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Stories   >   Apollo Chamber Players founder and violinist Matthew Detrick chats with Harmonious World about 'Moonstrike'

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Apollo Chamber Players founder and violinist Matthew Detrick chats with Harmonious World about 'Moonstrike'

Posted: January 9, 2023
Interview with Harmonious World

Celebrating its 15th season, Houston-based Apollo Chamber Players “performs with rhythmic flair and virtuosity” (The Strad) and “recasts music for a diverse and multi-ethnic generation” (Strings Magazine). The ensemble’s globally-inspired programming and multicultural new music commissions have garnered international acclaim, including sold-out performances at Carnegie Hall and in Havana, Cuba, a Chamber Music America Residency Partnership award, and regular features on American Public Media’s Performance Today.


On Friday, September 2, 2022, Apollo Chamber Players, released its sixth album, MoonStrike, on Azica Records. MoonStrike is a universal celebration of storytelling, space, and folk song, realized through new works by Jennifer Higdon, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, and Pierre Jalbert. Tate’s title work, MoonStrike, is narrated by Chickasaw astronaut John Herrington, the first American Indian citizen to fly in space. All three works were commissioned by Apollo Chamber Players as part of its 20x2020 project, launched in 2014 with a mission to commission 20 new multicultural works before the end of the last decade. The New York premiere of MoonStrike will take place on Thursday, March 9, 2023 at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon’s In the Shadow of the Mountain (2020) is inspired by her upbringing in the Great Smoky Mountains and incorporates the sounds and colors of the region. Higdon shares, “The resonance of that area led me to choose, for my first opera, Charles Frazier’s novel Cold Mountain. The struggles of survival in Appalachia, the majesty of its natural features, and the sonorities of the mountain’s music, color the quilt of that opera and of this string quartet.”

Next is the title work, MoonStrike (2019), by Chickasaw composer and U.S. Cultural Ambassador, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate. The work honors the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing through American Indian moon legends as narrated by Chickasaw astronaut John Herrington. Tate explains, “American Indian legends are very colorful and have a tendency to take twists and turns within the narrative. Regarding the Moon, it is very consistent that the traditional tales involve trickster characters and competitions for ownership of this precious object.” MoonStrike features three diverse American Indian legends, and is bookended with an arrangement of a Calusa Corn Dance. MoonStrike also draws inspiration from Apollo Founder Matthew J. Detrick’s love of space and childhood dream to become the first person to play the violin in space.

Rome Prize-winning composer Pierre Jalbert's L'esprit du Nord "Spirit of the North" (2019) is a three movement work that fuses three French-Canadian folk songs with his unique, contemporary musical language. The first movement, “Chanson de Lisette,” is a playful theme and variations, while the second movement, “Cantique (Canticle),” contains two religious folk tunes: a Passion and a tune entitled “Les Pélerins.” The third and final movement, “Fiddle Dance,” was inspired by French-Canadian fiddling traditions.


Harmonious World's Hilary Seabrook writes…..This is another repeat conversation for Harmonious World, as musicians around the world continue to produce exciting new music.  My guest for the first episode of 2023 is violinist Matthew J Detrick, who is discussing his project Apollo Chamber Players. The latest album from Apollo Chamber Players is Moonstrike, featuring music composed by Jennifer Higdon, Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate and Pierre Jalbert. You can hear my previous conversation with Matthew in episode 82 and with Jerod in episode 68.
 

Listen to the interview with Apollo founder and violinist Matthew J. Detrick.