GRAMMY award-winning ensemble Apollo’s Fire announced today the appointment of Howard Bender as Executive Director. Mr. Bender will partner with Founder and Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell and will lead all administrative and fundraising activities for the group. In connection with the appointment of Mr. Bender, Mrs. Noha Ryder will retire from her position as General Manager and Development Director, and Ms. Allison Richards will be appointed as General Manager.
Mr. Bender, a Cleveland native, most recently served as Chief Development Officer at Florida Grand Opera in Miami. Prior to that, he was Vice President of the Virginia Opera Association in Norfolk, Richmond and Fairfax, Virginia; Director of Institutional Advancement and External Relations at the Castleton Festival in Washington, D.C.; a Partner at JDMason & Associates in Cleveland; and Founding Festival Director and CEO of the TodiMusicFest USA in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Following his education at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard American Opera Center, Mr. Bender’s artistic experience included work as a character tenor at the New York Metropolitan Opera, principal guest artist with major opera houses in the U.S., Canada, Italy, Germany and Israel, and as guest soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Cincinnati May Festival, Jerusalem Symphony, Israel Philharmonic and Musica Sacra/New York.
Howard Bender – Biography
Executive Director
Howard Bender’s history in arts management began by founding a multi-disciplinary, sister-city, international arts festival, TodiMusicFest, in Hampton Roads, (southeastern) Virginia, producing the Virginia premieres of Aïda, Nabucco and Manon Lescaut. Prior to that, he experienced a 28 year career as an operatic tenor on four continents including four seasons at the Metropolitan Opera. Recently, he has served as Chief Development Officer of Florida Grand Opera (Miami/Fort Lauderdale) where he increased Non-Board Individual giving by 68%, met and exceeded a $200,000 matching gift initiative within 5 months, and increased the Foundation sector by 18%. As Vice-President of Virginia Opera, he served a Board leadership of ninety, co-leading this state-wide organization with an annual Budget of $5.3 million and mainstage productions in three cities, to consecutive years of balanced budgets, surpassing contributed income goals by 15% in FY17 and 8% in FY18. Contributed revenue during his five year tenure increased 72% in Central and Northern Virginia. He created new contributed revenue streams such as the Adopt-a-School Program and the Virginia is for Opera Lovers tourism initiative that garnered six-figure support, and managed the company’s largest corporate sponsor. Prior to being recruited by Virginia Opera, Maestro Lorin Maazel chose him to re-configure and reposition the Castleton Festival as Director of Institutional Advancement and External Relations. That tenure afforded him the opportunity to collaborate with a world renowned musical figure, to conceive and execute new artistic and education/outreach programming that increased the bottom line. The restructuring process included growing its funding base (41%) and its patron base (30%).
He brings to Apollo’s Fire a thorough knowledge of classical music repertoire and performing arts management, as well as their history, traditions and techniques acquired during his singing career and 20 year management career. He succeeded in securing new revenue streams and new audiences for operatic and symphonic performances, recruiting new board members and major stakeholders in competitive marketplaces such as Metro DC, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Richmond and Hampton Roads, VA.
Bender was a frequent guest at the opera houses of Montréal, Philadelphia, Houston, St. Louis, Miami, Washington, Pittsburgh, Portland, Spoleto USA, Düsseldorf, Spoleto Festival di Due Mondi, Palermo and Tel Aviv, and with the symphony orchestras of Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Jerusalem and the Israel Philharmonic. He has collaborated with James Levine, Mstislav Rostropovich, Sir Richard Bonynge, James Conlon, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Asher Fisch, Gerard Schwarz, Harry Bicket, Robert Spano, Bernard Uzan, Ian Judge, Colin Graham, Günter Krämer, and Frédéric Chaslin.
He holds a Bachelor of Music and a Postgraduate Diploma in Voice from Manhattan School of Music. During his student years, he supported himself as Cantor of two major New York synagogues and during his operatic career, served synagogues throughout Southeastern Florida, Israel, Canada and Germany. In Cleveland, he served frequently as guest Cantor for Temple on the Heights (B’nai Jeshurun) and The Park Synagogue. He has been recognized by Coretta Scott King for extraordinary work in bringing diverse communities together through shared musical experiences. He is a Cleveland native, a graduate of Cleveland Heights High School, and was an apprentice to Cleveland’s renowned Master Cantor Saul Meisels.
