvisation, and artistic collaboration, highlights of Debra’s recent projects have included critically-acclaimed multimedia productions of Machaut’s medieval masterpiece Remede de Fortune and music from the recently-discovered Leuven Songbook (c. 1470). Her Baroque-Jazz crossover program, Songs without Words (‘successful, risk-taking music!” – The Whole Note) has not only expanded the repertoire for her instrument but also challenged accepted notions about period instruments (CD released by Navona Recordings, 2018). She eagerly anticipates the premiere performances of The White Cat, a fairytale-based pastiche Baroque opera for singers and chamber ensemble with puppetry and projections that brings to life Aesop’s Fables and Marie-Catherine D’Aulnoy’s 1690s feminist fairytale in April 2022 (postponed from April 2020 due to the Covid crisis).

Recent social unrest and the restrictions of the COVID-19 Pandemic have inspired several new projects. Debra reimagined Les Délices’ traditional concert series for the virtual space and safely recorded 6 different programs for broadcast during their 2020-21 season. One reviewer described the first program as, “in a word: sensational!” and another recognized “[Les Délices] raises the bar for streaming events that have fairly taken over since the pandemic halted live performing arts. At a most challenging time Les Délices embarks on a creative adventure to extend its audience beyond their in-person performances rather than an alternative to them. The modest ticket price is a cultural gift.”

At the same time, Debra created a bi-weekly web series variety show for early music called SalonEra. A salon experience for the 21st century, SalonEra stays timely and relevant in introducing a wide range of artists and performing traditions. Produced remotely, SalonEra brings together regular contributors and special guests whose personalities, perspectives, and contributions set the stage for fascinating conversations and fulfilling artistic exchange. Unlimited by geography or program conventions, SalonEra has attracted a wide audience and enables her to dramatically expand the range of repertoire and artists that Les Délices presents. Importantly, the program also provides paid work for performing artists whose livelihoods have been deeply impacted by the pandemic.

A dedicated and inspiring teacher, Debra serves on the artist faculties of the American Bach Soloists’ Summer Academy and the Oregon Bach Festival’s Berwick Academy, and has given masterclasses at Juilliard, the Cleveland Institute of Music, San Francisco Conservatory, Cincinnati Conservatory, and University of Washington. She is also committed to service and to fostering the next generation of leaders through her work as a mentor and as a former board member of Early Music America and liaison to its Youth Advisory Board.

When not rehearsing, performing, or dreaming up new projects, Debra cooks prodigiously (including much canning and pickling) and loves commuting by bicycle from her home in Cleveland’s historic Ohio City neighborhood.

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MOLLY NETTER

A versatile and joyous musician, Canadian-American soprano Molly Netter enlivens complex and beautiful music, both old and new, with “a natural warmth” (LA Times) and “clear, beautiful tone and vivacious personality” (NY Times). She can be heard on five GRAMMY-nominated albums since 2017 and has performed as a soloist with ensembles such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, the Boston Early Music Festival, Apollo’s Fire, Musica Angelica, Contemporaneous, Juilliard415, Heartbeat Opera, and the Bang on a Can All-Stars. She has been a full-time member of the Choir at Trinity Wall Street since 2015.

Molly is an active performer, curator, educator and advocate of new music, regularly commissioning new works by living composers. Recent collaborators include David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Amy Beth Kirsten, Doug Balliett, Katherine Balch, Molly Joyce, and Jessica Meyer, among others. Notable chamber performance highlights include inaugural casts of Pulitzer-winning operas Angel’s Bone (Du Yun, 2015) and PRISM (Ellen Reid, 2017). She was a featured curator/performer on Trinity Wall Street’s 2018 acclaimed “Time’s Arrow Festival,” programming an eclectic evening of Barbara Strozzi paired with newly commissioned contemporary works. In 2020 she began commissioning an entirely new repertoire for self-accompanied singer and clavicytherium, emphasizing the florid voice, early music vocal techniques and improvisation as a bridge between style and genre.

Molly holds a BM in composition and contemporary voice from Oberlin Conservatory and an MM in early music voice from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. She is currently on voice faculty at the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute.

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MATTHEW NEWHOUSE

In short time, tenor, Matthew Newhouse, has established himself as a powerful storyteller in concert and historical performance.

A sought after soloist, Matthew is incredibly excited for his debuts with the Tucson Symphony and the Utah Symphony this season for their respective performances of Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem. In May, Matthew premiered to great acclaim in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium performing emmy-winner Jeff Beal’s reimagined film score to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Matthew’s evocative storytelling lends well to narratorial roles and has been heard as Evangelist in Heinrich Schütz’s Weihnnachtshistorie with Harmonia Stellarum and in J.S. Bach’s Weihnnachtsoratorium with Yale Schola Cantorum. Other recent soloist engagements include Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang (Norfolk Chamber Festival), Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 (Bach Akademie Charlotte) and J.S. Bach’s Magnificat (TENET Vocal Artists).

