Apollo's Fire Presents TANGLEWOOD and BBC PROMS Send-Off Concerts, 6/29-30 and 8/11-12

This summer, Apollo's Fire embarks on its fourth international tour, performing with world-renowned violinist, Alina Ibragimova, at the BBC Proms in London (Aug. 15), The Aldeburgh Music/Snape Proms in the UK (Aug. 16), and performing a separate chamber program at the Tuscany Musical Landscapes Festival in Italy (Aug. 21). Apollo's Fire's debut at the BBC Proms will be followed by a VIP reception hosted by the U.S. Embassy Chargé d'Affaires. Additionally, Apollo's Fire presents "Greatest Hits of the 1720s" at the prestigious Tanglewood Festival in Lenox, MA on July 2.

True to promoting arts in the Akron and Cleveland areas with its extensive subscription and summer programming, AF will unveil these two tour programs for its local home audience first. Each local concert will offer the opportunity to mingle with the musicians in a post-concert gathering over beverages.

TANGLEWOOD SEND-OFF CONCERTS: "Greatest Hits of the 1720s"

Designed for AF's debut at the renowned Tanglewood Festival on July 2, 2015, this program showcases AF's lively virtuosity. Sparks fly as Jeannette Sorrell plays her "brilliant, take-no-captives rendition" (American Record Guide) of the famous harpsichord cadenza in Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, and Olivier Brault leads the battle in Vivaldi's "La Folia" (Madness). The audience is invited to join the musicians afterwards for coffee and conversation in the lobby.

The program is akin to something one might have heard at the lively Zimmerman's Café, a sort of Starbuck's of 18th-century Leipzig. Gottfried Zimmerman, a middle-class entrepreneur, sponsored casual weekly concerts in his coffeehouse in the Catherstrasse. In the summer, the concerts were held outdoors in the "coffee garden." The main attraction of the concerts was the Collegium Musicum, the informal student orchestra of the University of Leipzig.

The Collegium Musicum was founded by a lively and popular law student named G. P. Telemann. Telemann's contemporary, J. S. Bach became the director in 1729. Despite the inevitable competition between Bach and Telemann, the two were close friends. Bach paid tribute to Telemann by studying and transcribing his music, and by performing it with the Collegium at Zimmerman's. Another composer whom Bach admired and paid tribute to through performances at the Collegium Musicum, was Antonio Vivaldi. Thus, in Bach's programming at Zimmerman's Coffeehouse, he showed a warm sense of collegiality and respect for many of his contemporaries.

His generous spirit and the sense of communal gathering at these informal concerts make Zimmermann's Coffeehouse an inspiring model for music-making today.

Apollo's Fire and Jeannette Sorrell seek to evoke that same generous spirit and sense of communal gathering in their two local send-off concerts. While the virtuosity of these concerts will not be lost on the listener, AF's intimate and informal performance style serves to break down that artificial barrier between the audience and the listener. Repertoire for the evening mimics what one might have heard at Bach's coffeehouse. Almost as a homage to Bach and his collaborative spirit, Jeannette Sorrell bookends J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto nos. 4 & 5 with Telemann's Don Quixote and Vivaldi's "La folia" (Madness). Sorrell's unique arrangement of "La folia" has won accolades around the world. To round out the experience of a 1720s coffeehouse and that of a communal gathering, it is befitting that the group will serve up conversations with the artists over coffee following the concert experience.

Gala Proms/European Tour Send-off Concerts: "A Feast of J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach & Vivaldi"

The baroque event of the summer! Apollo's Fire and Jeannette Sorrell join forces with European violinist Alina Ibragimova to unveil the repertoire for their appearances at the world-class festivals of the BBC Proms (London), the Aldeburgh/Snape Proms Festival (UK) and the Tuscan Musical Landscapes Festival in Italy. Two local concerts on August 11 & 12 precede AF's European Tour! Champagne & Hors d'oeuvres reception to follow these concerts.

The tour is Apollo's Fire's fourth international tour. "The group are natural communicators. Apollo's Fire are a wonderful antidote to too much British baroque." (The Arts Desk). In 2010, AF presented its first European tour, "Fire & Folly", with British soprano Sophie Daneman - the program sold-out at London's Wigmore Hall. In 2011, the group toured with guest artist Philippe Jaroussky, one of the few extraordinary countertenors of the time, selling out audiences across the United States in addition to four major halls in Europe. BBC Music Magazine picked AF's 2014 transatlantic collaboration with soprano Sandrine Piau as one of the "20 Unmissable Events" in its May issue, and the London Telegraph cited the performance at St. John Smith Square as one of the "Best 5 Musical Moments of 2014."

