our story
Celebrating its 16th anniversary season, Houston-based APOLLO CHAMBER PLAYERS “recasts music for a diverse and multi-ethnic generation” (Strings Magazine) through globally-inspired programming and multicultural new music commissions. Winner of Chamber Music America’s prestigious Residency Partnership award, the quartet has performed for sold-out audiences at Carnegie Hall, and it holds the distinction of being the first American chamber ensemble to record and perform in Cuba. Apollo is featured frequently on American Public Media’s nationally-syndicated program Performance Today.
Apollo’s fifth commercial album, With Malice Toward None, reached No. 1 on Amazon’s Hot New Release chart (08/21), and the ensemble’s catalog of records has been featured on hundreds of radio and media stations around the world. The organization’s documentary film, MoonShot: The Remarkable Journey of Apollo Chamber Players, has won international accolades, including Best Documentary and Best Documentary Soundtrack at the Seattle, Vancouver, and Screen ATX (Austin, TX) film festivals.
A passionate advocate of contemporary music and underrepresented composers, Apollo recently concluded a bold initiative to commission 20 new multicultural works by the end of the last decade. 20×2020 saw its triumphant conclusion in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic with digital world premieres and global recording collaborations. The project features a diverse roster of the world’s leading composers and instrumentalists including Jennifer Higdon, Libby Larsen, Pamela Z, Leo Brouwer, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, and Vân Ánh (Vanessa) Võ.
Apollo reaches further into the community by partnering with schools, universities, at-risk youth centers, refugee and veterans service organizations, hospitals, airports, and public libraries, providing programs and seminars that impact a wider, underserved audience.
Apollo’s fifth commercial album, With Malice Toward None, reached No. 1 on Amazon’s Hot New Release chart (08/21), and the ensemble’s catalog of records has been featured on hundreds of radio and media stations around the world. The organization’s documentary film, MoonShot: The Remarkable Journey of Apollo Chamber Players, has won international accolades, including Best Documentary and Best Documentary Soundtrack at the Seattle, Vancouver, and Screen ATX (Austin, TX) film festivals.
A passionate advocate of contemporary music and underrepresented composers, Apollo recently concluded a bold initiative to commission 20 new multicultural works by the end of the last decade. 20×2020 saw its triumphant conclusion in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic with digital world premieres and global recording collaborations. The project features a diverse roster of the world’s leading composers and instrumentalists including Jennifer Higdon, Libby Larsen, Pamela Z, Leo Brouwer, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, and Vân Ánh (Vanessa) Võ.
Apollo reaches further into the community by partnering with schools, universities, at-risk youth centers, refugee and veterans service organizations, hospitals, airports, and public libraries, providing programs and seminars that impact a wider, underserved audience.
...taking one bold step after another...
- ARTS + CULTURE TEXAS
mission
to connect communities and cultures through
globally inspired music
vision |
values |
to create cultural harmony through musical exploration
APOLLO AIMS TO: ▫️ Engage the global community of Houston with music inspired by specific cultural/ethnic/indigenous traditions. ▫️ Foster cultural awareness and broaden – in numbers and diversity – a global audience of chamber and classical music lovers. ▫️ Create new music through original arrangements and commissioning projects; provide context for Western classical works through these arrangements & commissions, inspired by cultural and/or folkloric elements. ▫️ Incorporate programs and commissions in the curation of educational programs that will reach countless students and children of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds. ▫️ Highlight the synergy and connections between different art forms by collaborating with local, regional and national arts organizations |
We are:
▫️ Bold ▫️Multicultural ▫️ Innovative ▫️ Collaborative ▫️ Inclusive |