Equally accomplished as an ensemble singer, Matthew is a core member of The Leonids and 4th Wall Ensemble NYC. Matthew has ongoing collaborative relationships with Apollo’s Fire, Artefact Ensemble, Harmonia Stellarum, Clarion Choral Society, TENET Vocal Artists, Evergreen Ensemble, and The Thirteen. He attributes this chamber singing success partially to his time inaugurating the first cohort of US Voces8 Scholars, a training programme devised by British vocal sensations, Voces8.

Matthew’s accolades corroborate his musical prowess. He is the proud winner of the 2019 Semper Pro Music Competition where he gave his Carnegie Hall debut in Weill Recital Hall. Matthew was honored to be a Fellow for the Virginia Best Adams Masterclass at the 2023 Carmel Bach Academy. He is the 1st prize winner of the 2019 TEXOMA NATS Regional competition. Matthew competed and successfully advanced to the second round of the International J.S. Bach Competition Leipzig to much acclaim.

A seasoned scholar, Matthew has devout interest in Nordic Art Song Literature (especially that of Iceland) and Margaret Bond’s extensive vocal repertoire. Matthew served as a research assistant in Song Helix’s efforts to creative a Nordic Song Compendium. He strives to incorporate Icelandic and Danish song into his own vocal exploits. Matthew has conducted extensive research on Margaret Bonds and her relationship with Langston Hughes and her recently resurfaced cantata Simon Bore the Cross.

Matthew holds a Master of Music in Early Music Voice from the Yale School of Music and a Bachelor of Music in Applied Music: Voice from Baylor University. When not singing, you can find Matthew baking bread, bubbling curries, or taking extensive hikes in nature.

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JACOB PERRY

JACOB PERRY, tenor, is lauded for his stylish interpretations of early music. As a soloist, he lends his graceful sense of phrasing and luminous tone to engagements with the American Classical Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire, Bach Collegium San Diego, Philharmonia Baroque, Portland Baroque, Tafelmusik, Tempesta di Mare, and Washington Bach Consort. In 2024, he was nominated for a GRAMMY® Award as a soloist on Apollo’s Fire’s recording of Handel’s Israel in Egypt. Deeply immersed in vocal chamber music, Jacob performs with ensembles including Les Canards Chantants, Blue Heron, and TENET. Career highlights include his recent solo debut with the New York Philharmonic singing Handel’s Israel in Egypt, headlining the inaugural festival of Western Early Music at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music with Les Canards Chantants, and English Orpheus—a tour-de-force exploration of love songs and poems from the Elizabethan, Restoration, and early 18th-century periods he performed with Tempesta di Mare.

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REBECCA LANDELL

Cellist and gambist Rebecca Landell’s “luminous” (Cleveland.com) and “notable” (The New York Times) sound elicits a range of expression “from classically evocative to Hitchcock horrifying” (Washingtonian). She enjoys a varied performing career as a soloist and chamber musician with groups like Apollo’s Fire and Three Notch’d Road, as well as collaborating with a variety of artists creating experimental programs.

During her undergraduate work at Oberlin Conservatory, Rebecca was classically trained on cello with Darrett Adkins and explored historical performance practice on Baroque cello and viola da gamba with Catherina Meints. Inspired to broaden her expressive range, she incorporated classes in acting and education while completing her master’s degree with Norman Fischer at Rice University. She later moved to Holland to work with Steuart Pincombe, creating innovative programs in unusual performance venues.

Rebecca pursues a varied professional career, such as performing and acting in Studio Theatre’s An Iliad, working with composer Eric Shimelonis on the NPR children’s show Circle Round, developing educational programs with the Crumhorn Collective, and creating unique artistic combinations with artists like filmmaker Mathias Reed and poet Derek Gromadzki. Her solo appearances on cello and viola da gamba include performances with Apollo’s Fire, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Three Notch’d Road, and Batzdorfer Hofkapelle. She can be heard on recordings with Three Notch’d Road and Apollo’s Fire, including the 2019 GRAMMY® Award winning recording Songs of Orpheus. Rebecca is currently based in Oberlin, Ohio, where she teaches cello and viola da gamba and performs regularly with Apollo’s Fire, Akron Symphony, and Ashland Symphony.

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GABRIELA ESTEPHANIE SOLÍS

Mezzo-soprano GABRIELA ESTEPHANIE SOLÍS lends her “rich tone” and “moving expressiveness” (San Francisco Classical Voice) to an expansive range of repertoire spanning medieval through contemporary periods. As a passionate concert artist, her notable solo performances from recent seasons include Lili Boulanger’s Psaume 130 and Holst’s The Cloud Messenger (Georgetown Epiphany Festival), Copland’s In the Beginning (University of Notre Dame), Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody (Grace & St.Peter’s, Baltimore), and selections from Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder (Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra). An avid interpreter of Baroque repertoire, she has collaborated with preeminent early music organizations in performances of Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans (Tempesta di Mare), Bach’s B Minor Mass (American Bach Soloists), Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater (Resonance Berkeley), and Handel’s Messiah (Seraphic Fire), as well as in the roles of Medoro in Handel’s Orlando (BEMF Young Artist Training Program), Bradamante in Handel’s Alcina, and Endimione in Cavalli’s La Calisto at San Francisco State University under the direction of Christine Brandes.