For its BBC Proms programme (and fourth European tour), AF is pleased to partner with violinist Alina Ibragimova. "This will be our first collaboration with Alina, who is such a sensitive and compelling artist, one with so much to say," Sorrell comments. "I believe she is ever ready to take risks and express fresh ideas as they arise in performance, which is also what Apollo's Fire is about. We always want to explore the music's rhetoric, to ask what is the purpose of each phrase."

Gustav Leonhardt's (a mentor and strong influence in Sorrell's work) observes that the great composers of the 17th and 18th centuries felt at liberty to break the formal rules and conventions of composition to make an expressive point or introduce a certain emotional freedom to their work and Sorrell agrees - "Of course you also need to know the rules as a performer. But then you need to know when to break them so the music can sound surprising, special and alive. Apollo's Fire works to cultivate a deep understanding of the conventions of every work in its broad repertoire while developing a collective instinct for when to bend the rules."

Perhaps this is why the backdrop of Bach's Coffeehouse (Zimmerman's Café) is so befitting for Apollo's Fire works - a gathering of new ides and friends who were not afraid to take risks and re-invent the music, even by transcribing others' great works of the time. Is that not what Bach and Telemann did with the Collegium Musicum performances at Zimmerman's Café? And it is certainly what Apollo's Fire aims to create with Ibragimova. The program uncovers Bach and his contemporaries as the music revolutionaries they were: Their anthems, which stir the emotions of the listener, have not only survived the test of time, but remain relevant and approachable today. And that is the focus of Sorrell's program.

The concert opens with C.P.E. Bach's startling Symphony in B minor for strings and continuo. AF has played the work several times before, but has never launched a concert with it. The Symphony in B minor is capricious and fiery, and allows the expression of many of the musical emotions. It deals in dramatic contrasts and sudden expressive shifts, and thus ideally suits Apollo's Fire qualities of ensemble precision, emotional daring and the rhetorical expression.

Continuing its rhetorical music conversation, the group will also perform Telemann's Burlesque de Quixote which contains a juxtaposition of incredible energy and tenderness: a depiction of Don Quixote's futile attack against a group of windmills and of his sighs of love for the Princess Dulcinea.

Sorrell and Ibragimova challenge the stereotypical views of Vivaldi with the performance of his Violin Concerto in D major RV234 'L'inquietudine'. "Vivaldi seems to me to be quite often misunderstood. Those who say he wrote light and fluffy music or that he composed the same concerto five hundred times appear not to have listened to his operas, which are serious, profound and much more avant-garde than Handel's. Likewise, much of his sacred music is deeply searching. Even in his concertos, he was so inventive and original." (Jeannette Sorrell).

The group will also pay homage to J. S. Bach. After all, he was the most prominent "coffeehouse composer" of record at Zimmerman's Café. Ibragimova will solo in Bach's Violin Concerto in E major, BWV 1042. Sorrell and Apollo's Fire will also perform the group's famous rendition of Brandenburg Concerto Nos. 3 & 5.

Repertoire for the local send-off concerts will vary slightly each evening to emphasize different aspects of the Proms program. Both evenings, however, will include a festive Bon Voyage reception with hors d'oeuvres following the concert. (The reception charge is $15 but is gratis with purchase of a ticket in the Gold section.)

TOUR WITH AF!

Apollo's Fire welcomes its patrons to join us on tour at Tanglewood, in London, Aldeburgh and Tuscany. Activities arranged for AF patrons in London include a gala post-concert reception hosted by the U.S. Embassy, as well as a tour of Handel's historic home. For more details and recommendations of accommodations, visit http://apollosfire.org/tour-with-af-summer2015/ or contact Ms. Noha Ryder, Director of Development, 216.320.0012/ext. 2, or nryder@apollosfire.org.

For a full listing of AF's upcoming and past tours, visit: http://apollosfire.org/touring/touring-engagements/

LOCAL SUMMER PERFORMANCE DETAILS

Monday, June 29, 7:30 PM First United Methodist

Greatest Hits of the 1720's 263 East Mill Street

Tanglewood Send-off Concert Akron, OH 44308

Tuesday, June 30, 7:30 PM St. Noel Church

Greatest Hits of the 1720's 35200 Chardon Road

Tanglewood Send-off Willoughby Hills, OH 44094

Tuesday, August 11, 7:30 PM Bath Church

A Feast of Bach & Vivaldi 3980 W. Bath Road

Proms/ European Tour Send-off Bath, OH 44210

Wednesday, August 12, 7:30 PM Kulas Hall, Cleveland Institute of Music

A Feast of Bach & Vivaldi 11021 East Blvd.

