'American Story' by Marlo Saucedo (2025)
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Apollo Chamber Players’ 18th season, American Story, explores the diverse cultural threads that have shaped the United States, celebrating the voices, histories, and artistic expressions that define our nation.
Through dynamic collaborations and bold new commissions, we celebrate the nation’s greatest achievements while uplifting the voices and stories of marginalized communities that have long shaped progress, struggle, and resilience. This season explores how music and art can illuminate our past, inspire change, and remind us that the American story—though filled with triumphs—remains unfinished and ever-contested. -MATTHEW J. DETRICK, Founder & Director
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Through spoken word, newly commissioned music, and visual art, DECLARE illuminates the founding of our nation with a focus on civic identity, historical truths, and underrepresented narratives. Houston-based poets, composers, artists and students collaborate with Apollo to create a multidisciplinary concert that reflects the aspirations and complexities of America’s past and present - and promise for the future.
CREATIVE TEAM
Matthew J. Detrick, founder, artistic & executive director
Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, lead poet & co-artistic curator
APOLLO CHAMBER PLAYERS
Matthew J. Detrick & Anabel Ramirez, violin
Matthew Dudzik, cello
HOUSTON POETS LAUREATE
Robin Davidson (2015-17)
Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton (2017-19)
Leslie Contreras Schwartz (2019-21)
Outspoken Bean (2021-23)
Aris Kian Brown (2023-25)
Reyes Ramirez (2025-27)
TEXAS POET LAUREATE
Lupe Mendez (2022-23)
COMPOSERS
Jaylin Vinson
Jalen Baker
Emma Kent Wine
VISUAL ARTIST
Marlo Saucedo
GUEST ARTISTS
Drew Johnson, vibraphone
Molly Wise, viola
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Judy Frow
PROGRAM PARTNER
Lone Star College Departments of Behavioral and Social Science and Arts & Humanities
CREATIVE TEAM
Matthew J. Detrick, founder, artistic & executive director
Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, lead poet & co-artistic curator
APOLLO CHAMBER PLAYERS
Matthew J. Detrick & Anabel Ramirez, violin
Matthew Dudzik, cello
HOUSTON POETS LAUREATE
Robin Davidson (2015-17)
Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton (2017-19)
Leslie Contreras Schwartz (2019-21)
Outspoken Bean (2021-23)
Aris Kian Brown (2023-25)
Reyes Ramirez (2025-27)
TEXAS POET LAUREATE
Lupe Mendez (2022-23)
COMPOSERS
Jaylin Vinson
Jalen Baker
Emma Kent Wine
VISUAL ARTIST
Marlo Saucedo
GUEST ARTISTS
Drew Johnson, vibraphone
Molly Wise, viola
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Judy Frow
PROGRAM PARTNER
Lone Star College Departments of Behavioral and Social Science and Arts & Humanities
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PROGRAM
Explore our Program Companion for DECLARE — featuring insights, artist bios, and stories
VIEW PROGRAM COMPANION
Join us at 6:30 PM for a pre-concert performance by the Evergreen Quartet, part of the HSPVA/AFA Chamber Music Partnership. Selections to be announced from the stage.
Naoto Osako, violin · Claire Loggenberg, violin · Drayden Johnson, viola · Rashaud Lawrence, cello
PILLARS OF DEMOCRACY
PILLAR I: Freedom & Self-Determination
Self-Evident — Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton
“Hold These Truths...” — Jaylin Vinson
PILLAR II: Right to Dissent
The Right to Dissent — Aris Kian Brown, Outspoken Bean & Reyes Ramirez
Kindling, for string quartet and vibraphone — Jalen Baker
PILLAR III: Equality & Its Contradictions
WALLS — Robin Davidson
The Crane — Komitas/Aslamazyan / Arr. Matthew J. Detrick
[Music Interlude] Syrian String Quartet, IV. Andantino — Malek Jandali
Dear Child — Leslie Contreras Schwartz
We Will Sing One Song — Eve Beglarian (with Arsen Petrosyan, duduk)
PILLAR IV: Power of the People
The Path — Emma Kent Wine (visual art by Emma Sjodin)
Y no nos vamos — Lupe Méndez (video presentation)
Two Pieces for String Quartet, I. Lento — Aaron Copland
(with HSPVA & Lone Star College student contributions)
Air & Simple Gifts — John Williams
PILLAR V: Responsibility to Act
A New Declaration — Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, Outspoken Bean, Robin Davidson, Aris Kian Brown & Reyes Ramirez
All music and poetry works commissioned by Apollo Chamber Players, except Méndez, Copland, and Williams.
