Across the country – from the Aspen Music Festival to Chautauqua to Boston – Apollo's Fire's performances of Vivaldi concertos have brought captivated audiences to their feet. Music Director Jeannette Sorrell thinks of Vivaldi as the "rock-n'-roll" composer of the 18th century, and the AF musicians revel in Vivaldi's driving rhythms.

Now Apollo's Fire and Vivaldi will join forces to bring this repertoire to television audiences. On Feb. 27, the ensemble will perform a studio concert with live audience at the state-of-the-art studios of PBS affiliate WVIZ-TV in Cleveland. The performance will be taped for future broadcast on WVIZ and other PBS stations.

The 1-hour program will consist of highlights from this week's subscription program, which includes Vivaldi's Four Seasons, his Concerto for Two Cellos, and Jeannette Sorrell's arrangement of Vivaldi's La Folia.

WVIZ-TV Senior Director of Content Mark Smukler said, "We are very excited about this collaboration with Apollo's Fire. It's something we've discussed for a couple of years, and now that we're settled in our new IdeaStream studios, this project will be a wonderful way to showcase the exciting possibilities of the studio – as well as bringing the music of this outstanding ensemble to a potentially vast audience."

Apollo's Fire subscribers, donors and invited guests can be a part of the studio audience on Wed. Feb. 27 by contacting Emma Joseph at 216.320.0012/ext. 2, or ejoseph@apollosfire.org.  The 1-hour performance is preceded by tours of the IdeaStream studios, and followed by a reception with the musicians. Seating is limited and reservations are required.

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Renowned mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore Collaborates with AF on the Road

Over two years ago, agent Mark Williams of the international company IMG Artists approached Apollo's Fire about a special project tour, and asked Jeannette to consider a collaboration with one of the acclaimed singers on IMG's roster. Jeannette replied that she would be delighted to work with mezzo Jennifer Larmore, whose outstanding work in the area of Vivaldi and Handel operas has helped bring this neglected repertoire to the public in recent years.

Apollo's Fire will now set off to the sunny South with Ms. Larmore, performing a collaborative program that features both the orchestra and the singer. The repertoire includes Vivaldi's Four Seasons, a set of arias from his neglected operatic masterpiece Orlando Furioso, and two brilliant arias by Handel.

"We're delighted to work with such a consummate artist as Jennifer Larmore," said Jeannette. "She brings great emotional commitment, superb diction, and a lovely stylistic sense to her singing of Vivaldi and Handel. I think that Jennifer and Apollo's Fire will be an excellent match."

TOUR ITINERARY

Saturday, March 1 – University of Florida at Gainesville
Monday, March 3* – Tropical Baroque Festival, Miami
Wednesday, March 5 – Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
Tuesday, March 18 – William Jewel College/Harriman-Jewel Series, Kansas City

For further information about these concerts, click on the links above.

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Apollo's Fire was one of only three baroque orchestras in the country to receive one of the coveted NEA grants this year. The upcoming Vivaldi Seasons concerts, the IMG tour, and the related events are all part of the NEA-funded project, which is titled, "Vivaldi's Seasons: Context & Creativity." The project runs from Feb. 18 through Mar. 18, and includes six local concerts, four tour engagements, 1 Family Concert, and the PBS-TV studio concert taping.

by Jeannette Sorrell

One day when Vivaldi (the Redhead Priest) was saying Mass, a musical theme came into his mind.  He at once left the altar where he was officiating and repaired to the sacristy to write out his theme, then he came back to finish the Mass.  He was reported to the Inquisition, which luckily looked on him as a musician, that is, as a madman, and merely forbade him to say Mass from that time forward.

–P. L. de Boisgelou, 1800

The setting: The Pietà, famous orphanage of Venice, 1724.
Sunday afternoon:  the chapel of the Pietà is packed with well-to-do Venetians and distinguished foreign visitors.  They stare in fascination at the gallery above, where an orchestra of about 40 girls performs the latest concertos of their music-master, Vivaldi.  The prete rosso, or "Redhead Priest," is celebrated throughout Europe.  But perhaps he is not as famous as these orphan girls for whom he composes.  The girls give world-class virtuoso performances, and their Sunday concerts (technically church services) are the greatest tourist attraction of Venice.  The girls, dressed in white, are partly screened from view by a wrought-iron lattice, much to the chagrin of the audience.

After the splendid concert, the young musicians are greeted by ecstatic coughing and shuffling from the crowd, who are not allowed to applaud at this "church service."  Several wealthy gentlemen make their way to the iron screen to proffer marriage proposals to the prettiest girls.

*   *   *

Vivaldi, the music-master at the Pieta orphanage in Venice, was a priest who seemed more interested in music than religion.  In composing hundreds of concertos for his young protégés, was the great developer of ritornello form – the form that became the model for concerto-writing by all European composers of the century, including J.S. Bach.  The Italian word "ritornello" means something that returns.  The same word is used to mean the refrain in pop music – and indeed, Vivaldi's ritornellos convey the bold and driving sense of rhythm and melody that is more commonly associated with pop music. 

