Wed 12/6 @ 7:30PM
Sun 12/10 @ 4:30PM
Thu 12/14 @ 7:30PM
Fri 12/15 @ 7:30PM
Sat 12/16 @ 8PM
Sun 12/17 @ 4:30PM
While Apollo’s Fire, Cleveland’s Baroque Orchestra, has presented program in the past connecting Appalachian music with its roots in the British Isles, typically during its summer season, its holiday program, Wassail! An Irish-Appalachian Christmas, is a little different, reflecting on the two sides migration and immigration: sadness and loss, juxtaposed with hope and opportunity.
It imagines Christmas night in Ireland in 1849, following the worst years of the Potato Famine, as families and friends join to celebrate before many leave the next day or the U.S. never to be seen by the families again.
Apollo’s Fire founder/artistic director and creator of the program Jeannette Sorrell says, “The Biblical Mary and Joseph were vulnerable migrants who were forced to travel for political reasons. That story is echoed many years later in the Irish Potato Famine of the 1850s, when impoverished Irishmen were forced to leave. And sadly, it is echoed today as Ukrainian and Middle Eastern refugees are forced from their homes. In WASSAIL, we evoke the resilience of the Irish immigrants who bravely crossed the Atlantic. Despite the hardships they have endured, they bring their music with them — and they celebrate Christmas with the most joyous music. In the second half, we blend the stories of the wandering Mary and Joseph with the wandering Irish immigrants. I hope this program will help us reflect on the current situation of migrants and refugees.”
Fourteen musicians will evoke those journeys in music including Irish singer Fiona Gillespie; “The Fiddlers Three,” Susanna Perry Gilmore, Emi Tanabe and Caitlin Hedge; Kathie Stewart on wooden flute; Tina Bergmann on hammered dulcimer; soprano and Celtic harpist Anna O’Connell; vocalist Sam Kreidenweis, and Sorrell on harpsichord. They’ll be joined by noted Cleveland/Irish actress Derdriu Ring for the December 14-17 performances.
They’ll perform at the Bath Church on December 6; at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium on December 10 and 17; at Baldwin Wallace University’s Gamble Auditorium on December 15; at Bay Village’s St. Raphael Church on December 14, and at Federated Church in Chagrin Falls on December 16.
Go here for tickets.
Akron, OH 44333
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