Photo credit: CamillaTassi
Musicians
Jeannette Sorrell, direction & harpsichord
Fiona Gillespie, soprano vocals & whistle
Sam Kreidenweis, baritone vocals
Susanna Perry Gilmore, fiddle
Caitlin Hedge, fiddle & vocals
Emi Tanabe, fiddle
Tina Bergmann, hammered dulcimer
Brian Kay, plucked instruments & vocals
René Schiffer, cello
Ian Crane, bagpipes & vocals
Anna O’Connell, harp & vocals
LOCATION: Rosen Concert Hall, Broyhill Music Center, 813 Rivers St., Boone, NC 28608
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact the Box Office at theschaefercenter@appstate.edu or call 800-841-2787 or 828-262-4046.
Standard: $30
App State Faculty/Staff: $25
Children 12 and younger: FREE with purchase of adult ticket
SHOWTIME:
Wednesday, June 28, 2023 | 7pm
Doors open at 6:30pm
ACCOMMODATION STATEMENT: Appalachian is committed to providing an inclusive experience for individuals with disabilities. If accommodations are needed in order to fully participate on the basis of a disability, contact the Office of Disability Resources (828.262.3056). It is recommended that accommodation requests be made two weeks prior to the event.
“Sorrell and her dazzling period band… are incandescent.”
— The Sunday Times, London
Named for the classical god of music, healing and the sun, Apollo’s Fire is a Grammy Award-winning ensemble. The period-instrument orchestra was founded by award-winning harpsichordist and conductor Jeannette Sorrell. Dedicated to the baroque ideal that music should evoke the various Affekts or passions in the listeners, Apollo’s Fire brings to life the music of the past for audiences of today, with passion. Period. The Apollo’s Fire musicians are creative artists who share Sorrell’s passion for drama and rhetoric.
Apollo’s Fire has performed five European tours, with sold-out concerts at the BBC Proms in London, Madrid’s Royal Theatre, Bordeaux’s Grand Théàtre de l’Opéra, the National Concert Hall of Ireland, and venues in France, Italy, Austria, and Portugal.
Chosen by the Daily Telegraph as one of London’s Best 5 Classical Concerts of 2014, Apollo’s Fire was praised for “superlative music-making… combining European stylishness with American entrepreneurialism.”
North American tour engagements include Carnegie Hall (twice), the Tanglewood and Ravinia festivals (three times), the Boston Early Music Festival series, the Aspen Music Festival, Library of Congress, the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and major venues in Toronto, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Most of these concerts have been sold out. In 2021, Apollo’s Singers made their debut with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Jeannette Sorrell, winning rave reviews.
At home in Cleveland, Apollo’s Fire enjoys sold-out performances at its series, which has drawn national attention for creative programming.
With over 13 million views of its YouTube videos, Apollo’s Fire has released 30 commercial CDs and won a Grammy Award in 2019 for the album Songs of Orpheus with tenor Karim Sulayman. Ten of the ensemble’s CD releases have become best-sellers on the classical Billboard chart, including Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Monteverdi Vespers, Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, and Sorrell’s 5 crossover programs: Come to the River – An Early American Gathering; Sacrum Mysterium – A Celtic Christmas Vespers; Sugarloaf Mountain – An Appalachian Gathering; Sephardic Journey – Wanderings of the Spanish Jews; and Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain.
Grammy® Award-winning conductor Jeannette Sorrell is recognized internationally as one of today’s most compelling interpreters of Baroque and Classical repertoire, and a leader in creative programming exploring cultural traditions. She is the subject of the documentary by Academy Award-winning director Allan Miller, PLAYING WITH FIRE – Jeannette Sorrell and the Mysteries of Conducting (commercially released in June 2023).
In demand as a guest conductor, Sorrell made her New York Philharmonic debut in 2021 and Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2022, both to rave reviews. She has repeatedly conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony, St Paul Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Utah Symphony, New World Symphony, and Philharmonia Baroque in San Francisco; and has also led the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (Bach’s St John Passion), the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and Opera St Louis with the St Louis Symphony, among others. Upcoming engagements in 2023-24 include a return to the New York Philharmonic and debuts with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, Houston Symphony, and Indianapolis Symphony.
Sorrell studied conducting at the Aspen and the Tanglewood music festivals under Leonard Bernstein and Roger Norrington and harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam. She is the founder of Apollo’s Fire and has led the renowned ensemble as conductor and harpsichord soloist at London’s BBC Proms, Carnegie Hall, Madrid’s Royal Theatre, London’s Wigmore Hall, and the Tanglewood and Boston Early Music festivals, among others. Sorrell and Apollo’s Fire have released 30 commercial CDs, including 11 bestsellers on the Billboard classical chart and a 2019 Grammy® winner. Her CD recordings of the Bach St John Passion and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons have been chosen as best in the field by the Sunday Times of London (2020 and 2021).
Hailed as “a masterful musical storyteller” (Seen & Heard International), Sorrell has attracted national attention and awards for creative programming, particularly exploring the crossroads of early music and folk traditions. With over 13 million views of her YouTube videos, Sorrell has attracted national attention and awards for creative programming. As a teenager, she lived in the rural Shenandoah Valley, where she grew to love Appalachian music and Southern harmony. In her programs exploring folk traditions, she tries to help American listeners reconnect with the beauty of our shared roots as immigrants.