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Stories   >   Apollo Chamber Players founder and violinist: Matthew Detrick chats about 'Trace of Time' with Montana Public Radio

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Apollo Chamber Players founder and violinist: Matthew Detrick chats about 'Trace of Time' with Montana Public Radio

Posted: September 7, 2024
Interview with KGPR

“Performs with rhythmic flair and virtuosity” (The Strad) and “recasts music for a diverse and multi-ethnic generation” (Strings Magazine) through globally inspired programming and multicultural new music commissions, are quotes about the Houston-based Apollo Chamber Players. A recipient of Chamber Music America’s prestigious Residency Partnership award, the ensemble has performed for sold-out audiences at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and in Havana (Cuba), and is featured frequently on American Public Media’s nationally-syndicated program Performance Today.

In March 2024, Apollo’s censorship-inspired programming rose to national prominence as the featured story on NPR’s Weekend Edition, with cultural reporter Neda Ulaby lauding Apollo as a “young, dynamic ensemble creating programs in response to current events.”

Released on the GRAMMY®-winning label Azica Records, Apollo's With Malice Toward None album reached No. 1 on Amazon’s Hot New Release chart, and the ensemble’s catalog of records has been featured on hundreds of radio and media stations worldwide. The organization’s debut feature film, MoonShot: The Remarkable Journey of Apollo Chamber Players, won international accolades, including Best Documentary and Best Documentary Soundtrack at the Seattle, Vancouver, Houston and Screen ATX International film festivals. It is now available on Amazon Prime and Tubi.

A passionate advocate of contemporary music, underrepresented composers, and art reflecting the times in which we live, Apollo counts an expanding catalog of more than 50 commissioned works. As part of this endeavor, the ensemble 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, John Corigliano, Libby Larsen, Pamela Z, Leo Brouwer, Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, Vanessa Võ and Tracy Silverman.

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, an initiative to perform in all Harris County/Houston Public Libraries, is the first of its kind in the nation. Apollo was founded in 2008 by violinist and music entrepreneur Matthew J. Detrick and violinist Timothy Peters.

Apollo Chamber Players released their seventh album this past August, Trace of Time via Azica Records. In this project featuring works by Héctor Del Curto, Julia Smith, Jessie Montgomery, Adolphus Hailstork, Astor Piazzolla and Agustín Bardi, Apollo brings together a diverse patchwork of cultural stories seen partly through the lens of how they linger in our memories as time passes. Of the seven pieces featured on the album, three were commissioned by Apollo Chamber Players with the request that each composer craft a piece reflecting their heritage – yielding an album capturing influences ranging from Argentine Tango music to West African drumming patterns and African-American spirituals. Houston-based Apollo Chamber Players, the core string quartet ensemble consisting of Matthew J. Detrick and Anabel Ramirez Detrick, violins; Aria Cheregosha, viola; and Matthew Dudzik, cello – are joined on select tracks by renowned bandoneon performer Hector Del Curto and guest violists Melissa Reardon and Ashleigh Gordon.

In Trace of Time, Apollo continues its mission of storytelling through music, celebrating diverse cultural experiences and bringing communities together. Their previous album, Moonstrike (Azica Records, 2022) was praised by Take Effect for “inestimable, multi-cultured, rhythmic chamber sounds that we could never tire of.” For this new album, the thematic and cultural ideas in the music are accented by vibrant artwork created digitally on an iPad by Houston-based artist Lynn Lane, including portraits of each featured artist and composer along with cover art depicting an Argentinian street lamp, known as a “farole.” This captivating image evokes the passage of time in one of the album’s key settings while hinting at other historical references – including the use of lamps as guidloeposts signaling freedom on the Underground Railroad.

On the new recording, Apollo Founder, Director and violinist Matthew J. Detrick said: “A journey of musical discovery and cultural connections, Trace of Time builds upon what Apollo does best – fostering the creativity of composers and creatives who reflect the dynamic and beautiful world in which we live. We hope our expanding discography will continue to create cultural harmony for generations to come.”

Detrick spoke with Montana Public Radio about the new recording. Listen to the conversation