For immediate release: MonthX, 2016
CONTACT:
Rebecca Bailey, Publicity Coordinator/Writer
Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College
603.646.3991
Time-travel to Bach’s world, May 3
Photo: Apollo’s Fire, by Roger Mastroianni.
HANOVER, NH—J.S. Bach had his hands full after he moved in 1723 to Leipzig. Not only was he heading up the music program in the church and town, including writing reams of new music weekly, he was overseeing the musical education of his own growing family (22 children, eventually). Yet he still found time to make music in a more casual way with family, friends and students—especially in free, public Friday night concerts at Zimmermannsche Kaffeehaus, or the Zimmerman Coffee House, at which Bach and his circle played primarily secular music in a youthful, convivial atmosphere.
Evoking the spirit and probable musical selections of those Friday nights is the guiding idea of “Bach’s Coffeehouse,” a program by Apollo’s Fire, which comes to the Hop’s Spaulding Auditorium on Wednesday, May 3, 7 pm.
Admired on both sides of the Atlantic, this Cleveland-based early music ensemble is known for a “vibrant, life-affirming approach…rooted in period style yet never its slave” (BBC Music Magazine). With the irresistible Jeanette Sorrell leading from the harpsichord, the group plays Bach’s Overture No. 2 in B minor, a work for flute and strings based on the popular dances of Bach’s era; Telemann’s Don Quixote Suite, which paints a sound picture of the deluded nobleman’s quests; and Vivaldi’s Flute Concerto “Il Gardellino,” bathed in the imitated song of the goldfinch or cardellino (the “g” in the title may be a Venetian variation on that Italian bird name).
The program is in keeping with the zesty, engaging programming and performance on which the group has built its now international following. Named for the classical god of music and the sun, Apollo’s Fire was founded in 1992 by Sorrell, who envisioned an ensemble dedicated to the Baroque ideal that music should evoke the various Affekts or passions in the listeners.
Basing itself in Cleveland—thanks to key start-up support from the Cleveland Foundation, one of America’s largest music benefactors—the group started by building a solid local audience, which applauded its exuberant approach. After nearly two decades of building its North American following, the group embarked on its first European dates in 2010, and now returns regularly, hailed as “one of the pre-eminent period-instrument ensembles” (The Independent, London) and “combin[ing] European stylishness with American entrepreneurialism” (The Telegraph, UK). The group made its Carnegie Hall debut March 22.
The group’s personnel include top early music players from throughout North America and Europe as well as talented newcomers fresh out of Ohio’s Oberlin Conservatory. 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 24 commercial CDs and currently records for the British label AVIE. The London press praised the albums as “a swaggering version, brilliantly played” (The Times) and “the Midwest’s best-kept musical secret is finally reaching British ears” (The Independent). Seven of the ensemble's CD releases have become best-sellers on the classical Billboard chart, including its most recent release Sephardic Journey – Wanderings of the Spanish Jews (Billboard World Music Chart #2 and Billboard Classical #5, Feb. 2016).
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Bach’s Coffeehouse, a concert by Apollo’s Fire
Admired on both sides of the Atlantic, Cleveland-based early music ensemble Apollo’s Fire is Baroque music in its unbuttoned state, led by charismatic harpsichord virtuoso Jeanette Sorrell. Inspired by the 18th-century Leipzig coffeehouse where Bach and his student orchestra played lively concertos, a chamber sextet from the orchestra treats listeners to fiery strings, colorful recorders and Sorrell’s dizzying solos in works by Bach, Telemann and Vivaldi.
Wednesday, May3, 7 pm
Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center, Hanover NH
$20-30, $10 for Dartmouth students, $17-19 for 18 and under
Information: hop.dartmouth.edu or 603.646.2422
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Founded in 1962, the Hopkins Center for the Arts is a multi-disciplinary academic, visual and performing arts center dedicated to uncovering insights, igniting passions, and nurturing talents to help Dartmouth and the surrounding Upper Valley community engage imaginatively and contribute creatively to our world. Each year the Hop presents more than 300 live events and films by visiting artists as well as Dartmouth students and the Dartmouth community, and reaches more than 22,000 Upper Valley residents and students with outreach and arts education programs. After a celebratory 50th-anniversary season in 2012-13, the Hop enters its second half-century with renewed passion for mentoring young artists, supporting the development of new work, and providing a laboratory for participation and experimentation in the arts.