Apollo Chamber Players Press Kit 2014

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!! !Apollo Chamber Players' musical approach has been described as “virtuosic, genuine and passionate” and its folk arrangements “tour-de-force compositions” (CultureMap Houston) brought to life “through vibrant

performances of original arrangements” (Arts & Culture Texas). Through the organization’s mission to explore the rich intersection of classical and folk/ethnic music, it has gained prestige through innovative, thematically-programmed concerts and culturally-enriching educational activities. Apollo performs season concerts in notable Houston area concert halls, including Duncan Recital Hall (Shepherd School of Music at Rice University) and Zilkha Hall (Hobby Center for the Performing Arts), as well as myriad community venues in the southeast Texas area. The group performed for over 1,000 enthusiastic concert-goers - including dignitaries from the Consulates General of Bulgaria and the Czech Republic of New York - during their recent 2013 East Coast Tour. The tour included concerts and educational programs in Pennsylvania and New York City, featuring a highly acclaimed debut concert at CARNEGIE HALL (Weill Recital Hall) on October 11, 2013. !Winner of HoustonPress’ 2014 MasterMinds award, Apollo was one of three organizations in Houston to be recognized for positively impacting the local arts community. This honor included a feature cover story and $2,000 grant award. In 2012, Apollo was privileged to be the featured performing ensemble for special events sponsored by the Mayor’s Office of Houston, including a dedication of artwork honoring astronaut John Glenn and cosmonaut Yuriy Gagarin, hosted by Houston Mayor Annise Parker and attended by Russian and US dignitaries; the Japanese Cherry Blossom Centennial Celebration, hosted by the Mayor and the Honorable Jota Yamamoto, Consul-General of Japan in Houston; and Europe’s Day at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, hosted by the Consulate General of Spain in Houston. !Apollo is a frequent guest on Classical 91.7/Houston Public Radio’s performing arts program The Front Row, which reaches a listening audience of over 400,000. As members of Young Audiences of Houston, a non-profit arts-in-education provider reaching 330,000 students, Apollo presents educational programs in Houston-area schools and educational venues. !Members of Apollo 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. Apollo’s artistic advisors include pedagogues James Dunham and Kenneth Goldsmith, and its members have studied or collaborated with Fredell Lack, Ivo-Jan van der Werff, Gil Shaham, Robert Mann, Almita Vamos, Paul Kantor, Sylvia Rosenberg, Emanuel Borok, James Buswell, Norman Fischer, Ko Iwasaki, and David Updegraff, among others. Apollo’s musicians hold degrees from the Shepherd School of Music (Rice University), Vanderbilt University, University of Houston, and Southern Methodist University. !Apollo’s debut album - European Folkscapes - was released on Parma Recordings’ Navona Records label in January 2014. The album features original folk melody arrangements from European cultures as well as Apollo’s first commissioned work, Fantasy on Bulgarian Rhythms, by Rice University composer Karim Al-Zand. The work was sponsored in part through the Houston Arts Alliance and the City of Houston. Apollo Chamber Players is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.

BIOGRAPHY

October 11, 2013

From October 8-13, Apollo embarked on its 2013 East Coast Tour, presenting concerts and educational programs in Pennsylvania and NYC. A highly successful Carnegie Debut drew one of the organization’s largest, most diverse audiences to date and was attended by dignitaries from the Consulates General of Bulgaria and the Czech Republic of New York. As part of the tour, Apollo performed for enthusiastic audiences in Lancaster and York (PA) as well as an educational concert for 200 elementary and middle and high-school students at Dallastown Area High School.

"Fantasy on Bulgarian Rhythms took me and my friends back to our homeland with its vivid colors and

irregular meters. The refined combination of Slavic and Basque

themes really reached the audience and the concert was excellent!” !

  Lubomir Grancharov, Consul General of Bulgaria in New York 

"We very much enjoyed the program, especially the Slavic melodies and

your inspired performance of works of the Czech favorite composer

Leos Janácek.” !    Stanislav Benes, Deputy Consul

General of the Czech Republic in New York 

Apollo’s Carnegie program - Basque and Slavic Folkscapes - was performed for over 1,000 concert-goers over the course of the tour.

Basque and Slavic Folkscapes featured Apollo’s first commissioned work, Fantasy on Bulgarian Rhythms, by Rice University composer Karim Al-Zand. The work was sponsored in part by the Houston Arts Alliance and the City of Houston.

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Apollo’s debut album, European Folkscapes, is slated for worldwide release in January 2014. The CD showcases traditional European folk melodies in dynamic new contexts, featuring original arrangements for string quartet transcribed from field recordings. Album also features Fantasy on Bulgarian Rhythms by Rice University composer Karim Al-Zand, a work illuminating Apollo’s mission to explore the intersection of classical and folk/ethnic music.

