Touring engagements during the 2014/15 season include concerts for Chamber Music Society of Little Rock, Seattle University (WA), Grand Junction Symphony (CO), and in Lake Charles (LA) and Fredericksburg (TX). In April 2015, the organization collaborates with Houston MET Dance in a program featuring selected 20x2020 commissioned works and Apollo folk melody arrangements, and it is the featured ensemble for Concert at the Villa, an AIDS Ministry event sponsored by Catholic Charities Houston.
“European Folkscapes makes folk music come to life effectively.” (American Record Guide). Apollo’s debut album was named ‘Album of the Week’ by WQXR-FM in New York City and has garnered international recognition. It has reached millions of listeners, receiving regular airplay from WQXR-FM, Classical 91.7/Houston Public Media; WOMR 92.1 (Provincetown, MA); WRUVFM (Burlington, VT); and WFMR 91.3 (New Orleans, LA), as well as reviews by The Strad, American Record Guide, and Sonograma Magazine (Barcelona, Spain), among others. It continues to be one of the top downloaded/streamed albums through Navona Records. The album showcases traditional European folk melodies in dynamic new contexts, featuring original arrangements transcribed from field recordings and Fantasy on Bulgarian Rhythms, Apollo's first commissioned work. It was sponsored in part by the Houston Arts Alliance and the City of Houston.
Educational outreach initiatives are a core component of Apollo's mission. The group curates educational programs for performance through Young Audiences of Houston, a non-profit arts-in-education provider reaching 330,000 students, and it has performed for schools and festivals across the country in conjunction with touring engagements.
Apollo’s musicians have been featured soloists with major orchestras, both nationally and internationally, including the Mexico City Philharmonic, National Symphony (Mexico), Mineria Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, York Symphony, and the Symphony of Southeast Texas. Additionally, Apollo’s musicians hold principal chairs in the Symphony of Southeast Texas and perform regularly with Houston Grand Opera and Ballet Orchestras, Sarasota Opera, Ars Lyrica and Mercury Baroque. In recent seasons Apollo has collaborated with James Dunham, Ivo-Jan van der Werff, and Viktor Valkov, among others. Apollo’s musicians hold degrees from the Shepherd School of Music (Rice University), Vanderbilt University, University of Houston, and Southern Methodist University.
Source: apollochamberplayers.org |