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Apollo's Fire, The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra is a popular and critically acclaimed period-instrument ensemble specializing in
early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...
(Renaissance,
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
, Classical, and early Romantic) based in
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
. The GRAMMY-winning ensemble unites a select pool of early music specialists from throughout North America and Europe. Under the direction of Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell, the ensemble has been noted internationally for creative and innovative programming, and praised by BBC Music Magazine for "forging a vibrant, life-affirming approach to early music... a seductive vision of musical authenticity."


Founding and early history

Named for the classical god of music and the sun, Apollo's Fire was founded in 1992 by the award-winning conductor and harpsichordist Jeannette Sorrell. Sorrell, who was 26 at the time, had assistance from Roger Wright, who was then Artistic Administrator of the
Cleveland Orchestra The Cleveland Orchestra, based in Cleveland, is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Se ...
. Sorrell came to the attention of Wright through recommendations from conducting faculty at the Aspen Music Festival and
Tanglewood Music Festival The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Stockbridge and Lenox in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. The festival consists of a series of concerts, including symphonic music, ch ...
where she had studied under
Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...
, Roger Norrington and others. Wright was handling the Cleveland Orchestra's search for an assistant conductor, and he invited Sorrell to an interview for the position. The interview was conducted by Cleveland Orchestra Music Director
Christoph von Dohnányi Christoph von Dohnányi (; born 8 September 1929) is a German conductor. Biography Youth and World War II Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to Hans von Dohnanyi, a German jurist of Hungarian ancestry, and Christine Bonhoeffer. His uncle ...
along with Roger Wright. During the interview, Dohnányi told Sorrell that there was "no point in finding time with the orchestra for her to audition, as the audience in Cleveland would never accept a woman as a conductor." Sorrell replied that she had not applied for this job, and her true goal was to work with a period-instrument orchestra. Following this encounter, Wright decided to help Sorrell launch a period-instrument orchestra. Sorrell launched an ensemble dedicated to the baroque ideal that music should evoke the various Affekts or passions in listeners, using the 17th-century tools of
rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
and drama. The orchestra received a start-up grant from the
Cleveland Foundation The Cleveland Foundation, based in Cleveland, Ohio, is the world's first community foundation and one of the largest today, with assets of $2.5 billion and annual grants of more than $100 million. Established in 1914 by banker Frederick Harris Gof ...
in 1992, and made its debut to critical acclaim in June of that year. Apollo's Fire immediately began receiving touring invitations from concert series presenters, and has been an active touring ensemble since its first season. The group's recordings and concerts have been broadcast frequently on
National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
, Britain's
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, Canada's CBC Radio 2, and the
European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
since its 4th season. In 2004 Sorrell launched a crossover/folk wing of Apollo's Fire – a troupe specializing in traditional music (Celtic, Appalachian, Sephardic), performed on period instruments in a historically informed aesthetic. Apollo's Fire was awarded major grants through the NEA American Masterpieces initiative in 2009 and 2010, for Jeannette Sorrell's research, creation, and recording of the innovative crossover program, "Come to the River: An Early American Gathering." This recording because a top-10 bestseller on Billboard Classical in 2011. The album was hailed by the American Record Guide as "one of the most joyous releases, intoxicated by the sheer joy of being alive."


