Apollo Chamber Players

Houston (TX) based APOLLO CHAMBER PLAYERS has “found fruitful territory” (Houston Chronicle) through its mission to explore the cultural and folkloric influences in classical music, and the ensemble’s performances have “rhythmic flair and doses of virtuosity” (The Strad). Apollo presents thematically-programmed concerts around the world, with the distinction of being the first American chamber ensemble to record and perform in Cuba in January 2017. In Cuba, the group collaborated with renowned local musicians and was featured on CUBA TV, reaching millions. Nationally, the group counts two recent tours of the East Coast, with concerts at Carnegie Hall in 2013 and 2017, and programs for Chamber Music Society of Little Rock, Piccolo Spoleto, and at Seattle, Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon Universities, among others. Apollo is featured frequently on American Public Media’s nationally-syndicated program, Performance Today.

 

Apollo’s 20x2020 commissioned works have reached over 12 million listeners since the project’s launch in 2014. 20x2020 includes a roster of the world’s leading composers and up-and-coming artists, including Grammy-winners Libby Larsen and Christopher Theofanidis. In recent seasons Apollo has collaborated with Houston Ballet, Houston METdance, Catholic Charities, and concertized with acclaimed artists James Dunham, Chitravina N. Ravikiran, Timothy Pitts, Ismail Lumanovski, and Vanessa Võ. Winner of HoustonPress’ 2014 MasterMinds award, Apollo was one of three organizations in Houston to be recognized for positively impacting the local arts community.

 

Passionate about arts education, the ensemble performs concerts and presents masterclasses and entrepreneurship seminars at schools and universities across the country. Most recently, Apollo performed for and mentored students in Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's OrchKids outreach program, for at-risk youth at Boys & Girls Harbor Houston, and returned for entrepreneurship lectures at Seattle University (WA). Apollo is the quartet-in-residence for Youth Orchestras of San Antonio’s Summer Symphony Camp.Apollo partners with refugee service organizations, veterans groups, and it reaches thousands of students annually through its impactful educational programming.

 

www.apollochamberplayers.org

 

 

Matthew J. Detrick

Violinist, chamber musician, and entrepreneur Matthew J. Detrick is an emerging leader in the professional arts world. He is co-founder and artistic director of Apollo Chamber Players, an internationally-acclaimed chamber music ensemble on the cutting edge of creative, programmatic performance and the commissioning of new music. Based in Houston (TX) the ensemble concertizes regionally, nationally, and internationally, including a 2013 Carnegie Hall debut and an upcoming tour of Cuba in January 2017. With Apollo, Mr. Detrick can be heard on Parma Recordings’ Navona Records label and on American Public Media’s nationally-syndicated program, Performance Today. He has concertized and collaborated with renowned artists and composers such as James Dunham, Timothy Pitts, Libby Larsen and Malek Jandali.

 

Mr. Detrick was appointed concertmaster of the Symphony of Southeast Texas (Beaumont, TX) in 2012 and has since been featured soloist performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, Vivaldi’s and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons, and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. In Houston, he performs frequently with the Houston Grand Opera and Ballet orchestras and with the period ensemble Mercury. A graduate of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, his principal teachers include Kenneth Goldsmith, Collette Wichert and the late Raphael Fliegel, former concertmaster of the Houston Symphony.

 

Mr. Detrick is frequent guest speaker for alumni lectures and music entrepreneurship series at Rice University, Brazosport College, and the Houston Symphony’s Ima Hogg Competition. Through his business Detrick Arts, he contracts ensembles of all sizes for corporate events and charitable functions. Fun fact: Mr. Detrick had the privilege of performing an improvised solo with music legend Stevie Wonder during a March 2015 concert at Houston’s Toyota Center.

 

Mr. Detrick performs on a 1760 Giuseppe Testore violin and a 1886 Josephy Alfred Lamy bow.

 

 

Anabel Ramirez

Mexican-born violinist Anabel Ramirez has been a member of Apollo Chamber Players since 2012.  She is a core member of Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet Orchestra, and she performs regularly with the period instrument ensemble, Mercury.

 

Ms. Ramirez began studying the violin at age six in her native country with Russian violinist Gari Petrenko. By 1991 she had twice won the National Violin Competition in Mexico and the following year Ms. Ramirez was awarded a full scholarship to study at the Ollin Yoliztly School of the Arts in Mexico City. Under the tutelage of Natalya Gbodetskaya, she won the 'Carlos Chavez' competition in 1992. At age 16, she came to the US to study at the University of Houston under the sponsorship of the Starling Foundation Scholarship Fund, where she completed her Bachelor's of Music Performance under the supervision of Fredell Lack. She subsequently completed her Masters Degree at the University of British Columbia, having studied with Andrew Dawes. Returning to the US in 2004, she began coursework towards a Masters in Pedagogy with Emanuel Borok.