Listen to sample tracks from the album EP on Apollo’s Soundcloud page at www.soundcloud.com/apollo-

ALBUM INFORMATION

!Album Title

EUROPEAN FOLKSCAPES

!Artists

Apollo Chamber Players

!Label

Navona Records

(Parma Recordings)

!Release Date

January 28, 2014

!Genres

• Classical

• Folk/Ethnic

• Chamber

Recording session in Clarion Theater at Brazosport College, Lake Jackson, TX (August 6, 2013)

Distribution

All releases on Navona Records distributed by industry leader Naxos.

!Website:

www.parmarecordings.com

Intimate Folk Realms 2013/14 Concert Season

From the visceral folk sounds of the Slavic region to the spirited, alluring folkloric music of Scandinavia and the British Isles, Apollo’s 2013/14 concert season explores the profoundly personal ways from which composers glean inspiration.  !The organization’s fifth anniversary season begins with music from the Basque and Slavic regions, where folk melody  arrangements  serve  as an interpretive  bridge to seminal quartets by Janáček and Ravel. Also of note, Apollo premieres its first  commissioned  work, composed by Rice University Professor Karim Al-Zand and sponsored in part through the City's Initiative Grant Program of the Houston Arts Alliance. Journeying through works by Grieg, Sibelius and Vaughan Williams, the season closes with the rhapsodic flavors of Hungary and the continuation of the group’s Bartok string quartet cycle. Watch Apollo’s season promotional video at www.youtube.com/watch?

SCANDINAVIAN SPIRIT Sunday, January 12, 2014; 6:00pm Christ the King Lutheran Church (Parish Hall) !Program: • Grieg: String Quartet in G minor • Sibelius: String Quartet, Voces intimae • Norwegian folk melody arrangements, featuring the Hardanger fiddle

FOLK DANCES OF THE BRITISH ISLES Sunday, March 30, 2014; 6:00pm Christ the King Lutheran Church (Parish Hall) !*Featuring special guest Ivo-Jan van der Werff, Professor of Viola at Rice University !Program: • Frank Martin: Trio on Popular Irish Folk Tunes • Britten: Three Divertimenti • Vaughan-Williams: Phantasy Quintet • Folk melody arrangements from the British Isles

BASQUE AND SLAVIC FOLKSCAPES Sunday, September 22, 2013; 6:00pm Duncan Recital Hall (Shepherd School of Music at Rice University) !Repeat Performance: Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall) Friday, October 11; 8:00 pm !Program: • Janáček: String Quartet No. 2 (Kreutzer Sonata) • Ravel: String Quartet in A Minor • Karim Al-Zand: Fantasy on Bulgarian Rhythms (WORLD PREMIERE) • Basque and Slavic folk melody arrangements

OF GYPSIES AND RHAPSODIES Sunday, May 18, 2014; 6:00pm Duncan Recital Hall (Shepherd School of Music at Rice University) !Program: • Haydn: Piano Trio No. 39 in G Major, Gypsy • Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody Piano Trio, No. 12 • Bartok: String Quartet No. 2 • Hungarian Folk melody arrangements

EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH

SPECIAL EVENTS

Apollo Chamber Players is committed to providing educational concerts, masterclasses and programs to schools and institutions in the Houston area and beyond.  Apollo proud to be a part of Young Audiences of Houston, a non-profit arts-in-education provider reaching 330,000 students in the Greater Houston area. 

  Apollo’s program, Musical Melting-Pot World Tour, takes students on an engaging musical journey around the world, performing music which illuminates the folk traditions, important historical figures, and cultural contexts of select countries.  Along the journey, students gain insight into the instruments and workings of a string quartet and the similarities between musical language and basic human interactions.  Apollo-arranged folk songs serve to complement discussion, interaction, and participation with the audience. 

In the fall of 2012, Apollo was privileged to perform for two special events sponsored by the Mayor’s Office:  The first, at a dedication of artwork honoring John Glenn and Yuriy Gagarin, hosted by Mayor Annise Parker and attended by Russian and US dignitaries; The second, performing at the Japanese Cherry Blossom Centennial Celebration, hosted by the Mayor and the Honorable Jota Yamamoto, Consul-General of Japan in Houston.  

With Houston Mayor Annise Parker, October 2012.

Performance at Ferguson Elementary School, Clear Lake, TX. 11/22/13

Houston Arts Alliance • Pre-Incubator Grant Award • City’s Initiative Grant (Awarded by the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, City of Houston) • Arts Project Grant Award

Patricia and Kamal Ahmad Karen Akkerman Alliance Francaise of Houston George Antunes Eugene and Joanne Arnold Dorene Balmer and River Dunarin Vince and Wendy Barr Yochpi Binnrpun Betty Bomberger Gretta Boshara Chris Botterbusch Patricia Bray Harriet Brown Adam Chandler Calder Baptist Church (Beaumont) Centrum FACE City of West University Laura Cividino Noel and Jim Crittenden Leroy Curtis Ben E. Detrick Chris and Ashley Detrick Joe and Venona Detrick Matthew Detrick !

