Apollo Chamber Players and acclaimed pianist and scholar Lara Downes present a multimedia program exploring life and music of vanguard African American composer Florence Price. The presentation highlights Price's music in its historical/cultural context, teaching about segregation and civil rights, the Great Migration, the Chicago Black Renaissance, Women's Rights, and other interwoven historical strands.
These are family friendly programs, suitable for children ages 8 and up.
Pianist LARA DOWNES has been called “an explorer whose imagination is fired by bringing notice to the underrepresented and forgotten” (The Log Journal). An iconoclast and trailblazer, her dynamic work as a sought-after performer, a Billboard Chart-topping recording artist, a producer, curator, activist, and arts advocate positions her as a cultural visionary on the national arts scene. Ms. Downes’ artistry has been called “a musical ray of hope” by NBC News, and "luscious, moody and dreamy” by The New York Times.
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) through globally inspired programming and multicultural new music commissions. Recipient of Chamber Music America’s prestigious Residency Partnership award, the ensemble has performed for sold-out audiences at Carnegie Hall and is featured frequently on American Public Media’s nationally syndicated program Performance Today. Released on Grammy-winning label Azica Records, Apollo's With Malice Toward None album reached No. 1 on Amazon’s Hot New Release chart in August 2021.