 

To further her education, Ms. Ramirez has participated in several music festivals throughout the world, including the Aspen Music Festival with Dorothy Delay, the Mozarteum of Salzburg with Carlo Chiarappa, and the Musicorda Festival with James Buswell. Ms. Ramirez was the winner of the 1998 American String Teachers Association regional competition as well as the Musicorda Concerto Competition. She was awarded the 2002 Mozart Medal for musical achievements and has also appeared as soloist with all the major orchestras in her home country, including the National Symphony and Mineria Symphony, and with the Galveston, Clear Lake, Woodlands, Ludwig and San Antonio Symphonies in the US.

 

 

Whitney Bullock

Whitney Bullock, viola, has been a member of Apollo Chamber Players since 2012 and is active as both a performer and teaching artist. In addition to her position as Apollo's core violist, Ms. Bullock also serves as the organization's Education Director, through which she brings Apollo's distinctive programming to life in schools and the community. Currently in her tenth season as Principal Viola of the Symphony of Southeast Texas, Ms. Bullock recently appeared with the symphony as the featured soloist in a performance of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante.

 

Ms. Bullock completed a two-year Young Artist Fellowship with Da Camera of Houston, receiving training in concert program curation, establishing community arts initiatives, and the development of educational outreach programs that integrate the arts with classroom curriculum. This intense program culminated in a viola performance and poetry therapy residency developed by Ms. Bullock at the Houston Area Women's Center.

 

Along with her performing commitments, Ms. Bullock is also the staff viola instructor for the Michael P. Hammond Preparatory Department at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. In addition to her teaching position at Rice's Preparatory Department, she is also the chamber music and viola sectionals coach for the Houston Youth Symphony, and teaches lessons through that organization's Melody Program, which provides free private lesson instruction for economically disadvantaged musicians.

 

Passionate about the viola and its history, Ms. Bullock is one of the founders of the Houston Viola Society.  She presented a session on the role of the viola in chamber music at the inaugural Viola Day at the University of St. Thomas (Houston, TX), in addition to being one of the organizers of the event.  Ms. Bullock has given chamber music and solo masterclasses at Concordia College (Moorhead, MN) and led the viola ensembles at Texan Lutheran University's annual Viola Day. She has also coached chamber music for American Festival for the Arts' Chamber Music Academy, as well as served as a judge for the Houston Young Artists' Concert and Manhattan School of Music Precollege Concerto Competition.

 

Ms. Bullock is a graduate of Rice University.  Her principal teachers include James Dunham, Steve Wyrczynski, and John Kochanowski.  Ms. Bullock can be heard performing with Apollo Chamber Players on Parma Recordings’ Navona Records label and on American Public Media’s nationally syndicated program, Performance Today.

 

 

Matthew Dudzik

Cellist Matthew Dudzik has been a member of Apollo Chamber Players since 2009.  Based in Houston (TX), Apollo has built a  reputation for creative programming and is dedicated to expanding the chamber music repertoire through the commissioning of new works. The ensemble has performed throughout North America including a 2013 Carnegie Hall debut concert and a recent tour to Cuba in January of 2017.  With Apollo, Mr. Dudzik can be heard on Parma Recordings’ Navona Records label and on American Public Media’s nationally-syndicated program, Performance Today.

 

In Houston Mr. Dudzik has performed in a wide variety of settings including with the Houston Grand Opera and Ballet orchestras,  Theater Under the Starts, Aperio, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and the period ensemble Mercury. A frequent performer in Japan, he has appeared with acclaimed violinist Takayoshi Wanami at his Yatsugatake Summer Course and Concerts as well as at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo. A dedicated and enthusiastic educator, he maintains a vibrant private studio at his home and is a teaching artist for the Houston Youth Symphony’s MELODY program and the AFA summer music festival.

 

Mr. Dudzik began playing the cello under the guidance of Minnesota Orchestra cellist Sachiya Isomura. He continued his studies with Ko Iwasaki at Southern Methodist University and Norman Fischer at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in music respectively. In addition to the diversity of his musical activities, Mr. Dudzik enjoys practicing yoga and traveling with his wife and son.

 

 

20x2020 composers:

 

 

GILAD COHEN

Praised by the 2010 Israeli Prime Minister Award Committee for “creating a personal language fusion that has a unique dimension” in music that is “fascinating, vibrant and drawing the ear as well as the heart”, Israeli musician GILAD COHEN is an active composer, performer, and theorist in different musical genres including concert music, rock, and music for theatre. Gilad’s music was performed by ensembles such as Apollo Chamber Players, Nash Ensemble of London, Brentano Quartet, the Israeli

Chamber Project and Mivos Quartet at venues in the US, Europe, Asia, Canada and Israel including Merkin Hall, Morgan Library & Museum, Bargemusic (NYC), the Beijing Modern Music Festival, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (Vienna), The Royal Conservatory of the Hague, Kolarac Hall (Belgrade), and the Jerusalem Theatre (Israel). His music was recorded by pianist Richard Zimdars (Albany Records), Nadav Lev (Delos Productions), and Gilad's rock band Double Space (High Fidelity).

