Apollo's Fire Musicians to Take Part in Activities on Nov. 13
November 1, 2007
Members of the Cleveland-based Baroque orchestra Apollo's Fire will participate in residency activities on Tuesday, Nov. 13 on the University Park campus in conjunction with the ensemble's concert that evening in Schwab Auditorium.
A partnership among Penn State's Center for the Performing Arts, Institute for the Arts and Humanities, and School of Music makes the Apollo's Fire visit possible. It is part of the Institute's 2007-08 Moments of Change: The Early 17th Century and the Roots of Modernity (ca. 1600-1625), a multidisciplinary initiative supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Nov. 13 residency includes the following events on the University Park campus:
? Jeanette Sorrell, director of Apollo's Fire, presents the lecture, "The Performance of Early Baroque Music," from 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. in Esber Recital Hall in Music Building I. Free and open to the public.
? Members of Apollo's Fire lead a performance workshop with students in the School of Music's voice/opera program from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Esber Recital Hall in Music Building I. Free and open to the public.
? Members of Apollo's Fire lead a performance workshop with the School of Music's Baroque Ensemble from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Room 122 of Music Building II. Free and open to the public.
? Sorrell speaks at Artistic Viewpoints from 6:40 p.m. to 7:10 p.m. with patrons who hold tickets to the Apollo's Fire concert that follows at 7:30 p.m. in Schwab Auditorium.
The Apollo's Fire concert, at 7:30 p.m. in Schwab, includes excerpts from L'Orfeo, a work composed by Monteverdi exactly four-hundred years ago, in 1607, and widely regarded as the first great opera. The tale of the musician Orpheus has inspired poets and composers for centuries. After he loses his beloved Eurydice to a venomous snake, Orpheus heads for Hades–with only his lyre and his music as weapons–in an attempt to get her back. The period-instrument concert features Apollo's Fire musicians performing on violins, viola, cello, viola da gamba, recorder, theorbos (plucked string instruments), harpsichord and organ; the six soloists and eight chorus members of the companion ensemble Apollo's Singers; and a Baroque dancer.
The Schwab debut of Apollo's Fire also includes two madrigals by Monteverdi and instrumental works by his early-17th-century contemporaries Dario Castello, Maurizio Cazzati, and others.
Tickets for the concert are $31 for an adult, $14 for a University Park student and $24 for a person 18 and younger. Buy tickets online at www.cpa.psu.edu or by phone at 814-863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at four State College locations: Eisenhower Auditorium (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays), Penn State Tickets Downtown (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday), HUB-Robeson Center (11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays) and Bryce Jordan Center (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays). A grant from the Penn State Student Activities Fee Funds makes University Park student prices possible.
For more information on the Moments of Change initiative, please contact the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at 814-865-0495; arts-humanities@psu.edu; www.research.psu.edu/iah.
WPSU-FM is the media sponsor for the concert.
Contact: Marica Tacconi, 814-865-0495, mst4@psu.edu