Proms/ European Tour Send-off Cleveland, OH 44106

TICKETS

Call (800) 314-2535 or visit www.apollosfire.org for details.

Tickets range from $20-55 (dependent upon location and day of week). Student discounts available.

Free student tickets to performances in Summit County, underwritten by the GAR Foundation.

APOLLO'S FIRE BIOGRAPHY

Named for the classical god of music and the sun, Apollo's Fire was founded in 1992 by the award- winning young harpsichordist and conductor Jeannette Sorrell. Sorrell envisioned an ensemble dedicated to the baroque ideal that music should evoke the various Affekts or passions in the listeners. Apollo's Fire is a collection of creative artists who share Sorrell's passion for drama and rhetoric.

Hailed as "one of the pre-eminent period-instrument ensembles" (The Independent, London), Apollo's Fire made its London debut in 2010 in a sold-out concert at Wigmore Hall, with a BBC broadcast. AF returned to Europe in 2011 and 2014, and has been met with standing ovations at Madrid's Royal Theatre, Bordeaux's Grand Théàtre de l'Opéra, and major venues in Lisbon, Metz (FR), Birmingham (UK) and Bregenz (Austria). AF's London 2014 concert was praised as "an evening of superlative music-making... the group combines European stylishness with American entrepreneurialism" (The Telegraph, UK). This concert was chosen by the Telegraph as one of the "Best 5 Classical Concerts of 2014." In summer 2015, Apollo's Fire makes its debut at the Tanglewood Festival, the BBC Proms in London, the Aldeburgh Festival (UK), and the Festival Paesaggi Musicali Toscani in Tuscany.

Apollo's Fire has also toured throughout North America, appearing at the Aspen Music Festival, the Boston Early Music Festival series, the Library of Congress, the Tropical Baroque Festival in Miami, the Ojai International Festival in California, and major venues in Boston, Toronto, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The ensemble has performed two major U.S. tours of the Monteverdi Vespers (2010 and 2014) and a 9-concert tour of the Brandenburg Concertos in 2013. Apollo's Fire is signed to Columbia Artists Management (CAMI) for exclusive representation in North and South America, and is managed in Europe by Intermusica (London).

At home in Cleveland, Apollo's Fire enjoys sold-out performances at its subscription series, which has drawn national attention for creative programming. Apollo's Fire has released 20 commercial CD's, and currently records for the British label AVIE. Since the ensemble's introduction into the European CD market in 2010, the recordings have won rave reviews in the London press: "a swaggering version, brilliantly played" (The Times) and "the Midwest's best-kept musical secret is finally reaching British ears" (The Independent). Four of the ensemble's CD releases have become best-sellers on the classical Billboard chart: the Monteverdi Vespers, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, and Jeannette Sorrell's two crossover programs, "Come to the River" and "Sacrum Mysterium: A Celtic Christmas Vespers."

SELECT BIOGRAPHIES

Jeannette Sorrell, Artistic Director ,has quickly gained international attention as a leading creative voice among the new generation of early-music conductors. She has been credited by the U.K.'s BBC Music Magazine for forging "a vibrant, life-affirming approach to the re-making of early music... a seductive vision of musical authenticity."

Sorrell was one of the youngest students ever accepted to the prestigious conducting courses of the Aspen and the Tanglewood music festivals. She studied conducting under Robert Spano, Roger Norrington and Leonard Bernstein, 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 over 70 harpsichordists from Europe, Israel, the U.S., and the Soviet Union.

Sorrell founded Apollo's Fire in 1992. Since then, she and the ensemble have built one of the largest audiences of any baroque orchestra in North America. She has led AF in sold-out concerts at London's Wigmore Hall, Madrid's Royal Theatre (Teatro Real), the Grand Théâtre de l'Opéra in Bordeaux, Boston's Early Music Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival, among others.

Sorrell made her debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony in 2013 as conductor and soloist in the complete Brandenburg Concertos. With standing ovations every night, the event was hailed as "an especially joyous occasion" (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review).

