Ravinia 2023 Issue 2

GOODIEMAN PHOTOGRAPHY (RUSH) I JONATHAN RUSH Currently Associate Conductor of the Balti- more Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Di- rector of the Baltimore Symphony Youth Or- chestra, Jonathan Rush is a rising talent on the concert podium, having earned a Bachelor of Music from The Ohio State University, where he was Music Director of the Buckeye Phil- harmonic Orchestra, and a Master of Music from the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University. His conducting mentors have in- cluded Marin Alsop, Mei-Ann Chen, and Jo- seph Young. In 2017, Rush became a conduct- ing fellow of the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra, and in 2018 he was also named a Project Inclusion Conducting Fellow with the Chicago Sinfonietta, where he was engaged as Assistant Conductor for the 2019 season. He was then appointed Assistant Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2020, also serving as Assistant Conductor of the New York Youth Symphony that fall. Rush made his professional orchestra debut with the Chamber Orchestra of New York in Car- negie Hall as the 2018 winner of the Respighi Prize in conducting at age 22, and he made his international debut leading the Nairobi Phil- harmonic Orchestra and Dance Centre Kenya in their first performance of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker with live orchestra. Rush has since had return engagements with the Chamber Orchestra of New York and Dance Centre Kenya, and he has also debuted as a guest conductor with the Baltimore and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, Chicago Sinfonietta, and Reno Chamber Orchestra. This season he looks forward to debuts with the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center and the Minnesota Orchestra. Between 2016 and 2021, Rush served as the Minister of Music at Ebenezer Temple in Hartford, CT, and the Di- rector of Music for the New England District of the United Holy Church of America, over- seeing the music departments of 14 different churches. Jonathan Rush made both his Ra- vinia and his Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuts in 2021, and he returned to conduct the Chicago Sinfonietta last summer. MARIN ALSOP, Ravinia Chief Conductor For Marin Alsop’s biography, see page 42. MARTIN THEATRE 7:30 PM SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2023 APOLLO’S FIRE JEANNETTE SORRELL, artistic director and harpsichord FIONA GILLESPIE, soprano and whistle SAM KREIDENWEIS, baritone SUSANNA PERRY GILMORE, fiddle CAITLIN HEDGE, fiddle and vocals EMI TANABE, fiddle TINA BERGMANN, hammered dulcimer BRIAN KAY, plucked instruments and vocals RENÉ SCHIFFER, cello IAN CRANE, bagpipes and vocals KATHIE STEWART, wooden flutes ANNA O’CONNELL, harp and vocals The Road to Dublin Conceived and Directed by Jeannette Sorrell Grammy winners Apollo’s Fire and Jeannette Sorrell are known for exploring the crossroads of history and tradition with “profoundly spontaneous performances” and “infectious energy” ( Gramophone ). Playing on historical instruments, the ensemble traces the roots of Appalachian music to the Irish and Scottish immigrants who crossed the Atlantic, bringing their ballads, jigs, and reels with them. PROGRAM TO INCLUDE: I. On the Way to Dublin Irish jig Highway to Dublin Gaelic air Pe in Eirinn I (Whoever she is in Ireland) British Isles I know my Love —The Whitby Maid II. Scottish Detour British Isles reels Farewell to Ireland / The Highlanders Farewell Scottish ballad Caroline of Edinburgtown JAMES SCOTT SKINNER Tulluchgorum Fiddle Variations III. Cousins in America British Isles & Fair Margaret and Sweet William Appalachian ballads Wayfaring Stranger South Appalachian lullaby Nobody but the Baby Appalachian fiddle tunes Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom / Poplar Bluff IV. Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow TURLOUGH O’CAROLAN O’Carolan’s Farewell Irish The Parting Glass —The Rocky Road to Dublin See tonight’s insert for complete program information. APOLLO’S FIRE Named for the classical god of music, healing, and the Sun, the Grammy-winning ensemble Apollo’s Fire was founded in 1992 by harp- sichordist and conductor Jeannette Sorrell as a period band dedicated to the Baroque ideal that music should move the emotional moods of the listeners. Based in Northeast Ohio, Apollo’s Fire has toured nationally and internationally, including six European tours, and has been featured at Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Library of Congress and the National Gallery of Art, Wigmore Hall and the BBC Proms in Lon- don, Madrid’s Royal Theatre, the National Concert Hall of Ireland, and the Tanglewood, Aspen, and Ravinia Festivals, as well as ma- jor venues in France, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Toronto, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The ensemble also records extensively, winning a Grammy in 2019 for Songs of Orpheus with tenor Karim Sulayman. Its YouTube videos have received over 13 million views, and 11 of its 30 commercial CDs have become best- sellers on Billboard ’s classical chart, including Vivaldi’s Four Seasons , Monteverdi’s Vespers , Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. Apollo’s Fire and Historical Folk Traditions For over 20 years, Apollo’s Fire and Sor- rell have developed a unique ensemble of crossover artists who specialize in early traditional folk repertoire. Steeped in folk traditions as well as historical performance, these artists strive to break down the mod- ern barrier between art music and popular music. They revive the “crossover” spirit of the 17th century, a time when great compos- ers regularly wrote artful variations on street tunes and tavern songs. The Apollo’s Fire folk band has toured all over the US, and in 2018 performed a six-concert tour in the UK and Ireland, in- cluding to the Irish National Concert Hall (Dublin) and Opera House (Wexford), the Aldeburgh Festival, and Belfast Castle, broadcast live by European Community Ra- dio. They have also been featured in a BBC Radio documentary. Sorrell and Apollo’s Fire have won nu- merous distinctions for their work in this genre, including the Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society (for Sorrell’s reconstructions of early Ameri- can compositions and arrangements of Ohio folk songs). Sorrell’s programs exploring folk traditions, all of which have become Billboard Classical top-10 recordings and won critical acclaim on both sides of the At- lantic, include Come to the River—An Early American Gathering (2010), Sacrum Mys- terium—A Celtic Christmas Vespers (2012), Sugarloaf Mountain—An Appalachian Gath- ering (2015), Sephardic Journey—Wanderings of the Spanish Jews (2016), Christmas on Sug- arloaf Mountain (2018), and O Jerusalem!— City of Three Faiths (2022). Apollo’s Fire made its Ravinia debut in 2017 and previously returned in 2018 and 2021. RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIA MAGAZINE 29