Thu 1/16 @ noon
Jeannette Sorrell’s own story is incredible enough, without knowing anything about her antecedents. Growing up, she trained as a dancer, violinist and pianist, and eventually found her passion for harpsichord while studying at Oberlin Conservatory where she discovered a twin passion for conducting — then a relentlessly male-dominated field. In the early 90s, she was invited to interview for an assistant conducting job with the Cleveland Orchestra but was advised by music director Christoph von Dohnanyi that its audience would never accept a woman conductor — how times have changed! So her love of period instruments such as the harpsichord and her entrepreneurial spirit led her to form Apollo’s Fire, Cleveland’s now internationally celebrated baroque chamber orchestra, where she is founding artistic director.
But just a few years ago she learned a deeply held family secret that her elderly father had never shared: his background as a Jewish Holocaust survivor.
Sorrell will be sharing that story at the next Akron Roundtable luncheon, and how she learned in 2018 how her father survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald and made his way to America to pursue his own love of the arts, which he passed on to his daughter. She’ll be in conversation with Dr. James Wilding, a professor at the University of Akron School of Music. It takes place at Quaker Station, and tickets include lunch. Make a reservation here. Apollo’s Fire CDs will be available for purchase.
akronroundtable/jeannette-sorrell/