by Mike Telin
This week, Jeannette Sorrell and Apollo’s Fire will premiere a fresh version of their celebrated program O Jerusalem! Crossroads of Three Faiths. In this musical tour of the four quarters of Old Jerusalem (Jewish, Christian, Arab, and Armenian), surprising cross-influences emerge.
The program will be presented on Thursday, April 9 at The Bath Church UCC, on April 10 in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and on April 11 at Congregation Mishkan Or, all at 7:30 pm. Pre-concert conversations will be presented by Daphna Mor and Ronnie Malley, one hour before each performance. Tickets are available online.
I caught up by telephone with Ronnie Malley, who, in addition to playing oud & accordion, served as the Arab musical and cultural consultant for this project. I asked him to talk about what he brought to the program.
Ronnie Malley: Jennette was very open to whatever I wanted to bring. And I thought, I am a Jerusalemite and I should bring something from there. And the one thing that the city has always represented to me are the three Abrahamic faiths — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
