Apollo Chamber Players to Release BAN: Stories of Censorship Featuring George Takei

Houston-based Apollo Chamber Players will release their eighth album, BAN: Stories of Censorship, on August 22, 2025 via Azica Records. The digital release will be followed by a physical CD and limited vinyl edition on September 5.

The album brings together new works addressing censorship, historical memory, and freedom of expression. Notably, actor and activist George Takei is featured as narrator in The Book of Names, a work by composer Marty Regan reflecting on Japanese-American incarceration during World War II. Takei recounts his family’s internment and his later advocacy, interwoven with a list of names drawn from the 2022 Japanese American Confinement Sites Registry.

Other composers featured include Allison Loggins-Hull, Jasmine Barnes, Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, Mark Buller, Paul Miller (DJ Spooky), Homayoun Sakhi, and Erberk Eryılmaz. The works span topics such as school book bans, revisionist history, war in Afghanistan, and digital misinformation.

Apollo was recently named Chamber Music America’s 2025 Ensemble of the Year. The group previously premiered several of the featured works as part of its Silenced Voices and We the People concert series.

BAN: Stories of Censorship was recorded in Texas and Turkey betweena 2022 and 2025. Full album details and track listing are available at apollocp.org/BANStoriesofCensorshipAlbum2025.