Thu 2/17 @ 7:30PM
Fri 2/18 @ 7:30PM
Sat 2/19 @ 8PM
Sun 2/20 @ 7PM
This week, Apollo’s Fire, Cleveland’s baroque orchestra, reprises its 2017 version of the George Frideric Handel oratorio, Israel in Egypt, adapted by Apollo’s Fire founder/music director Jeannette Sorrell, who will conduct the four performances.
The 1739 work, much less familiar than the composer’s oft-performed Messiah, tells the story of the Israelites’ difficulties in making their escape from bondage in Egypt, including the parting of the Red Sea.
Sorrell connects the work to modern-day events.
“In the last few years, we have seen raging fires, an increase in severe hurricanes, and islands destroyed,” she says. “Hurricane Irma sucked the waters off the coast of Florida away for a couple of days, exposing an eerie, dry land that none of us had ever seen there before…and then returned with a vengeance to flood the lands of Florida. Is this how the Red Sea was parted? Handel invites us to search our souls. In a language more powerful than words, he conveys the force of God – or Nature (whichever you prefer) – in human events.”
The two-hour piece is a showcase for vocalists: the Apollo’s Singers are featured, along with soloists, sopranos Molly Netter and Margaret Carpenter Haigh, tenor Jacob Perry, countertenor Daniel Moody and baritone Edward Vogel.
Performances will take place at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Akron on Thursday February 17, at St. Raphael Catholic Church in Bay Village on Friday February 18, at The Temple-Tifereth Israel in Beachwood on Saturday February 19 and First Baptist Church in Shaker Heights on Sunday February 20.
The concert will also be available through Apollo’s Fire’s Worldwide Watch-at-Home series, for those not in the immediate area and those who prefer not to go out yet. The orchestra will also be recording the work for an album to be released next year.
For tickets call 216-320-0012 or go to apollosfire.org.