Apollo's Fire (Photo: Camilla Tassi)

Apollo’s Fire returns for its Chicago residencies. The Cleveland-based Baroque orchestra made its Chicago debut in 2016, and has since established a strong presence in the city.

In the upcoming season, the ensemble will share seven performances across four programs in Chicago and Evanston. All programs will be led by Apollo's Fire founder and artistic director Jeannette Sorrell.

In a one-night-only program in October, the ensemble will present Handel’s Israel in Egypt at Northwestern’s Alice Millar Chapel in a performance headlined by soprano Amanda Forsythe.

The next month, Apollo’s Fire will be back for a concert that highlights Venetian baroque music. The two performances will take place at the Art Institute’s Fullerton Hall in the Chicago Loop and at Music Institute of Chicago’s Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston.

On December 8, Apollo’s Fire will present two performances of its Irish-Appalachian Christmas program, both at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Edlis Neeson Theater.

The ensemble closes out its Chicago engagements in March. The program, ¡HISPANIA!, explores the confluence of musical traditions that reached Baroque-era Latin America from Spain and features Puerto Rican soprano Sophia Burgos.

In addition to its concert schedule, the group will uphold its Side By Side strings program, which sees classical musicians instructing and playing alongside students of the Matteson School District 162 in Chicago’s south suburbs. The program runs between four and five days a week during the school year.