Apollo Chamber Players Reveals 16th Season Lineup

The Houston-based Apollo Chamber Players, led by founder Matthew J. Detrick, have announced the ensemble's 16th bold and thought-provoking season, Silenced Voices, a response to our modern era's continued efforts to ban, censor, and marginalize. Through collaboration with world-class, genre-defying composers and artists, Apollo poses, "How can art speak to our current challenges, and how can substantive debate be encouraged and respected in the pursuit of knowledge?" Having commissioned over 40 new multicultural works in its first 15 seasons, the season features world premiere Apollo commissions by Allison Loggins Hull, Mark Buller, DJ Spooky, Jasmine Barnes, and Joey Roukens, as well as the release of a January 2024 Azica album titled Trace of Time, with new commissions by Adolphus Hailstork and Latin Grammy-winning bandoneon performer-composer Hector Del Curto.

Apollo has also announced the appointment of a new Core Violist, Aria Cheregosha. Violist Aria Cheregosha has garnered numerous musical accolades as a versatile chamber musician and collaborator. A North Carolina native, Aria began her musical odyssey at the age of 7, performing in both Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center by the age of 13. Aria holds degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied under world-renowned pedagogue Kim Kashkashian, and from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Roger Tapping. Aria is also currently the Artist in Residence for 2023-2024 at the Harvard Research Institute, Dumbarton Oaks, with her fiery Persian and Cajun viola duo, Tallā Rouge. A first generation Persian-American, Aria aims to pay tribute to her Iranian heritage on stage through the performance and commissioning of works that celebrate her cultural roots. Learn more at www.apollochamberplayers.org/artists.html.

The 16th season begins with a musical commentary on the "reasoning" behind book censorship and control, with nods to notable books that have been banned historically. BANNED, on Friday, October 6, 2023 at 7:30pm at Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston features composer and flutist Allison Loggins-Hull, current Composer Fellow for the Cleveland Orchestra, and Houston-based composer Mark Buller for a program all-too resonant with our current social and political moment. University of Houston professor Howard Pollack also joins to discuss the banning and censorship of American composers during the McCarthy period.

CANCELED on Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 8:00pm at Houston Museum of Natural Science's Burke Baker Planetarium continues the story of censorship with an evening-length program by composer, multimedia artist and writer Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky), whose work immerses audiences in a blend of genres, global culture, and environmental/climate change issues. Spanning multiple centuries, Apollo delves into the history of "forbidden" theories in science and astronomy, from the trailblazing, norm-shattering discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo to the present day warnings of climatologists.

In the new year, Apollo collaborates with two Houston Poet Laureate Emeriti for a genre-fusing musical conversation about peace, poetry and Revisionism as a means to Black censorship in REVISED on Saturday, February 17, 2024 at 7:00pm at Holocaust Museum Houston. The program features a new commission by award-winning poet, activist and educator Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton and Emmy-winning composer Jasmine Barnes, with vocal guests from Houston Ebony Opera Guild.

The season finale MUTED on Saturday, May 24, 2024 at 7:30pm at Duncan Recital Hall at Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, uplifts voices that have been suppressed by totalitarian dogma and those silenced within ourselves. While Dutch-Jewish composer Dick Kattenburg perished in Auschwitz because of his faith, Robert Schumann perpetually battled and was ultimately defeated by the scourge of mental illness. Netherlands-based composer Joey Roukens' world premiere commission for string quartet is inspired by the composer's favorite Dutch folk songs. A portion of concert proceeds will benefit NAMI Houston, a Houston-based organization addressing families and persons affected by mental illness.

Apollo Chamber Players also presents four free satellite concerts throughout Houston this season, including Trace of Time on Friday, August 25, 2023 at 7:30pm at UH Clear Lake, Bayou Theater and Saturday, August 26, 2023 at 8:30pm at Miller Outdoor Theatre. Trace of Time is a journey of musical discovery and cultural connections, from spirituals to the evolution of the tango, featuring Texas' premiere tango duo Hugo Patyn and Celina Rotundo. This program is sponsored by the Miller Theatre Advisory board and the City of Houston, in celebration of Miller's centennial year.

Apollo presents its Seventh Annual Czech Heritage Month Concert on Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 7:00pm at Czech Center Museum Houston, with special guests, violist Lauren Spaulding and Shepherd School of Music faculty, cellist Norman Fischer.

Holiday Voyage on Saturday, December 17, 2023 at 7:00pm at First Congregational Church Houston celebrates the idea of religious pluralism as a means of fostering compassion and cultural harmony. Despite historical and ongoing censorship in our society, the holiday season offers a reminder that the arc of history "bends towards justice." Program features new music by John Cornelius, Isabelle Ganz, and Brian Nabors.

Launched in October 2021 at Katy Branch Library and extending over seasons 2021-2024, Apollo presents programs at all 26 Harris County Public Library branches, each specifically curated in conjunction with library programming, focus and celebrations. These accessible and FREE Library Voyage programs feature Apollo commissions, arrangements and special guests, curated to reflect the heartbeat of Houston's global community and have reached more than 2,000 community members. This past season, the ensemble completed the middle eight "Chapters" of this journey, celebrating Black History, Juneteenth, Hispanic, Asian, Native American and PRIDE Months at library branches around Houston and Harris County. Upcoming dates include a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month at Aldine Branch Library on September 23, 2023 and CyFair Branch Library on September 30, 2023, and an October 7, 2023 program Banned Books at Octavia Fields Branch Library. Library Voyage dates and info here.