Apollo Chamber Players Unveils 19th Season Featuring Four Programs of Newly Commissioned Works

The Houston-based Apollo Chamber Players revealed their upcoming 19th season, Bold Serenity, a four-program series meditating on the nature of a meaningful and centered life amid the distractions of the 21st century. As they approach their 20th anniversary as a string quartet, Apollo stages a reflective and galvanizing season highlighting newly commissioned works by Rice University composer Anthony Brandt, Indian Classical and Carnatic artist Chitravina Ravikiran, Chinese-American composer Tian Qin, Houston-based jazz composer Jalen Baker, and renowned Cuban composer Leo Brouwer. Four original programs - TRANQUILITY, FLOW, VOICE, and REFLECTION - will bring together The Apollo artists and special guests in performances spanning music, poetry, dance, neuroscience, and contemplative practice. In addition to its four Bold Serenity concerts, Apollo will carry on its tradition of Satellite Series free community concerts at venues around Houston, including its annual Czech Heritage Month and Holiday Voyage concerts, along with a performance to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, an Interfaith Concert celebrating spiritual diversity in America, and a new concert geared to children and families.

In their nearly two decades as a quartet, The Apollo Chamber Players have championed music as a force for unity and reflection, commissioning more than 70 multicultural works that transcend borders and inspire connection. In recent seasons and its newest album, We The People, Apollo has applied that creative spirit to questions of what it means to be an American at the nation's 250-year mark. With Bold Serenity, the quartet turns the page to an exploration of our inner and outer lives through four essential pillars of human flourishing: attention, engagement, expression, and wisdom.

TRANQUILITY

The series' first program, TRANQUILITY, will be held on Saturday, October 3, 2026, at Houston's Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. In a cross-cultural dialogue between new works, TRANQUILITY brings the World Premieres of Anthony Brandt's Resting States along with a new commission, Illusion to Resolution, by Indian Carnatic musician Chitravina Ravikiran, the 'Mozart of Indian Classical Music' - with Arvo Pärt's Fratres completing the program. Through complementary perspectives from around the world, the program explores the challenges of contemporary life and the modern mind's search for calm amid overstimulation and distraction, creating conversation between neuroscience and spirituality, Western contemporary music and Eastern Carnatic tradition.

FLOW

The series continues with its second concert, FLOW, on Saturday, November 22, 2026 at Houston's James Turrell Live Oak Quaker Meeting House. Curated from Apollo commissions and traditional masterworks, FLOW explores the elusive state where creativity, attention, and meaning converge, while calling us to make a space for focus in a world of endless scrolling. Presented in an intimate setting, the program brings the World Premiere of a new commission by Tian Qin, inspired by Buddhist meditation practices. The program also includes musical selections from contemporary composers Paul Wiancko, Joey Roukens, and Marty Regan, along with works by Debussy and Philip Glass. In addition, Leila-Scott Price, cofounder and Director of The Center for Healing Arts & Sciences in Houston, will lead a participatory conversation - 'What Creates Flow?' - making this a program of music, conversation, and communal reflection in a unique journey toward presence and harmony.

VOICE: Living Democracy

On Thursday, February 4, 2027 at Houston's Rothko Chapel, Apollo presents VOICE: Living Democracy, featuring the World Premiere of a new work by Houston jazz composer Jalen Baker. Composed for string quartet and two vibrophones, Baker's work draws inspiration from the Barnett Newman sculpture 'Broken Obelisk,' which stands outside the Rothko Chapel in tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - tracing the artwork's journey from civic controversy to beloved Houston landmark. Co-presented by the Rothko Chapel, VOICE is curated to explore democracy beyond politics - as a living practice of empathy, courage, participation, frustration, and hope. Among the program's other musical selections are Daniel Bernard Roumain's And Still We Cross - an Apollo commission and lead track on Apollo's new album We the People - plus works by Jaylin Vinson, John Cornelius, and Emma Kent Wine. The program also includes live appearances by several Houston Poets Laureate, including current Laureate Reyes Ramirez, with a post-concert conversation led by Rothko Chapel CEO Abdullah Antepli.

'As the United States marks 250 years as a democratic republic, we are reminded that democracy requires listening, imagination, and a recognition of our shared humanity,' Antepli said. 'Collaborating with Apollo Chamber Players on this special performance will further create fruitful dialogue, inspire action, and expand our understanding of 'We the People.''

REFLECTION

The series concludes with REFLECTION on Friday, May 28, 2027 at Houston's MATCH in Midtown. A meditation on legacy, memory, and the sharing of wisdom across generations, REFLECTION brings the World Premiere of a new commission by acclaimed Cuban composer Leo Brouwer, featuring a remarkable collaboration with multiple GRAMMY-winning performers João Luiz Rezende Lopes and Anabel Gil Díaz.

Paired with new original choreography, the work will be performed in its World Premiere with Houston Ballet dancers Monica Gomez and Gian Carlo Perez, along with dancers from Houston Ballet Academy - bringing emerging and established artists together in a shared act of intergenerational creation. The program also highlights Tolo (Sunrise) by Afghan-American composer Homayoun Sakhi, along with Beethoven's final string quartet, Op. 135 - a late-life masterpiece that wrestles with acceptance, resilience, and what we leave behind. As Apollo approaches its 20th anniversary, REFLECTION serves as a thematic bridge linking past, present, and a bold look into the future.

Satellite Series Free Community Concerts

In the first of the season's Satellite Series free community concerts, The Apollo Chamber Players present their 10th Annual Czech Heritage Month Concert on October 28, 2026 at the Czech Center Museum Houston.

On Sunday, November 15, 2026 at 3:00pm, they perform their new Interfaith Program, a collaboration with Compassionate Houston and Harris County Public Library, at Houston's West University Branch Library.

Apollo performs its Holiday Voyage program, a festive annual tradition, on Saturday, December 19, 2026 at 7:00pm at First Congregational Church Houston, presenting their signature celebration of religious pluralism and cultural harmony through music inspired by traditions from around the world. This year's proceeds benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters Greater Houston.

In partnership with E.B.O.N.Y., an organization enriching and celebrating African-American youth in Northwest Houston since 1980, Apollo performs in the Annual Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday at The Centrum in Houston on Saturday, January 16, 2027 at 2:00pm.

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