Apollo’s Fire. Photo by Hilary Scott.
In Friday’s (10/13) Chicago Sun-Times Kyle MacMillan writes, “After Apollo’s Fire performed under the auspices of the University of Chicago Presents series in 2016, the Cleveland group was barraged afterward with delighted audience members pressing the group to return soon and often to the Windy City. Such enthusiasm led to the internationally known baroque orchestra becoming a kind of resident ensemble in Chicago, complete with a fast-growing concert series and an ambitious outreach program in the Matteson School District 162. ‘We went away [from the 2016 concert] and wanted to think about how … not to be competing with other wonderful groups that are already there,’ said Jeannette Sorrell, the ensemble’s founding artistic director. Apollo’s Fire will open its third annual season in the Chicago area with an Oct. 19 presentation of George Frideric Handel’s ‘Israel in Egypt’ at Northwestern University … The group has made [Chicago] nothing less than a second home…. Liza Malamut … artistic director of Chicago’s Newberry Consort, which focuses on medieval and Renaissance music, does not see Apollo’s Fire as a competitive threat…. [Malamut said,] ‘The more people who attend early-music concerts, the better.’ ”