She has also appeared as conductor or conductor/ soloist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis with the St. Louis Symphony, Handel & Haydn Society (Boston), Omaha Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, and Arizona Opera, and has appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra as guest keyboard artist. Engagements this season included a debut with the New World Symphony in Miami and a return to the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Sorrell and Apollo's Fire have released 20 commercial CDs, of which four have been bestsellers on the Billboard classical chart. Her recordings include the complete Brandenburg Concertos and harpsichord concertos of Bach (with Sorrell as harpsichord soloist and director), which was praised by the London Times as "a swaggering version... brilliantly played by Sorrell." She has also released four discs of Mozart, and was hailed as "a near-perfect Mozartian" by Fanfare Record Magazine. Other recordings include Handel's Messiah, the Monteverdi Vespers and two creative crossover projects: "Come to the River: An Early American Gathering" and "Sacrum Mysterium: A Celtic Christmas Vespers."

Sorrell has attracted national attention and awards for creative programming. She holds an honorary doctorate from Case Western University, two special awards from the National Endowment for the Arts for her work on early American music, and an award from the American Musicological Society. Passionate about guiding the next generation of performers, Ms. Sorrell has led many baroque projects for students at Oberlin Conservatory.

Alina Ibragimova, violin, performs music from baroque to new commissions on both modern and period instruments, Alina Ibragimova has appeared with orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Orquestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Philharmonia, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Hallé, and all the BBC orchestras. Conductors with whom Alina has worked include Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Valery Gergiev, Paavo Järvi, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Vladimir Jurowski, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Mark Elder, Philippe Herreweghe, Osmo Vänskä, Hannu Lintu, Sakari Oramo, Ilan Volkov, Tugan Sokhiev, Jakub Hrusa, Ludovic Morlot, Edward Gardner and Gianandrea Noseda.

Highlights among future concerto plans include return engagements with the London Symphony Orchestra (Mozart 3 with Bernard Haitink), Bergen Philharmonic (Berg with Edward Gardner), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (Tchaikovsky), and debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra (Mozart 4 with Vladimir Jurowski), Cleveland Orchestra (Sibelius with Juanjo Mena), Montreal Symphony (Beethoven with Kent Nagano), Hungarian National Philharmonic (Bartok 2 with Zoltan Kocsis), Bamberger Symphoniker (Ravel with Robin Ticciati), Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Schumann with Robin Ticciati), as well as a tour in Australia with the Sibelius Violin Concerto.As soloist/director Alina has toured with the Kremerata Baltica, Britten Sinfonia, Academy of Ancient Music, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

With regular recital partner Cédric Tiberghien and in solo and chamber music Alina has appeared at venues including the Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw, Mozarteum, Musikverein, Carnegie Hall, Palais des Beaux Arts, Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Vancouver Recital Series, San Francisco Performances, and at festivals including Salzburg, Verbier, MDR Musiksommer, Manchester International, Lockenhaus and Aldeburgh. The next two season's recital highlights include a complete Mozart sonata cycle at the Wigmore Hall and at the Oji Hall in Tokyo, a Lucerne Festival debut, and solo Bach recitals at the Park Avenue Armory recital series in New York, Gulbenkian Auditorium in Lisbon, Barcelona Auditorium and Tokyo's Oji Hall.

Born in Russia in 1985 Alina studied at the Moscow Gnesin School before moving with her family to the UK in 1995 where she studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and Royal College of Music. She was also a member of the Kronberg Academy Masters programme. Alina's teachers have included Natasha Boyarsky, Gordan Nikolitch and Christian Tetzlaff.

Alina has been the recipient of awards including the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award 2010, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award 2008, and the Classical BRIT Young Performer of the Year Award 2009. She was a member of the BBC New Generation Artists Scheme 2005-7. Alina records for Hyperion Records and performs on a c.1775 Anselmo Bellosio violin kindly provided by Georg von Opel.

Olivier Brault, concertmaster, brings his communicative enthusiasm and historical scholarship to concerts throughout Canada, Europe and the U.S. A native of Montréal, he performs as soloist or concertmaster with many Canadian ensembles including Ensemble Caprice, Les Boréades and the Quatuor Franz Joseph. He joined Apollo's Fire in 2010. Also an accomplished baroque dancer, he holds a doctorate from the Université de Montréal, where he specialized in 18th-century French violin repertoire. He is the recipient of the medal of the Assemblée Nationale du Québec for his cultural contributions to his nation. He can be heard on many award-winning recordings on the Atma and Analekta labels.

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