Apollo Chamber Players, in partnership with Io Communications and Documentary Alliance, release MoonShot: The Remarkable Journey of Apollo Chamber Players. The documentary chronicles the origins of Apollo’s musicians, its 20x2020 project reflecting one of the world’s most culturally diverse cities, and the challenges overcome – and milestones achieved – during the Covid-19 pandemic.
MoonShot stars Apollo’s four core artists, violinists Matthew J. Detrick and Anabel Ramirez Detrick, violist Whitney Bullock and cellist Matthew Dudzik, along with Emmy-winning Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate and astronaut John Herrington, the first American Indian citizen to fly in space.
Featured artists and contributors include Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Jennifer Higdon, Libby Larsen and Christopher Theofanidis; Academy Award-winning Đàn bầu performer Vân Ánh (Vanessa) Võ; Rome Prize-winning composers Pamala Z and Pierre Jalbert; Syrian-American composer Malek Jandali; and Turkish born composer Erberk Eryilmaz.
MoonShot was produced and written by Jeffrey Mills of Houston-based Documentary Alliance and Io Communications, platinum Remi-Winner of the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. The film features a new soundtrack composed by Scott Szabo, a gold medal winner of the Park City Film Music Festival, performed by the musicians of Apollo and concert pianist Andrew Staupe. Narration is by St. John Flynn, former Arts & Culture Director of Houston Public Media.
The documentary was filmed in Houston, Texas, with interviews and footage shot at NASA’s Space Center Houston, and prominently features Chickasaw astronaut John Herrington. The film was underwritten by an Artistic Innovations grant award from Mid-America Arts Alliance.
The Apollo Chamber Players was founded in 2008. As passionate advocates for contemporary music and underrepresented composers, the group commissioned 20 new multicultural works for its 20x2020 project, and has recently released Moonstrike on Azica Records, a celebration of storytelling, space, and folk song.
Moonshot is now available on Amazon Prime and Blu Ray, and will be released on the Tubi streaming platform on 27 September 2022.
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