Cihan Duran Jerry and Diana Dudzik Barbara Eaves Craig and Laura Escamilla Joyce Fancher Steven Friedlander Rev. Jim and Joe Fuller Joe Gendempo Lorento Golofeev Elizabeth Good B.D Griffin Jan Harasim Paul Harris Lynn Hawkins Jeff Haydon Mark and Toni Hengesteg Daniel Hernandez Sarah Hill Roger and Sue Hochman Houston Symphony League Bay Area Scott Hunt Dr. and Mrs. Leon Hicks Sachie Hosokawa Charlotte Jones John and Mariko Jordan

James and Deanna Lamore Mary Lee Lankford-Morris Wanda Leclair Hae-a Lee Myrtle Lee Clara Lewis Mark Lisle (Lisle Violin Shop) Judy Loftis Cher Loving Heather Maedgen Carolyn Managan Maika Marasigan Paul Mayes Colleen McCullough Barbara McEwin Eileen Mehnert Andrea Meneses Walter Moore Gerald and Barbara Moynier  Ginny Ofiel Jon and Kendra Ogg State of Howard Pieper David and Lori Price RG Price

Marilyn Rambow Anabel Ramirez J. Luis Ramirez Chris and Erma Richter Jeanie and Jonathan Ross Joan Schell Harold and Marian Segelstrom Sherry Cheng Sam Showalter Claude and Yanick Stam Ingeborg Stevenson Arney Strickland St. James Episcopal  Church St.Paul's United Methodist Church  Rabi Joshua Taub Josie Timm Scott and Lola Tinkham Chelsea Tipton Manuel and Mary Vazquez  Kathy Vivian Sheldon Watsky John Whittle Yuliya Yelkhimova Arnette Zaleski

GRANT AWARDS 2013-2014

CORPORATE/INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTORS

1. James Dunham, Professor of Viola at Shepherd School of Music, Rice University

CONTACT:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 713-348-3782

Bio: www.rice.edu

2. Kenneth Goldsmith, Professor of Violin at Shepherd School of Music, Rice University

CONTACT:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 713-348-2169

Bio: www.rice.edu

3. Robert Yekovich, Dean of the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University

CONTACT:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 713-348-4347

Bio: www.rice.edu

6. Lubomir Grancharov, Consulate General of Bulgaria New York

CONTACT:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 212-935-4646

Website: www.mfa.bg

5. Melissa Tatum, Administration Manager, Mayor’s Office of Special Events

CONTACT:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 832-393-0863

Website: www.houstontx.gov

7. Dr. James R. Fuller, Senior Pastor of Calder Baptist Church, Chamber Music Series Director (Beaumont, TX)

CONTACT:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 409-892-4251

Website: www.calderbaptist.org

REFERENCES

8. Ellen Goldberg, President, Sister Cities of Houston

CONTACT:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 713-686-5867

Website: www.sistercitiesofhouston.org

4. Joanie Patrick, President of Alliance Française de Houston

CONTACT:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 713-526-1121

Website: www.afdehou.org

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PRESS

The MasterMinds 2014 Winners Revealed A photographer who has decided to take a panoramic view of the world, a choreographer and a group of musicians are this year's winners. By Olivia Flores Alvarez Wednesday, Jan 22 2014

In this, the sixth year of the MasterMind Awards, we're discovering that the process of selecting winners gets more and more difficult. It seems the variety and quality of nonprofit arts organizations and independent artists increase every year, aided and abetted by a thriving arts community. And now for this year's winners, each of whom will receive a no-strings-attached check for $2,000:

Apollo Chamber Players: A quartet of string musicians who studied at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, the Apollo Chamber Players recently made their Carnegie Hall debut. The program included "Fantasy on Bulgarian Rhythms," a commissioned work written for the group by composer and Rice University professor Karim Al-Zand. As is usual with Apollo, it was a program highlighting the intersection between classical and folk music. Delegations of dignitaries from the consulates general of Bulgaria and the Czech Republic in New York attended the performance, heaping praise on the group for its originality and expertise. As nice as those words were, the real compliment came from an older woman pumping her fist in the air as the group performed tunes from her homeland.

