Touring in 2011 -2012
Händel and Vivaldi Fireworks, with Philippe Jaroussky
French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky has taken Europe by storm, nominated as “Classical Artist of the Year” in France in 2005, and winning “Lyric Artist of the Year” in 2007 – the French equivalent of a Grammy award. Apollo’s Fire and Jaroussky share a commitment to emotionally communicative performances. Together they explore the full dramatic range of Handel and Vivaldi’s arias for the virtuoso castrato singers of the 18th century.
Vivaldi’s fiery concertos round out the program, including the Concerto for Four Violins and Jeannette Sorrell’s popular arrangement of La Follia (Madness), which the ensemble performs from memory. This transatlantic collaboration heads to France and Belgium following the U.S. performances.
“Jaroussky, a mellifluous countertenor, invested the role with heart-breaking conviction.”
— THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Jaroussky soars as effortlessly as a bird.”
— GRAMOPHONE
“Apollo’s Fire is one of the nation’s leading baroque orchestras, capable of competing with Europe’s much-recorded bands.”
— THE BOSTON GLOBE
Touring in 2012 -2013
Come to the River, an Early American Gathering
"Fresh, impeccable and enchanting."
— THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER
Jeannette Sorrell's hit new crossover program premiered in 10 sold-out concerts in June 2009.
A covered-wagon journey becomes a journey of the soul. Four singer-actors meet a virtouso fiddler, an old-time guitarist, a hot-shot hammered dulcimer player, and some wooden flutes. From the spiritual heights of an old American revival, to the driving rhythms of New England barn dances – Jeannette Sorrell and her crossover artists bring to life the rich American tradition of shape-note singing and Southern harmony.
Don't be a Wayfaring Stranger. Come to the River.
Apollo’s Fire, bio
“The U.S.A.’s hottest baroque band”
– CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE, UK
“One of the most enterprising and plucky early music ensembles in the nation today.”
- AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE
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 America’s leading baroque orchestras” (The Boston Globe), and “a front-runner among America’s finest baroque orchestras” (The Independent, London), Apollo’s Fire enjoys sold-out performances at its subscription series in Cleveland. The ensemble has toured throughout North America, performing at venues such as the Aspen Music Festival, the Boston Early Music Festival series, the Library of Congress, the Ojai International Festival in California, and the Chautauqua Institution. The ensemble recently completed an 11-concert national tour of the Monteverdi Vespers.
Apollo’s Fire made its European debut tour in November 2010, to standing ovations in Spain and the Netherlands, and a sold-out crowd at London’s Wigmore Hall, where the concert was broadcast by the BBC. Next season, Apollo’s Fire tours internationally with countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, with engagements in Bordeaux, Madrid and Lisbon, as well as Boston, Toronto, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Apollo’s Fire has released 17 commercial CD’s, and currently records for the British label AVIE. Since the ensemble’s introduction into the European CD market last summer, 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). The fall 2010 release of the Monteverdi Vespers made the Top 10 on the classical Billboard chart.
Apollo’s Fire is broadcast frequently on National Public Radio, Canada’s CBC, Britain’s BBC, and the European Broadcasting Union. The ensemble’s television special “Discovering Vivaldi,” produced by Cleveland’s PBS television station, will begin national syndication on PBS stations in 2011.
July 2011 – Please discard any previously dated materials.
Philippe Jaroussky, counter-tenor
The counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky – over 30 years old – has already established himself as one of the major singers in the international musical world as confirmed by Victoires de la Musique (Revelation Artiste Lyrique in 2004 and Artiste Lyrique in 2007) and recently, by the 2008 in Munich.
His technique allows him the most audacious nuances and impressive pyrotechnics. Philippe Jaroussky has an extremely large repertoire in the baroque area, from the refinements of the Italian Seicento with Monteverdi, Sances and Rossi to the staggering brilliance of Händel or Vivaldi’s music – the latter being the composer he mostly has sung these last few years. Lately, Mr. Jaroussky has decided to explore a very different repertoire both contemporary and modern with pianist Jérôme Ducros. As a result, they are performing the melodies composed by Marc André Dalbavie from the poems of Louise Labbé and the French melodies of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
Philippe Jaroussky has worked with the best baroque orchestras such as Ensemble Matheus, Les Arts florissants, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Le Concert d’Astrée, L’Arpeggiata, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie and Europa Galante with conductors like Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Marc Minkowski, René Jacobs, Christina Pluhar, Jérémie Rhorer, Emmanuel Haïm, Jean-Claude Malgoire and Fabio Biondi.
He has been praised in all the most prestigious concert halls in France, such as Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Théâtre du Châtelet, Salle Pleyel, Salle Gaveau, Opéra de Lyon, Opéra de Montpellier, Opéra de Nancy, Arsenal de Metz, Théâtre de Caen, and abroad at The Barbican Center and Southbank Center in London, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Grand Théâtre du Luxembourg, Konzerthaus in Vienna, Staatsoper and Philharmonia in Berlin, Teatro Real in Madrid, and Lincoln Center in New York.
In 2002 he founded l’Ensemble Artaserse, which performs music all over Europe.
Philippe Jaroussky has an exclusive recording contract with Virgin Classics and has received many awards for these recordings. For Heroes (Vivaldi’s Opera arias) he received a Gold disc in 2007, has been awarded a Diapason d’Or, a 10 by Classica-Repertoire, a Choc of the Magazine Monde de la Musique, the Timbre de Platine from Opera International, and a Gramaphone Award.
His CD Tribute to Carestini (with Le Concert d’Astrée and Emmanuelle Haim) was CD of the year at the Victoires de la Musique in 2008 and at the Midem Classical Awards in 2009.
In January 2009, the CD Teatro d’Amore concentrating on Monteverdi with L’Arpeggiata and Christina Pluhar was immediately a best seller. A few months later, his surprising CD Opium (French melodies) was once again an international success.
His latest recording, La Dolce Fiamma is dedicated to forgotten castrato arias by Johann Christian Bach with Le Cercle de l’Harmonie and Jérémie Rhorer. He is also on Arpeggiata’s latest march release, Via Crucis.
The Tribute to Carestini and La Dolce Fiamma, have both gone gold. He has been awarded his fourth Victoire de la Musique in 2010 for Singer of the Year.
October 2010 – Please discard any previously dated materials.