December 7, 2009 - CLEVELANDCLASSICAL.COM
Apollo's Fire: A chat with Apollo's Musettes before the Praetorius Christmas Vespers
by Mike Telin

If you have ever attended an Apollo’s Fire concert, chances are you have heard the beautiful voices of the Apollo’s Fire Musettes. There will be 15 Musettes performing on the upcoming bi-Annual presentations of the Michael Praetorius Christmas Vespers. I had the opportunity to speak to five Musettes this past Saturday prior to a joint rehearsal with the Apollo’s Singers at Forest Hills Presbyterian Church. Although I was assured that they were a “talkative” group, I must admit that I was not sure how to prepare for the interview. But from the very beginning I found myself in the presence of five extremely self possessed, intelligent and talented young women who would, for the next thirty minutes, introduce me to an unseen part of the extraordinary work that Jeannette Sorrell is doing with Apollo’s Fire -- the mentoring of young people through music.

All five Musettes -- Kelsey Ferguson, Madeline Apple Healy, Augusta McKay Lodge, Allison Paetz and Allison Miller -- are individuals with their own life aspirations, however when asked why they want to be a Musette they speak with a collective voice.

“Having the opportunity to work with a world-class conductor before you are out of high school, or in your early years of college is amazing. To be able to have the real life experience of working with professional musicians is fantastic, it helps keep the rest of life in context”.

And -- “Being able to [work with] the soloists is fantastic. Not only to listen to them, but they are always so willing to help and to answer questions, make repertoire suggestions. They are all our mentors, they are all on our Face Books”.

They are also unanimous in their respect and affection for Jeanette Sorrell.

“How thankful [we are] to Jeanette. She really has fostered this spirit of co-operation. There is no sense of competition. We appreciate so much to have this opportunity available to us, without worrying about being cut from the group. We are able to focus on the music. It’s not about the individual but collectiveness”.

What do you do when you are sitting in a performance waiting for your turn to sing?

“Oh that’s a great time, you get to hear it from the audience’s perspective, and we get the best seats in the house because we are on stage with everybody. We are right in the middle of it. We love watching the instrumentalists play. It is the most fascinating thing. They are so expressive. Performing with Jeanette has fostered an appreciation of precise pitch and rhythmic accuracy, and its fun to see how they work together”.

When asked to name their favorite part of the Christmas Vespers, they all agreed that besides the entire piece being great, ‘Morning Star’, the ‘Gloria’ and the ‘In Dulci Jubilo’, were standouts.

Three of the five were part of the ensemble when Apollo’s Fire made its critically acclaimed recording of the Christmas Vespers, and being part of that recording remains a very special part of the Apollo’s Fire experience. Augusta Lodge: “I listen to it now and think wow, we have all grown up here. On the CD you can hear us as baby musettes but to be on the recording, to have that experience. We are so lucky,

Madeline Healey says jokingly; “ I get to say, hi I am Madeline and I am a national recording artists with Apollo’s Fire in Cleveland. How cool is that!”

Allison Patez summed it up with “It’s fun to see how far we have come since then. There have been huge leaps in the musicianship. It’s incredible”.

The Interviewees

Kelsey Ferguson is a sophomore at Cleveland Heights High School, where in addition to playing the violin, she is a member of the swim team. (She came directly from a swim meet to the interview). She is also a member of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra and is saddened that she will need to miss their first concert in order to perform with Apollo’s Fire. She says that being able to watch the violins players in the AF orchestra and studying baroque music has helped her to be a better player in the CYO. Kelsey has no aspirations at this time to become a musician, citing the fact that while she loves music, both her parents are musicians and she is not into theory or practicing. “I think I’ll study something different, but I still have time”.

Allison Miller is a junior at Steely High School in Amherst, were she is a member of a Barbershop Quartet and the Select ensemble. She is also a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus. She will be performing on the Cleveland Orchestra Holiday Concerts as part of that ensemble. Allison does plan to study music, but not only vocal performance but perhaps music history as well.

Madeline Apple Healy is a vocal major at Baldwin Wallace where she studies with Joanne Uniatowski. She says that it was at her very first rehearsal as a musette and hearing the soloists as the moment that she decided to become a singer. She has participated in the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin and is currently preparing to go on a recruitment tour for Baldwin Wallace. She will also be performing a solo in the College’s annual Bach Festival.

Augusta McKay Lodge is a 17 year old sophomore at the Oberlin Conservatory where she studies violin performance with Milan Vitek. She says it is her activity in Apollo’s Fire that inspired her take Marilyn McDonald’s baroque violin class this semester, and although she is enjoying it she admits that it really is like starting all over again. “Its awful, everything is so different”.

Allison Paetz is a sophomore at Case Western Reserve University where she is majoring in music education. Allison says; “My real passion in addition to singing is teaching” She Also studies organ with Todd Wilson and hope to add organ as a double major. Allison credits Karl Paukert for her interest in the organ saying “He [Paukert] had offered free organ lessons to anyone at St Paul’s Episcopal church, and I jumped at the chance.” She is currently an intern at St. Paul’s, and has also participated in the Oberlin summer organ institute. During a sidebar conversation about last years AF’s production of ‘Dido and Aeneas’, Allison led the group in a wonderful discussion of “Tragedy” and why Dido needed to simply end it all.

Apollo's Fire presents Praetorius' Christmas Vespers in five performances in Akron, Cleveland, Shaker Heights and Rocky River beginning on December 9.