ABOUT APOLLO’S FIRE
“The U.S.A.’s hottest baroque band”
– Classical Music Magazine, UK
“Led by a brilliant harpsichordist, Jeannette Sorrell, the ensemble exudes stylish energy –
a blend of scholarship and visceral intensity.” – GRAMOPHONE
Named for the classical god of music, healing, and the sun, APOLLO’S FIRE is the international baroque orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. The GRAMMY-winning ensemble was founded by harpsichordist and conductor Jeannette Sorrell, and is hailed as “one of the pre-eminent period-instrument ensembles” (The Independent, London). Apollo’s Fire has drawn international attention for artistic spontaneity and technical excellence. At home in Cleveland, Apollo’s Fire frequently enjoys sold-out performances at its subscription series, which has drawn national attention for creative programming.
Apollo’s Fire made its London debut in 2010 in a sold-out concert at Wigmore Hall, with a BBC broadcast. Subsequent European tours took place in 2011, 2014, and 2015. European performances include sold-out concerts at the BBC Proms in London (with live broadcast across Europe), the Aldeburgh Festival (UK), Madrid’s Royal Theatre, Bordeaux’s Grand Théàtre de l’Opéra, and major venues in Lisbon, Metz (France), and Bregenz (Austria), as well as concerts on the Birmingham International Series (UK) and the Tuscan Landscapes Festival (Italy). AF’s London concert in 2014 was chosen by the DAILY TELEGRAPH as one of the “Best 5 Classical Concerts of The Year.”
North American tour engagements include sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall (2018), the Tanglewood Festival (2015 and 2017), the Ravinia Festival, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY (2013, 2014 and 2015), the Boston Early Music Festival series, and the Library of Congress, as well as concerts at the Aspen Music Festival, and major venues in Toronto, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The ensemble’s notable U.S. tours include two major tours of the Monteverdi Vespers (2010 and 2014); a 9-concert tour of the Brandenburg Concertos in 2013; and a semi-staged production of Monteverdi’s L’ORFEO in April 2018 (U.S. tour).
Apollo’s Fire has released 26 commercial CDs and recently won a GRAMMY for “Songs of Orpheus,” a vocal album with tenor Karim Sulayman. AF’s most recent release (November 2018) is Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain, Sorrell’s joyful exploration of the Celtic roots of Appalachian music, which was named “Festive Disc of the Year” by Gramophone Magazine (UK) and quickly hit no. 3 on the Classical Billboard Chart. Since the ensemble’s introduction into the European CD market in 2010, the recordings have won rave reviews in the London press: “a swaggering version, brilliantly played” (THE SUNDAY TIMES) and “the Midwest’s best-kept musical secret is finally reaching British ears” (THE INDEPENDENT). Eight of the ensemble’s CD releases have become best-sellers on the classical Billboard chart: the Monteverdi Vespers, Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos & Harpsichord Concertos, a disc of Handel arias with soprano Amanda Forsythe titled “The Power of Love” (Billboard Classical #3, 2015), and Jeannette Sorrell’s four crossover programs – Come to the River – An Early American Gathering (Billboard Classical #9, 2011); Sacrum Mysterium- A Celtic Christmas Vespers (Billboard Classical #11, 2012); Sugarloaf Mountain – An Appalachian Gathering (Billboard Classical #5, 2015); and Sephardic Journey – Wanderings of the Spanish Jews (Billboard World Music Chart #2 and Billboard Classical #5, Feb. 2016); and Songs of Orpheus (Billboard Classical #5, 2018).
A documentary film entitled “Playing with Fire: Jeannette Sorrell and the Mysteries of Conducting”, directed by two-time Academy Award winning director Allan Miller, was released in 2019.
For further information, please contact
Angela Mortellaro at 216.320.0012, ext. 6,
or amortellaro@apollosfire.org.
