Apollo5

Emerging from Voces8, Apollo5 operates under the shared VCM Foundation and joins its larger counterpart in numerous educational programs. The five-voice ensemble mixes classical and contemporary choral works, drawing material from jazz, pop, folk sources, traditional idioms, and Renaissance standards.

The group took shape in 2010 when Voces8 singers and their director Paul Smith assembled the project. Its mid-2020s membership consisted of sopranos Clare Stewart and mezzo-soprano Penelope Appleyard, tenors Oscar Golden-Lee and Oli Martin-Smith, and bass Augustus Perkins Ray. Apollo5 looks to The Swingle Singers and similar jazz-oriented a cappella ensembles while also honoring British choral traditions. Regular performances occur at London’s Gresham Centre, with additional appearances at the Royal Albert Hall, Wembley Arena, and the Houses of Parliament. Under VCM auspices the singers lead workshops, master classes, a children’s concert series at the Gresham Centre, and outreach efforts that include the Open Mind Programme, funded by Arts Council England, The Merchant Taylors’ Company, and the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers.

Apollo5 maintains several recurring programs. “O Radiant Dawn” presents classical, folk, and spiritual selections. “With a Song in My Heart” mixes sacred choral music, spirituals, traditional melodies, jazz standards, and pop songs; this program supplied the repertoire for the ensemble’s first recording, issued in 2015. “Five-in-a-Bar” spotlights up-tempo swing and jazz numbers. The group also offers the holiday program “Let It Snow” and “Journey,” a collaboration with tenor Paul Phoenix. Following Voces8’s example, Apollo5 has begun issuing its own arrangements so other ensembles can replicate its approach.

Several albums have appeared on the VCM label, among them The Spirit Like a Dove (2018) and O Radiant Dawn (2019). In 2021 the group moved to the affiliated Voces8 imprint for A Deep and Dazzling Darkness. Several releases reached classical best-seller charts in the early 2020s. During the COVID-19 pandemic Apollo5 continued activity through online concerts. Invocations followed in 2023. Haven, scheduled for the 2023-2024 season, sets texts by displaced or persecuted writers, with further albums already in preparation.