CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Apollo’s Fire
An Evening at Bach’s Coffeehouse
Part of: Baroque Unlimited
Performers
Apollo's Fire
Jeannette Sorrell, Artistic Director, Conductor, and Harpsichord
Program
TELEMANN Selections from Suite "Burlesque de Quixotte," TWV 55: G 10
BACH "Brandenburg" Concerto No. 4 in G Major, BWV 1049
BACH "Brandenburg" Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050
HANDEL Chaconne from Terpsicore
VIVALDI Sonata in D Minor for Two Violins and Continuo, Op. 1, No. 12, "La Follia" (arr. Jeannette Sorrell)
Encore:
TRAD. "Glory in the Meeting House" (arr. Jeannette Sorrell and René Schiffer)
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.Bios
Apollo's Fire
The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra
Hailed by London’s The Independent as “one of the preeminent period-instrument ensembles,” Apollo’s Fire made its London debut in 2010 at Wigmore Hall with a BBC broadcast, and went on to subsequent European tours in 2011, 2014, and 2015. It has performed at the BBC Proms in London, which was broadcast live across Europe; Aldeburgh Festival; Birmingham International Concert Series (now called Birmingham Classical); and the festival Musical Landscapes in Tuscany. The group has given concerts at Madrid’s Teatro Real, Bordeaux’s Grand Théàtre de l’Opéra, and major venues in Lisbon, Metz, and Bregenz.
In North America, Apollo’s Fire has performed at the Tanglewood Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, and Aspen Music Festival and School, as well as at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Library of Congress, and other major venues in Toronto, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The ensemble has given two major US tours of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 and a nine-concert tour of the “Brandenburg” concertos in 2013.
The ensemble makes its Carnegie Hall debut this evening and will return to the Boston Early Music Festival at the end of March. Upcoming tours include a semi-staged production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, as well as a tour to the UK and Ireland with performances at Ireland’s National Opera House and National Concert Hall, and a return to the Aldeburgh Festival.
Apollo’s Fire has released 25 commercial CDs and currently records for Avie Records. The ensemble’s recordings have won rave reviews in the London press. Seven of the ensemble’s CDs have become bestsellers on Billboard’s classical chart, three recordings of early music and four crossover programs. The group’s latest release features Bach’s St. John Passion.
Jeannette Sorrell
She was one of the youngest students ever accepted to the prestigious conducting courses of the Aspen and Tanglewood music festivals. She studied conducting under Leonard Bernstein, Sir Roger Norrington, and Robert Spano, and harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam. She won both First Prize and the Audience Choice Award in the 1991 Spivey International Harpsichord Competition, competing against more than 70 harpsichordists from Europe, Israel, the US, and the Soviet Union.
Ms. Sorrell’s recent guest conducting engagements include performances with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and New World Symphony. Her 2013 debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as conductor and soloist in the complete “Brandenburg” concertos was met with standing ovations every night. She also has led the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Utah Symphony, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (with the St. Louis Symphony), The Handel and Haydn Society, and Grand Teton Music Festival.
Ms. Sorrell is the founder and artistic director of Apollo’s Fire, with whom she has built one of the largest audiences of any Baroque orchestra in North America. This year, she and the ensemble make their Carnegie Hall debut, and tour to the UK and Ireland.
Ms. Sorrell has attracted national attention and awards for creative programming. She holds an Artist Diploma from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, an honorary doctorate from Case Western Reserve University, two awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, and an award from the American Musicological Society. Passionate about guiding the next generation of performers, she has led many Baroque projects at Oberlin and is a frequent guest coach at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She is the architect of the highly successful Young Artist Apprentice Program of Apollo’s Fire, which has produced many of the leading young Baroque professionals in the country today.