Apollo Chamber Players to Present CANCELED With DJ Spooky At Burke Baker Planetarium

Houston's Apollo Chamber Players will present CANCELED on Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 8:00pm at Houston Museum of Natural Science's Burke Baker Planetarium.

The program continues the season's exploration 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 eras, Apollo delves into the history of "forbidden" theories in science and astronomy, from the trailblazing, norm-shattering discoveries of Copernicus to the present day warnings of climatologists and the relevancy of George Orwell's 1984.

Commenting on the program, DJ Spooky remarks, "We live in an era of computational narratives - algorithms and machine learning create new forms of highly complex systems that engage our data driven society. Information is what makes our data driven society and allows us to understand or not understand what is going on around the world. Imagine how selective suppression of information, like the fact that major corporations knew climate change was happening far earlier than the general population, or the fact that libraries and archives are under siege in this highly partisan divided era. Books matter. Data matters. Access to information matters. George Orwell's seminal novel 1984 is the ultra example of when societies plunge into a place of radical suppression of information. It is a cautionary tale of being "canceled" and was banned in many countries because of its deeply resonant content. DJ Spooky has worked with several approaches to data as an artform. One piece presented this evening is based on Arctic Rhythms - an exploration of patterns in classical music and electronic music based on the climate crisis. The second piece is based on George Orwell's classic novel 1984."

Program Details
Apollo Chamber Players Presents CANCELED
Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 8:00pm
Houston Museum of Natural Science: Burke Baker Planetarium | Houston, TX
Link: www.apollochamberplayers.org/canceled.html

Program:
DJ Spooky/Paul D. Miller - New Work for string quartet and electronics [World Premiere, Apollo Commission]

Performers:
Apollo Chamber Players
DJ Spooky/Paul D. Miller, composer & multimedia artist

About DJ Spooky
Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky, is currently Artist in Residence at Yale University Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (2023-2024, extended). He is a composer, multimedia artist, and writer whose work engages audiences in a blend of genres, global culture, and environmental and social issues. Miller has collaborated with an array of recording artists, including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Metallica, Chuck D from Public Enemy, Steve Reich, and Yoko Ono amongst many others. His 2018 album, DJ Spooky Presents: Phantom Dancehall, debuted at #3 on Billboard Reggae.

His large-scale, multimedia performance pieces include "Rebirth of a Nation," Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica, commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Seoul Counterpoint, written during his 2014 residency at Seoul Institute of the Arts. His multimedia project Sonic Web premiered at San Francisco's Internet Archive in 2019. He was the inaugural artist-in-residency at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's The Met Reframed, 2012-2013.

In 2014, he was named National Geographic Emerging Explorer. He produced Pioneers of African American Cinema, a collection of the earliest films made by African American directors, released in 2015. Miller's artwork has appeared in the Whitney Biennial, The Venice Biennial for Architecture, the Miami/Art Basel fair, and many other museums and galleries.

His books include the award-winning Rhythm Science, published by MIT Press in 2004; Sound Unbound, an anthology about digital music and media; The Book of Ice, a visual and acoustic portrait of the Antarctic, and; The Imaginary App, on how apps changed the world. His writing has been published by The Village Voice, The Source, and Artforum, and he was the first founding Executive Editor of Origin Magazine.

About Apollo Chamber Players
Celebrating its 16th season, Houston-based Apollo Chamber Players "performs with rhythmic flair and virtuosity" (The Strad) and "recasts music for a diverse and multi-ethnic generation" (Strings Magazine). The ensemble's globally-inspired programming and multicultural new music commissions have garnered international acclaim, including sold-out performances at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and in Havana, Cuba, a Chamber Music America Residency Partnership award, and regular features on American Public Media's Performance Today. Ensemble members include Matthew J. Detrick, violin; Anabel Ramirez Detrick, violin; Matthew Dudzik, cello; and Aria Cheregosha, viola.

Released on the Grammy-winning Azica Records label, Apollo's fifth studio album, With Malice Toward None, reached No. 1 on Amazon's Hot New Release chart, and Strings Magazine praised the album's message, which tackles "politics, identity, and what it means to be a citizen of a nation balanced between an idealized past and a just and multicultural future." The ensemble's catalog of records has been featured on hundreds of radio and media stations worldwide.

A passionate advocate for contemporary music and underrepresented composers, Apollo successfully concluded a bold initiative to commission 20 new multicultural works by the end of the last decade. 20x2020 features a diverse roster of the world's leading composers and instrumentalists including Jennifer Higdon, Libby Larsen, Pamela Z, Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, Hector Del Curto, Vân Ánh Võ, and Tracy Silverman. The ensemble's community partners include schools and universities, at-risk youth centers, refugee and veterans service organizations, and public libraries.

Apollo's community partners include schools and universities, at-risk youth centers, refugee and veterans service organizations, and public libraries. The ensemble's vanguard Library Voyage project is the first of its kind in the nation. Apollo was founded in 2008 by violinist and music entrepreneur Matthew J. Detrick. Learn more at www.apollochamberplayers.org.

*Apollo Chamber Players Photo Credit: Ben Doyle
*DJ Spooky Photo Credit: Tom Poppenberg

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