Apollo's Fire Presents Two New Young Artist Concerts, Now thru 3/16

Apollo's Fire presents the outstanding young professionals from AF's Young Artist Apprentice Program in two new programs! Young Artist Concerts Music Collision: Art Meets Folk, 1614 & Family Concerts Ballads & Other Musical Tall Tales. Performances are today, March 14-16, 2014 They are featuring Madeline Apple Healey, soprano, Augusta McKay Lodge, violin, Cynthia Black, violin & viola, and David Ellis, cello & viola da gamba.

Four of AF's outstanding Young Artist Apprentices take the stage in AF's first-ever set of Young Artist Concerts. The 90-min program of chamber music is titled Music Collision: Art Meets Folk, 1614. The musicians explore the "collision" that took place in the early 17th century between serious art music and popular folk tunes. In this period, great composers such as Monteverdi, Buxtehude and Byrd wrote variations on the popular "blues" patterns of the late Renaissance. The program will also feature two

Elizabethan ballads performed by Madeline Apple Healey. True to AF's interactive experience, the audience is invited for coffee and conversations with these young artists following the program.

As an added bonus, this troupe of four artists will also perform two concerts in AF's popular Family Concert format. Ballads & Other Musical Tall Tales is a 45-minute interactive program for the young and young-at-heart, ages 6-96. It explores storytelling through music, and presents the opportunity to mingle with the artists and talk about their instruments.

The themes for both programs were conceived by Music Director Jeannette Sorrell, who has been working with the four young artists to choose repertoire that breaks down the "modern" barrier between art music and popular music. Sorrell explains that there was not such a wall between these two genres in the baroque period as there is today. As the Plain Dealer writes, "Sorrell proves that scholarship and fun aren't mutually exclusive."

ABOUT THE APPRENTICE PROGRAM:

Since 2002, Jeannette Sorrell and her principal players have helped to train future Apollo's Fire musicians by working with advanced conservatory students, sharing Apollo's Fire's particular style and approach to baroque music. The program developed out of Jeannette Sorrell's desire to bridge the gap for talented students on the verge of professional careers.

The program has guided many talented young musicians into professional careers. Former apprentices include violinists Johanna Novom, Adriane Post, Beth Wenstrom, Evan Few and Carrie Krause, and violist Karina Schmitz - all now professional period specialists. Over the past 12 years, the program has played a major role in shaping the next generation of early music performers.

Sorrell and her colleagues take turns coaching advanced students from the major conservatories - primarily Oberlin and the Cleveland Institute of Music. From there outstanding students are invited to audition for an apprentice position in the ensemble. Apprentices perform alongside the more seasoned musicians of AF, participating in touring, recording, and subscription concerts, as well as all aspects of the Education & Outreach Program. Apprentices are eligible to become full-fledged members of AF after two years of successful participation in the program.

TICKETS:

Tickets are general admission: $10 for adults and $5 for youth under 18.

To order in advance, call the Apollo's Fire box office at (216) 320-0012 or visit AF online at www.apollosfire.org. Based on availability, tickets may be purchased at the door prior to the concert.

The Box Office opens on location one hour prior to each concert.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS:

Friday, March 14, 8PM Chagrin Falls United Methodist

Music Collision 20 South Franklin Street

Chagrin Falls, OH 44022

Saturday, March 15, 1PM St. Noel Church

Family Concert 35200 Chardon Road

Willoughby Hills, OH 44094

Saturday, March 15, 8PM St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Music Collision 2747 Fairmount Blvd.
Cleveland Heights, OH 44106

Sunday, March 16, 4PM Rocky River Presbyterian Church

Family Concert 21750 Detroit Rd.
Rocky River, OH 44116

ABOUT AF'S APPRENTICES:

Madeline Apple Healey, soprano, is hailed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as "shimmering" and "silken-voiced." She recently performed in Spoleto Festival USA and Lincoln Center Festival productions of Toshio Hosakawa's Matsukaze, and as Olympia in Westminster Opera Theater's production of Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann. Her solo concert engagements range from Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri and Bach's Magnificat to George Crumb's Apparition and Tarik O'Regan's The Ecstasies Above. She has recorded on the NAXOS, KOCH, and AVIE labels. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Baldwin Wallace University and Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College, and currently studies with Jim Mismas. She maintains a private voice studio in Ohio City. Madeline has been singing with Apollo's Fire since the age of 16, when she was chosen by Jeannette Sorrell as treble soloist in the premiere concerts and CD recording of Praetorius Christmas Vespers. "The experience opened up new horizons for me. It inspired me to pursue a career in music," says Madeline. She has also toured nationally with AF in the Monteverdi Vespers.

Augusta McKay Lodge, violin, is an alumna of the Oberlin Conservatory and currently studies at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. She began her violin studies at the age of 3 and continued at the Moscow Central Special Music School. She has recently performed at the Kennedy Center, as assistant concertmaster of the Netherlands Student Orchestra on their European tour, with members of Tafelmusik, and as a finalist of the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra Concerto Competition. She has also been invited to play with British violinist Elisabeth Wallfish's young artist training orchestra, the "Wallfisch Band" in London. Augusta began working with Sorrell and AF as a member of the AF Musettes Ensemble in 2005. She performed solo roles with AF in the Praetorius Christmas Vespers and Purcell's Dido & Aeneas. After these experiences, she decided to take up baroque violin, which she studied at Oberlin. She made her debut an apprentice member of the AF violin section in 2013.

Cynthia Black, violin & viola, originally from Dallas, enjoys performing and studying as a modern and baroque violist. She recently completed her Master's degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Robert Vernon and Lynne Ramsey. She is currently an early music graduate student at Case Western Reserve University, studying baroque violin with Julie Andrijeski. She has performed with Apollo's Fire, NYS Baroque, Three Notch'd Road, and Publick Musick, and appeared alongside artists such as Barry Shiffman, Denis Brott, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, and Matt Haimovitz. She has spent summers at the Juilliard Quartet Seminar, Banff Centre's Chamber Music Residency, Kneisel Hall, and Sarasota Music Festival. Cynthia has performed as a member of AF's viola section in several subscription concerts and family concerts.

David Ellis, cello & viola da gamba, is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor's degree in cello performance, and Master's degrees in Historical Performance and Orchestral Conducting. He has performed with The Bach Project, Apollo's Fire, Burning River Baroque, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the National Repertory Orchestra, and Youth Orchestra of the Americas, and has played in master classes for such distinguished artists as Anner Bylsma and Jaap ter Linden. David is a native of Solon, Ohio, and currently resides in Cleveland. He recently toured nationally with AF in the coast-to-coast tour of the Brandenburg Concertos.