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KATHIE STEWART

Hailed as a virtuoso by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Kathie Stewart is a founding member and principal flute of Apollo’s Fire: The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra. An advocate of the baroque flute as a mainstream instrument, Stewart serves as Teacher of Baroque Flute at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Kulas Visiting Artist at Case Western Reserve University, and is Assistant Director for the Seattle Baroque Flute Workshop. Stewart has performed as soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Opera, Oberlin Baroque Ensemble, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Washington Bach Sinfonia, ARTEK, and Turn the Corner Irish Band. Stewart has performed at the BBC Proms, Snape Proms, Tanglewood Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Ojai Music Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, New World Symphony’s Baroque Festival, Oberlin College Artist Series, National Academy of Sciences, Library of Congress, and Dumbarton Oaks Series. Stewart is a faculty member of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where she serves as Curator of Harpsichords in the Historical Performance Department and additionally taught baroque flute for nearly twenty years. A proponent of historical temperaments, she tunes and maintains the Conservatory’s world-class collection of historical harpsichord reproductions.

Stewart appears on fourteen recordings with Apollo’s Fire including solo performances in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. IV (AVIE) and Telemann’s Concerto in E Minor for Flute and Recorder (AVIE). An accomplished Irish flute player, she can be heard on Scarborough Fayre: Traditional Tunes from the British Isles and the New World, Come To The River: an Early American Gathering, and Sugarloaf Mountain: an Appalachian Gathering. Radio appearances include holiday specials on National Public Radio, NPR’s World of Opera, SymphonyCast, and Performance Today. Her concerts have been broadcasted on Britain’s BBC Radio, Canada’s CBC, European Community Radio, and on WCLV’s “Seaway” syndication network carried by member stations of the European Broadcasting Union.

Stewart holds a Bachelor of Music degree from West Virginia University as a student of Joyce Catalfano and a Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music as a student of Thomas Nyfenger. She completed doctoral coursework at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as a student of George Hambrecht and participated in Eiji Hashimoto’s Baroque Ensemble. Fascination with the traverso led her to the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin Conservatory where she studied baroque flute and recorder with Christopher Krueger.

EMI TANABE

Violinist Emi Tanabe enjoys a multi-faceted career as a baroque violinist and a solo crossover artist. In addition to being a core member of Apollo’s Fire, she performs with the Haymarket Opera Company and Third Coast Baroque in Chicago. With Apollo’s Fire she has performed on tour across the U.S. and Europe. Her facility with world music styles and improvisation has led to many solo violin performances with Tango, Flamenco, Celtic, and Jazz ensembles across the country. She has appeared with such groups as the renowned Surabhi Ensemble, the GRAMMY®-nominated children’s music band Wendy&DB, and the theater/dinner production “Teatro ZinZanni.” Emi is a native of Japan, and holds degrees in violin performance from the University of North Texas and Roosevelt University.

EDWARD VOGEL

With a voice described as “velvet-toned” (BBC Music Magazine), and praised for his “appealing, midweight baritone” (The New York Times), “forthright agility and bold declamation” (Musical America), baritone EDWARD VOGEL is recognized as a sensitive, versatile performer. Recent highlights include solo appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Apollo’s Fire, the Tucson Symphony, and ensemble work with Theatre of Voices, the Bach Collegium Japan, and the Yale Schola Cantorum, with whom he has participated as a soloist in recordings on the Hyperion label. In 2024, he received a GRAMMY® nomination for his work as a soloist on Apollo’s Fire’s recording of Handel’s Israel in Egypt. An avid recitalist, Mr. Vogel’s specialties include British art song of the twentieth century, music from Medieval and Renaissance Iberia, and works by Gustav Mahler; his intimate interpretations of art song have been heard onstage at celebrated venues including the Tanglewood Festival and Wigmore Hall.

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ANDRÉA WALKER

A native of Texas, soprano ANDRÉA WALKER is pursuing her Doctorate in historical performance practice at Case Western Reserve University. She recently graduated with her Master’s in vocal performance from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music where she studied early music, oratorio, and art song. Before her time at Yale, Ms. Walker received her Bachelor’s from the University of Houston. Her recent performance highlights include her Lincoln Center debut in Telemann’s Der Tag des Gerichts with Masaaki Suzuki and Juilliard415, touring throughout Germany as a soloist in Haydn’s Schöpfungsmesse with Yale Schola Cantorum, performing the role of Venus is Daniel Purcell’s The Judgment of Paris with Amherst Early Music Festival, and being a guest artist at the Norfolk Chamber Choir Festival under the direction of Simon Carrington. As a new resident of Cleveland, she is thrilled to make both her Apollo’s Fire and CityMusic Cleveland solo debuts this 2023 season.

“The U.S.A.’s hottest baroque band.” –CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE (UK)