November 6, 2009 - PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Apollo's Fire, a period-instruments orchestra, to give concert in Oakland
by Mark Kanny

Jeannette Sorrell took her time developing her ideas for a "Mediterranean Nights" concert program. It's not the sort of concert she usually presents. Sorrell is founding artistic director of Apollo's Fire, the Cleveland-based period-instruments orchestra that most often performs masterpieces from the classical and romantic eras.

"This is going to be pretty much of a happening, different each night here in Cleveland, and will probably have changed a lot by the time we get to Pittsburgh," she says.

Sorrell will lead Apollo's Fire in "Mediterranean Nights" on Saturday at Synod Hall in Oakland for the Renaissance and Baroque Society concert series.

The impetus for the program came from her fond memories of summers spent in Italy.

"Imagine a gathering on the beach at night. As a ballad singer weaves her ancient love song, musicians gather around to accompany her. As the story gets more animated, the music gets more animated. Someone springs up to dance. It's the kind of thing that really happens on a late night in Italy or Spain," Sorrell says.

The musicians will have charts because the music is mostly based on old popular ground-bass dance tunes, which Sorrell compares to the chord progressions jazz musicians use. Since she plays harpsichord, her fingers play those old chord progressions over which the music flourishes.

The main song is by Benedicto Ferrari, which has "a very syncopated and lively bass line. From that we're segueing into violin variations by Tarquinio Merula, which is over the same bass line but in a different tempo and a different character," she says.

Apollo's Fire is in its 18th season, and Sorrell says she thinks the group is doing very well considering the effect the recession is having on arts organizations. "We're really blessed that in Cleveland our ticket sales are actually up. Both this year and last year are the highest ever. So we're proceeding on our merry way with a little bit of caution, because the foundations are all cutting back on their grants."

Sorrell says it means that she has to function the way 18th-century musicians did -- by pleasing their audiences. "Mozart had to sell tickets to his concerts. There were no grants."

Next season, Apollo's Fire will make a U.S. tour performing Claudio Monteverdi's "Vespers" in honor of the 400th anniversary of their composition. Then Sorrell will lead the orchestra on its first European tour, which will include a concert at Wigmore Hall in London that will be broadcast by the BBC.

In addition, Apollo's Fire will issue a new recording of George Frideric Handel's "Messiah," its second of the masterpiece. Over the past 15 years, Sorrell feels her "ideas about it have become more clear, so we really take a theatrical approach."