VENUE INFO
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Hobby Center for the Performing Arts Houston
Zilkha Hall 800 Bagby St, Houston, TX 77002 PARKING: Hobby Center Parking and Directions 
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ENLIGHTEN spotlights a new commission for string quartet by Estonian-American composer Lembit Beecher, inspired by the Singing Revolution of the Baltic states. Alongside this, we celebrate American Indian heritage and the enduring contributions of Indigenous tribes in shaping the U.S. Constitution.
In collaboration with Houston-based Indigenous actress Amelia Rico, ENLIGHTEN features MoonStrike, composed by Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, an Emmy-winning Chickasaw composer celebrated for blending classical form with Native storytelling. This dynamic work interweaves vivid Indigenous moon legends — rich with mystery, humor, and ancestral wisdom — and expressive string writing to reveal the moon as a timeless symbol of guidance, reflection, and renewal.
Guest Artist:
Lembit Beecher, composer
Amelia Rico, actor and narrator
In collaboration with Houston-based Indigenous actress Amelia Rico, ENLIGHTEN features MoonStrike, composed by Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, an Emmy-winning Chickasaw composer celebrated for blending classical form with Native storytelling. This dynamic work interweaves vivid Indigenous moon legends — rich with mystery, humor, and ancestral wisdom — and expressive string writing to reveal the moon as a timeless symbol of guidance, reflection, and renewal.
Guest Artist:
Lembit Beecher, composer
Amelia Rico, actor and narrator
Lembit Beecher
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Amelia Rico
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We honor the life and legacy of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington - contemporized by their living descendant, Kenneth Morris, Jr. - through a collaborative commission with Emmy-winning Haitian composer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain. ‘And Still We Cross’ is an artistic statement on migration and the enduring struggle for freedom, from the Underground Railroad to the Rio Grande.
The program also reflects the ancestral echoes of Felix Mendelssohn’s grandfather, Moses Mendelssohn, whose role in the Jewish Enlightenment helped shape the ideals that guided America’s founders and later generations of moral leaders.
Special guests:
Kenneth Morris, Jr., narrator
Penelope Campbell, soprano
Natalie Broussard, alto
Wayne Ashley, tenor
Keaton Brown, baritone
Program Partners: Frederick Douglass Family Initiative & Holocaust Museum Houston
Commission Underwriter: DatumSure
Major Support: Tom & Terri Kosten
The program also reflects the ancestral echoes of Felix Mendelssohn’s grandfather, Moses Mendelssohn, whose role in the Jewish Enlightenment helped shape the ideals that guided America’s founders and later generations of moral leaders.
Special guests:
Kenneth Morris, Jr., narrator
Penelope Campbell, soprano
Natalie Broussard, alto
Wayne Ashley, tenor
Keaton Brown, baritone
Program Partners: Frederick Douglass Family Initiative & Holocaust Museum Houston
Commission Underwriter: DatumSure
Major Support: Tom & Terri Kosten
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PROGRAM
Daniel Bernard Roumain: And Still We Cross (2025)
Words by Kenneth B. Morris, Jr.
Commission for SATB Chorus, Narrator, and String Quartet
WORLD PREMIERE
Libby Larsen: Sorrow Song & Jubilee (2014)
Mendelssohn: String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 80
Words by Kenneth B. Morris, Jr.
Commission for SATB Chorus, Narrator, and String Quartet
WORLD PREMIERE
Libby Larsen: Sorrow Song & Jubilee (2014)
Mendelssohn: String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 80
VENUE INFO
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American democracy has long fueled scientific progress by nurturing innovation, collaboration, and the free exchange of ideas. In this spirit, Apollo honors one of humanity’s greatest triumphs—and near tragedies—through a powerful reimagining of the Apollo 13 mission, focusing on untold stories and Houston inspirations.
Among them is Miguel Hernandez, who escaped Cuba just before Fidel Castro’s rise and later played a vital role in Project Apollo and at NASA. Hernandez was in Mission Control when the Apollo 13 crew sent the now-legendary message: “Houston, we have a problem.”
Guest Artists:
Mark Buller, composer & co-creator
John Cornelius, composer & co-creator
Among them is Miguel Hernandez, who escaped Cuba just before Fidel Castro’s rise and later played a vital role in Project Apollo and at NASA. Hernandez was in Mission Control when the Apollo 13 crew sent the now-legendary message: “Houston, we have a problem.”
Guest Artists:
Mark Buller, composer & co-creator
John Cornelius, composer & co-creator
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PROGRAM
VENUE INFO
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HHobby Center for the Performing Arts Houston
Zilkha Hall 800 Bagby St, Houston, TX 77002 PARKING: Hobby Center Parking and Directions 
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