European debut and international touring

Apollo's Fire made its London debut in 2010 in a sold-out concert at
Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadin ...
, with a BBC broadcast. The ensemble toured Europe again in 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2018, including sold-out concerts at the BBC Proms in London, Madrid's Royal Theatre, Bordeaux's Grand Théâtre de l'Opéra, Bergen's, Austria, major venues in Lisbon (Portugal) and Metz (FR), as well the Boston Early Music Festival series and
Cal Performances Cal Performances is the performing arts presenting, commissioning and producing organization based at the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, California. The origins of Cal Performances date from 1906, when stage actress Sarah Bernhardt ...
at Berkeley/San Francisco. Their London concert in 2014 was praised by ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'' for "superlative music-making, combining European stylishness and American can-do entrepreneurialism" – and named one of the "Best 5 Classical Music Concerts of 2014." Apollo's Fire has performed two major U.S. tours of the Monteverdi Vespers (2010 and 2014) and a 9-concert tour of the Brandenburg Concertos in 2013. In 2013, Apollo's Fire became the first baroque orchestra to be taken onto the touring roster of
Columbia Artists Management Columbia Artists Management (CAMI) was an international talent management agency. On August 29, 2020, the agency announced plans to shut down amid a disturbance in business caused by the " prolonged pandemic environment". History Based in New Yor ...
(CAMI) for exclusive representation. In 2019 they switched to the management of Opus 3 Artists. In summer 2015, Apollo's Fire reached heightened international attention with its sold-out debuts at the
Tanglewood Festival The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Stockbridge and Lenox in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. The festival consists of a series of concerts, including symphonic music, c ...
, the
BBC Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
in London, and the
Aldeburgh Festival The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festival Th ...
(UK), as well as the Festival Paesaggi Musicali Toscani in Tuscany. The tour program, "A Night at Bach's Coffeehouse," featured Brandenburg Concerto no. 5 with Jeannette Sorrell as harpsichord soloist. The ''Boston Musical Intelligencer'' wrote that Apollo's Fire "conquered Tanglewood," In 2015 Apollo's Fire also performed sold-out concerts at the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
(Washington) and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
in New York City. In spring 2016, Sorrell led the orchestra in her dramatic conception of J.S. Bach's
St John Passion The ''Passio secundum Joannem'' or ''St John Passion'' (german: Johannes-Passion, link=no), BWV 245, is a Passion or oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, the older of the surviving Passions by Bach. It was written during his first year as direc ...
, to critical acclaim from ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' which wrote, "Magnificent... the production belonged entirely to Ms. Sorrell, who devised the concept, which she called 'a dramatic presentation'... the orchestra was excellent... exquisite moments." In 2017, Apollo's Fire returned to the Tanglewood Festival and made its debut at the
Ravinia Festival Ravinia Festival is an outdoor music venue in Highland Park, Illinois. It hosts a series of outdoor concerts and performances every summer from June to September. The first orchestra to perform at Ravinia Festival was the New York Philharmonic unde ...
. Both concerts were sold out. The ensemble is scheduled to make its
Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
debut on March 22, 2018, and that concert is already sold out as of August 2017. In its hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, Apollo's Fire has been unusually successful in building a large, grassroots audience, thanks to creative programming and the group's animated performance style. In the 2016-17 season the ensemble sold over 15,000 tickets at its home series.


Recordings

Apollo's Fire won a GRAMMY Award in 2019. The ensemble has released 26 commercial CDs, mostly on British label AVIE. Eight of the ensemble's CD releases have become best-sellers on the classical Billboard chart: the
Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered ...
''Vespers,''
J.S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...
's ''
Brandenburg Concertos The ''Brandenburg Concertos'' by Johann Sebastian Bach (Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, BWV 1046–1051), are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg ...
'' & ''Harpsichord Concertos,'' a disc of G.F. Handel arias with soprano Amanda Forsythe titled ''The Power of Love'' (Billboard Classical #3, 2015), and Jeannette Sorrell's four crossover programs: ''Come to the River – An Early American Gathering'' (Billboard Classical #9, 2011); ''Sacrum Mysterium: A Celtic Christmas Vespers'' (Billboard Classical #11, 2012); ''Sugarloaf Mountain – An Appalachian Gathering'' (Billboard Classical #5, 2015); and ''Sephardic Journey – Wanderings of the Spanish Jews'' (Billboard World Music Chart #2 and Billboard Classical #5, Feb. 2016). In 2016, the album ''Sephardic Journey'' was praised by ''BBC Music Magazine'' as "revelatory… convivially theatrical… The soloists and instrumentalists are first-class, and Sorrell's arrangements are full of zip and colour" and Sorrell's work was favorably compared to that of
Jordi Savall Jordi Savall i Bernadet (; born 1 August 1941) is a Spanish conductor, composer and viol player. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for popularizing the viol family of ...
. In 2019, Apollo's Fire won a GRAMMY, shared with singer Karim Sulayman and conductor Jeannette Sorrell, for the 2018 album ''Songs of Orpheus''. Other recordings include Bach's ''St. John Passion'';
Michael Praetorius Michael Praetorius (probably 28 September 1571 – 15 February 1621) was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms ba ...
's ''Christmas Vespers'' (compiled and edited by Jeannette Sorrell);
Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...
's ''La Folia (Madness) and Other Concertos'';
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
's ''Requiem'' (with a new completion of the unfinished Lacrimosa, by René Schiffer); Monteverdi's ''L'Orfeo'' (with a reconstruction of the lost Bacchanale ending by René Schiffer); Handel's ''Dixit Dominus'' and ''Coronation Anthems''; G.P. Telemann's ''Don Quixote'' and other suites and concertos; and albums of Mozart symphonies and concertos.


References


External links


Official Home Page videos
{{Authority control Musical groups from Cleveland Musical groups established in 1992 Early music orchestras Orchestras based in Ohio 1992 establishments in Ohio