 

Recent awards include the Israeli Prime Minister Award for Composers, the Whiting Fellowship in Humanities, and the top prizes at the 1st Lin Yao Ji International Competition for Composition (Beijing), the 2012 Franz Josef Reinl Composition Contest (Vienna), and the International Bicentennial Composition Competition of the American Liszt Society. An Assistant Professor of Music at Ramapo College of New Jersey as well as a member of the Advanced Class of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, Gilad will complete his Ph.D. in composition from Princeton University in the spring of 2015. Gilad performs regularly with various ensembles

around the US, playing piano, bass and guitar. His research about structure in the music of Pink Floyd has resulted in articles published by Resling Publishing House and The Conversation, lectures in the US and Israel, and the first-ever academic conference devoted to the band that Gilad co-produced in 2014 at Princeton University together with composer Dave Molk.

 

giladcohen.com

 

ARTHUR GOTTSCHALK

Arthur Gottschalk is Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he founded the electronic music studios (REMLabs) and chaired the department until 2010. In 1986 he co-founded a company that held a recording studio complex, a record production division, four publishing firms, and an artist management division, where he produced and arranged recordings for PolyGram, Capitol/EMI, and others, composed film and television scores, and wrote commercials. Among other awards, he is a recipient of the Charles Ives Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, annual ASCAP Awards since 1980, and has been a Composer-in-Residence at the famed Columbia/Princeton Electronic Music Center, the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and this summer he has accepted an invitation as a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome.

 

He has recently been awarded the Gold Medal in Music Composition from the Global Music Awards, for his Sonata for Cello: In Memoriam, honored with the prestigious Bogliasco Fellowship, the First Prize of the Concorso Internazionale di Composizione Originale of Corciano, Italy, and this year the Association of Rice Alumni honored him with their Meritorious Service Award, the highest honor given to a nongraduate of Rice University. His music is performed regularly, both domestically and internationally, and is available on over 40 recordings to date, on the Navona, New Ariel, Crystal, Summit, Capstone, Beauport Classical, ERMMedia, Ablaze Records, AURecordings, Golden Crest, MSR Classics, and Amirani (Italy) labels. He is published by Subito Music, Shawnee Press, European American Music Distributors, Potenza Music, Alea Publishing, TrevCo Music, The Spectrum Press, and Editions Delage (France), and his book, Functional Hearing, is published by Scarecrow Press, a division of Rowman & Littlefield.

 

arthurgottschalk.com

 

MALEK JANDALI

German born, Syrian-American composer and pianist, Malek Jandali, is recognized as a leading figure in today’s piano world. His outstanding recordings and extensive concert tours receive abundantly glowing praise. Hailed by BBC WorldNews as “an acclaimed pianist”, his music has been described as “moving and thought provoking” by Bob Stevenson of NPR and “inspiring” by the Huffington Post.

 

Mr. Jandali was the recipient of the 2011 “Freedom of Expression” award in Los Angeles and was recognized in New York City with the 2012 Arab-American Cultural Achievement Award. He was honored with the 2013 GUSI Peace Prize for his dedication to the peace and humanitarian causes featured in his 2013-2014 world tour “The Voice of the Free Syrian Children”.

 

Malek's prolific compositions integrate Middle-Eastern modes into Western classical forms and harmony. They range from chamber music to large-scale orchestral works including concertos for violin and piano. His compositions have been performed by numerous leading orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Stockholm Solister, and the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

Malek currently resides in New York City and is a member of The Recording Academy and The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). His music is published by Soul b Music and can be found on iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon and at Virgin Megastores worldwide.

 

malekjandali.com

 

 

JAVIER FARIAS

Javier Farias, recent recipient of a New Music USA award, and a Fromm Music Foundation Commission from Harvard University, has a catalogue that includes more than sixty compositions, emphasizing his numerous works for solo guitar, as well as duos, quartets and ensembles for guitar. He has also written numerous works for orchestra, jazz ensemble, mixed choir, bandoneon, flamenco guitar, electric guitar, charango and other instruments.

 

Some of these works have won first place in some of the world’s leading composition competitions including; the Andrés Segovia (Spain) in 2005 for his work “Retorna”, and the Michele Pittaluga (Italy) in 2004 for his “Sonata for Solo Guitar”, a piece that was made part of the obligatory repertoire for guitarists at the Conservatory of Paris, during years 2007-2008. In 2008 his work for symphonic orchestra “Canta la Tierra” won the first place at the XIV Concorso 2 de Agosto in Bologna, Italy. In December, 2003 the Modern Orchestra of Chile honored him with their “Best Composer of the Concert Season Award” for his work “Dezlía”, for flamenco group, jazz ensemble and string orchestra.

 

Farias’ music has been praised by the Classical Guitar Magazine as “wonderful writing in every respect for the guitar…highly recommended work” and “bracing and evocative piece that offers much food for thought, both musically and lyrically.”

 

He served as professor of composition at Modern School of Music and Dance Institute, in Chile, from  2002 to 2012.  In August of 2012 he moved to Washington DC and began a Residence as a Composer at The Catholic University of America, in its Latin American Music Center.

 

javierfarias.cl/