JEANNETTE SORRELL AND APOLLO’S FIRE

NOMINATED FOR GRAMMY® AWARD

Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” Up For Best Choral Performance

Erica Brenner Nominated for

Producer of the Year, Classical

Cleveland-based baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire, with Apollo’s Singers, under the baton of founder-director Jeannette Sorrell, has been nominated for a GRAMMY® Award in the Best Choral Performance category for their recording of George Frideric Handel’s Israel in Egypt.

This nomination, for the 67^th annual GRAMMY® Awards, follows Sorrell’s and Apollo’s Fire’s 2018 GRAMMY® win in the Best Classical Solo Vocal Album category, for Songs of Orpheus, featuring tenor Karim Sulayman.

Sorrell’s own adaptation of Handel’s oratorio Israel in Egypt is a colorful choral and orchestral showcase that takes the listener on a biblical journey from the Israelites lamentations on the death of Joseph, to the frogs, locusts, disease and darkness that plagued the Egyptians, to Moses’ miraculous parting of the Red Sea. Joining Sorrell and Apollo’s Fire are sopranos Margaret Carpenter Haigh and Molly Netter, countertenor Daniel Moody, tenor Jacob Perry, baritone Edward Vogel, and the Apollo’s Singers chorus.

Released in October 2023, Israel in Egypt has earned widespread acclaim. Sorrell “navigates this epic boldly, with edgy tempos, provocative dynamics and flawless pacing. Laurels also go to the band Apollo’s Fire … and to the choir Apollo’s Singers, whose superb technique and dramatic flair, and the soloists drawn from its ranks, likewise serve Sorrell’s vision” (BBC Music Magazine). Gramophone magazine applauded “an excellent performance … a choir of impressive versatility. Apollo’s Fire, playing on period instruments, are magnificent.” According to American Record Guide, “The performance is absolutely first rate. The recorded sound is warm and ingratiating. Rarely have I heard such highly disciplined choral singing and orchestral playing”. Seen & Heard International found the recording “Thrilling… Sorrell is a masterful musical storyteller. Her adaptation gives the work a coherent, compelling dramatic arc, brought off brilliantly by her singers and players.” The album debuted at Number 6 on Billboard’s Traditional Classical Albums chart.

The producer of Israel in Egypt, Erica Brenner, is enjoying her first GRAMMY® nomination for Producer of the Year, Classical. Among Brenner’s credits supporting her nomination is another AVIE Apollo’s Fire release, Heinrich Biber’s Mystery Sonatas, featuring the orchestra’s Artistic Leadership Fellow, Singaporean violinist Alan Choo. “The violinist’s playing is extraordinary – as fresh and improvisatory as though he were composing each sonata on the spot, but also infused with an infectious emotional ardor.” (Cleveland Classical). Audiophile Audition enthused, “Choo has arrived … Highly recommended for connoisseurs and enthusiasts of Baroque music. And if you’re not already familiar with Choo and his collaboration with the Cleveland-based Apollo’s Fire, you will be now”. The Biber release reached Number 2 on Billboard’s Traditional Classical Albums chart. 

These GRAMMY® nominations come hard on the heels of further recent chart success for Apollo’s Fire, with two October releases taking Top 5 Billboard chart positions in the same week. A 25th Anniversary edition of harpsichord concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach, including Jeannette Sorrell’s blazing solos in Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, debuted at Number 5 on Billboard’s Traditional Albums chart; while Bach’s Coffeehouse, featuring works by J. S. Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann and Antonio Vivaldi, debuted at Number 1.

AVIE artists previously nominated for GRAMMY® Awards include Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Monica Huggett, The Dufay Collective, Antonio Meneses, Augustin Hadelich and Joyce Yang, Nicholas Phan and Myra Huang, and Susan Narucki.

In addition to Songs of Orpheus, composer Laura Karpman‘s creation ASK YOUR MAMA won a GRAMMY® Award in 2016, and in 2022 Michael Repper and the New York Youth Symphony won in the Best Orchestral Performance category for their album of works by Florence Price, Valerie Coleman and Jessie Montgomery – the first time in the history of the GRAMMY’s that a youth orchestra had won in this category.

The winners of the 67th annual GRAMMY® Awards will be announced on Sunday, February 2, 2025, live at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.