It is not surprising that Vivaldi's concertos are by far the most popular pieces in the classical repertoire.  Like pop composers today, Vivaldi was writing these concertos for teenagers – (orphaned ones, in his case).  Inspired by the youthful energy of his young interpreters, he imbued his concertos with the same sense of driving rhythm and earthy harmonies that we all respond to in rock music.  We in Apollo's Fire think of him as the rock-n-roll composer of the 18th century. 

In 1725 Vivaldi published a collection of twelve concertos titled Il cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Inventione - The Contest Between Harmony and Invention.  With this curious title, he unleashed a revolutionary concept upon Western music:  should music simply be about harmony, or could it serve to illustrate inventive ideas, events, moods, natural scenes, etc?  Vivaldi set out to prove that it could do both.  The first four concertos of the collection, titled Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons), are virtuoso demonstrations of music in the service of storytelling – in this case, the story of Nature and her various moods.

The role of the performer as an animated and improvisatory storyteller was fundamental to baroque performance in general, and to the Four Seasons in particular.  The notes on the page exist to convey an emotion or mood or event, and the performer's job is to evoke those feelings in the listener.  Thus these concertos are a fresh experience for us each night – always an adventure.

Join Apollo's Fire for an evening of animated and colorful storytelling, and rediscover the reasons why Vivaldi's Four Seasons took the world by storm! 

A few tickets remain – call 216.320.0012.

Apollo's Fire's CD recording of Vivaldi Concertos, including two of the concertos performed in these concerts, is available through the AF office at 216.320.0012 and online at www.apollosfire.org.

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So many of the pieces are achingly beautiful, touching or euphoric… Sorrell and the artists basked in the splendor. Apollo's Singers, the supremely refined chorus, were vivid and cohesive, and the young voices of Apollo's Musettes and Oberlin Choristers infused their music with fresh appeal.

Sorrell's period-instrument orchestra, as ever, was stellar. Brasses were mellow, percussion pointed, theorbos quietly radiant, the recorders bright and strings silken. Whether conducting or playing harpsichord, Sorrell held the work together with consummate intensity. Her phrasing was flexible and her concern for expressive meaning vibrantly apparent. Praetorius, wherever he is, must be deliriously happy.

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If Praetorius was deliriously happy, so were the performers, not to mention the box office staff. Over 2000 people attended the December performances of Praetorius Christmas Vespers – Jeannette Sorrell's unique evocation of a 17th-century Christmas Vespers service compiled from selections by the great Lutheran composer Michael Praetorius.

In addition, Apollo's Fire new CD recording of this program, which was released in conjunction with the concerts, sold over 600 copies in merely two months. Performers and patrons celebrated the long-awaited release of the CD at a party at Nighttown Restaurant in Cleveland Heights.

The extravagant multi-generational project involved nine youth soloists (Apollo's Musettes), 60 members of the excellent children's choir the Oberlin Choristers, seven professional early music soloists, the acclaimed Apollo's Singers, trumpets, sackbuts, timpani, lutes, antiphonal choirs, recorders, strings, organs, and… the kitchen sink.

Afterwards, the AF mailbox was flooded with thank-you notes from the youthful performers:

• "This was the best experience of my life, thank you for including me!"
• "I love this beautiful and ancient music!"
• "I will miss school to sing with you ANYTIME, just ask!"
• "Apollo's Fire is awesome and Jeannette is a rock star!"

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His Majesty Louis XIV cordially invites you to an evening of music, entertainment, and feasting in the 17th-century manner, The Sun King puts his royal musicians at your disposal, performing lively and haunting works by the great French composers St. Colombe and Marin Marais (made famous in the film Tous les matins du monde). The King's royal playwright, Molière, unveils some of his most hilarious scenes from his latest comedy. Following the royal feast, our noble patrons may participate in dancing the Menuet, or try their hand at a musical game.

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Apollo's Fire is grateful to the generosity of all the donors who support our efforts to bring creative, innovative baroque music to the Greater Cleveland area.  Donations to our Annual Fund, which supports the concerts each season, are presently at $67,000.  Our goal is to reach $90,000 by June 30.

Our productions recruit talent from the national and international pool - thereby bringing the world to Cleveland.  Though we book our musicians and artists well in advance, bringing them here is expensive.  We are grateful to the Charioteers, led by Board Member Sally Brown, who pick up our talented musicians at the airport and take them to the Innkeepers, who house them.  These volunteers help keep our operation costs down so that the majority of our resources go to artistic expenses.

Please consider bringing a friend to one of our Vivaldi Four Seasons concerts.  This is one of the most important ways you can help Apollo's Fire!  We hear over and over again from patrons:  "I went to one concert and I was hooked!" 

If you would like to talk with us about other ways you can help – special gifts, concert sponsorship, etc., please give us a call at the AF office – 216.320.0012/ext.3.  We look forward to talking with you!

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