Who's ready to get your audition on?! Bring your A-Game to Amateur Night at the Apollo Auditions this Saturday! ...and don't sleep! The line starts to form as early as Friday night. The producers will see the first 300 contestants in line. bit.ly/ApolloAuditions
#AmateurNightApollo
Join Apollo Theater executive producer Kamilah Forbes, composers Toshi Reagon and Daniel Bernard Roumain, vocalist and Helga podcast host Helga Davis for a conversation about the contributions of black artists to contemporary opera and the narratives they are driving in American culture at The Greene Space at WNYC/WQXR!
The evening includes performances from new works, including Reagon’s “Parable of the Sower,” an operatic adaptation of the science fiction novel by Octavia L. Butler, and Roumain’s “We Shall Not Be Moved,” an interdisciplinary opera co-commissioned and co-produced by Harlem’s Apollo Theater, Opera Philadelphia and London’s Hackney Empire, which will have its New York premiere on Friday, October 6 at The Apollo.
Black Creativity: Toshi Reagon and Daniel Bernard Roumain
September 28, 2017, 7:00pm - September 28, 2017, 8:15pm
Join composers Toshi Reagon and Daniel Bernard Roumain, Apollo Theater executive producer Kamilah Forbes and vocalist and Helga podcast host Helga Davis for a conversation about the contributions of b...
“Black… Not like skin, Black like not supposed to win. Black like the other side of spacious sky and amber waves. We all black, like anti-matter… we family tied by pain.” – Unsung bit.ly/2wgv8kt
#WeShallNotBeMoved is the genre-defying opera inspired by the MOVE Crisis in Philly, coming to the Apollo stage October 6-7 in collaboration with Opera Philadelphia. Go behind-the-scenes to explore the making of this rare operative work that both features and was created by artists of color.
"On May 13, 1985, the police bombed a rowhouse in West Philadelphia that was the home of Move, a group of radical black separatists who had already had several standoffs with the authorities. The bombing led to a cataclysmic fire that killed six adults and five children and destroyed dozens of homes. Many of those buildings remain boarded up today. bit.ly/2wgv8kt
Now, more than 30 years on, when the country is still grappling with racial inequality and police violence, a new opera, “We Shall Not Be Moved,” tries to contend with the ghosts of that tragedy."
#WeShallNotBeMoved comes to the Apollo Theater stage October 6-7 in collaboration with Opera Philadelphia. bit.ly/2wgv8kt
A Police Bombing, Homes on Fire and an Opera That Grapples With It All
nytimes.com
“We Shall Not Be Moved,” directed by Bill T. Jones, reflects on the deadly 1985 attack in Philadelphia on the members of the black radical group, Move.
Join community leaders and revolutionaries for an upfront conversation about the issues facing urban America and what’s needed to move forward at #ApolloUptownHall: Movement Required on September 30, 2017! bit.ly/ApolloUHSep17
This event is free with RSVP.
Panelists include Jennifer Jones Austin, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Tamika D Mallory, Michael O'Bryan, Jason Osder, Jerika L. Richardson and more, moderated by Imhotep Gary Byrd and Solomon Jones.
Apollo Uptown Hall: Movement Required
September 30, 2017, 4:00pm
FREE WITH RSVP! bit.ly/ApolloUHSep17 Motivated by the We Shall Not Be Moved operas themes, #ApolloUptownHall: Movement Required will feature an excerpt of the award-winning documentary Let the Fire B...
we shall not be moved
Friday, Oct 6 / 8:00 pm
Saturday, Oct 7 / 8:00 pm
The Apollo Presents A New York Premiere Opera
Music by Daniel Bernard Roumain
Libretto by Marc Bamuthi Joseph
Directed & Choreographed by Bill T. Jones
Conducted by Viswa Subbaraman
Experience this genre-defying opera that combines spoken word, contemporary movement, video projection, classical, R&B and jazz influences. Inspired by the 1985 MOVE crisis in Philadelphia where a standoff between police and a Black liberation group resulted in the deadly bombing of a residential neighborhood, We Shall Not Be Moved explores that legacy today through five Philly teens who find power in family and resistance.
This invigorating chamber opera, is “ambitiously interdisciplinary,” according to Tony-Award winner Bill T. Jones (Fela!, Spring Awakening). He’s joined by Daniel Bernard Roumain, a Harlem based composer whose music blends genres into a vital, experiential sonic form and Marc Bamuthi Joseph – the acclaimed Haitian-American librettist whose bold poetically-driven work investigates social issues and cultural identity.
soundtrack '63
Saturday, Feb 24, 2018 / 8:00 p.m.
The Apollo Presents Soundtrack ‘63
A Soul Science Lab Production
Creative Direction by Chen Lo
Music Direction by Asanté Amin
Behind every movement is a soundtrack that inspires change. Experience the sights and sounds that shaped the music of an era. Soundtrack ‘63 is a live musical documentary and artistic retrospective of the African-American experience in America. This concert event connects generations using immersive video from and post- Civil Rights Movement along with spirituals, protest songs, hip-hop, jazz, funk, soul and popular 20th century music performed by an 18-piece orchestra and a soul stirring vocal ensemble along with commentary by Dr. Cornel West, and renowned poets Sonia Sanchez and Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets. Special guest performers to be announced soon!
“Chen Lo is a complete emcee but is perhaps best known for his clever lyricism.”
—OKAY PLAYER
get season tickets
AFRICA NOW!
Saturday, Mar 3, 2018 / 8:00 P.M.
Featuring Black Coffee, Tony Allen & Jeff Mills, and Pierre Kwenders
Presented in partnership with World Music Institute
Now in its sixth season, this annual concert celebrates the best of today’s African music scene. DJ and producer Black Coffee has experienced a meteoric rise to fame with a penchant for fresh sophisticated Afropolitan house music that’s sculpturaly balanced and beautiful. For the first time in the United States, the Apollo unites two legends to bring Afrobeat and techno together: Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer and original drummer for Fela Kuti, Tony Allen collaborates live with brilliant techno music DJ and producer Jeff Mills. Singer/songwriter Pierre Kwenders’ music ranges from R&B to electronic and futuristic hip-hop, all rooted in Congolese rumba, the ubiquitous sound of The Democratic Republic of Congo.
Between the World and Me
MONDAY, APRIL 2, 2018 / 8:00PM
TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2018 / 8:00PM
Apollo Theater presents A World Premiere Theatrical Performance Book by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Developed and Directed by Kamilah Forbes
Original Score by Jason Moran
Co-Commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “Between the World and Me,” offers a powerful framework for understanding our nation’s history, the idea of race, and current crisis.
The live performance event will be a presentation of excerpted selections, read monologue-style by notable guest artists with newly composed music by pianist Jason Moran (“Selma,” “Netflix’s 13th,” Apollo Presents Harlem Nights/U Street Lights), direction by Apollo Executive Producer Kamilah Forbes (Broadway’s Stickfly, NBC’s “The Wiz”), and interactive visual storytelling by projection media artists.
get season tickets