The Apollo Chamber Players (left to right, Matthew Dudzik, Whitney Bullock, Anabel Ramirez and Matthew Detrick) believe in dreaming big; that philosophy got them to Carnegie Hall last year. (Photo by Jeff Myers)

HoustonPress, Olivia Alvarez. 1/22/14

Apollo Chamber Players During 2013, the Apollo Chamber Players made their Carnegie Hall debut, commissioned a new work, completed a successful East Coast tour and recorded a new CD that's set to be released later this month. Big steps, agrees Matthew Detrick, violinist, artistic director and co-founder of the group. "But if you're not going to dream big, you may as well go home," he says. The company's current roster includes Detrick, Anabel Ramirez on violin, Whitney Bullock on viola and Matthew Dudzik on cello (violinist and co-founder Timothy Peters has left the group). And while Houston is awash in chamber music groups, Apollo has managed to set itself apart by focusing on the intersection between classical and folk music. !"There's no doubt classical composers were directly influenced by the folk music of their time and country," says Detrick. Brahms, for example spent lots of time as a child with his father in a local tavern, where he would have heard folk music being played. Mozart used Hungarian dances as the inspiration for some of his work. "You can see it more easily with some composers than others, but they were all influenced by it to one degree or another. !"I feel we have something unique to offer, and not just in the classical music world," Detrick says. "Music is music is music. It all kind of comes from the same place in us. The more that we highlight different cultures, the more amazing it is to me how much the music from different countries or ethnic groups has in common. Folk music from one culture is different from folk music from another culture, but it's the same in a lot of ways, too. !"The city of Houston is so diverse, our mission is to cater to that, to illuminate it to some extent. We could not do Apollo in any other city than Houston because it's such a diverse city and because there's so much support here.” !During a recent East Coast tour that included a stop in New York's Carnegie Hall, Apollo performed its recently commissioned piece "Fantasy on Bulgarian Rhythms," written by composer and Rice University professor Karim Al-Zand. Dignitaries from the consulates general of Bulgaria and the Czech Republic in New York attended the concert and heaped praise on the group for its performance and mission. Official accolades aside, it was another moment during the tour that told the Players they were reaching their audience. !"At one show we had some Basque people in the audience, including an older woman who was pumping her fist up in the air," Detrick recalls. "You can tell when somebody responds to music. They appreciate it on a more fundamental level because it represents their culture, their life experience. !"Exploring the relationship between classical and folk music is important to all members of the group, but it's especially personal to Detrick, who grew up playing in a family group with a similar repertoire. "I have two younger brothers who play the violin. My mother was a music teacher for 30 years. My dad, who had more of a folk sensibility, played the banjo,

harmonica and sang. We would play Mozart pieces and other classical pieces and then, in the same program, transition into some religious folk numbers, fiddle tunes and spirituals. I wish I could take full credit for coming up with this idea, but looking back over the years, I realize I was meant to do this.” !The group's recent tour included a stop in Detrick's hometown, York, Pennsylvania. "It was really gratifying for me to perform our Carnegie Hall program there. A lot of people saw me and my family do a similar program 15, 20 years ago.” !Detrick says Apollo's focus opens the door to new ways of interpreting classical music. "All of us are classically trained at one of the top music schools, but if you just stay in your box, you can't reach people in any new and interesting ways.” !One of the challenges the group continually faces is how to embrace music from various cultures in such a way as to be respectful of its origins and yet remain free to add their own interpretation. !"There has to be real respect for the music. We know that when people first hear about what we're doing, they think, 'Who are these fresh young kids coming in here? What are they trying to do?' But honestly, this isn't just about marketing. It's easy to go to a cultural organization and say, 'Hey, we're playing some folk music from your country and we'd like you to come to the concert.' The challenge then becomes how to give them something more than just a reworking of their folk music. With us, they'll hear folk music they may already know, but they are also going to hear something else that's built on the folk music. I hope we eventually win them over.” !Along with a public concert schedule, the Apollo Chamber Players perform in a series of educational outreach activities for schools and neighborhoods. The program includes a discussion of the music, its composer and its history. !"There's a history to each piece and I find working on that is as important and as fun sometimes as working on the music because there are all these layers to the story behind the music and behind the composers. I really love learning about what a composer is doing at the exact time they're writing a piece because it gives you context. It can enrich your understanding of the music. Providing that information to an audience, that's nothing new. I just hope when we do it, it's on a more personal level. !"What I'm most proud of is being able to draw people into the concert hall that might not usually come to hear classical music.” [email protected] !

CultureMap Houston, Joel Luks. 9/21/13

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Arts & Culture Texas, Nancy Zastudil. 10/5/13

LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION/COMMENDATION

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MATTHEW DETRICK

violin

ANABEL RAMIREZ

violin

WHITNEY BULLOCK

viola

MATTHEW DUDZIK

cello

www.apollochamberplayers.org [email protected] !

(832) 496-9943 | 1620 Elgin St. Houston, TX 77004 a Nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization !

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBERT SEALE

Thank you for reviewing Apollo’s press packet. For more information, please visit our website at:

!www.apollochamberplayers.org

or call

832-496-9943