Apollo Concert Company

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The Apollo Concert Company



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MR. ARTHUR WELLS DIRECTOR AND MANAGER


PERSONNEL
MR. ARTHUR WELLS, organizer and manager of the company, has had sixteen years' experience with The Swiss Bell Ringers, The Asetceam Trio, The Wells-Greenawalt Company, and at the head of his own organization.  An accomplished musician with an established reputation.  His banjo solos are a delightful feature of the Apollo Company programs.  Has entertained in almost every state in the Union and Canada.

MRS. ALTA R. WELLS is a thoroughly competent piano accompanist, and takes an important part in the saxophone quartet and in the ensemble work on the Apollophone.  A graduate of Chicago Musical College; many years' experience in lyceum and concert work.  Her personality wins her audiences, and supplements her marked musical ability.  An element of strength in this great personnel.

MR. ST. ELMO POMPEJI is a thorough musician, playing a number of instruments, and being particularly capable as a trombone soloist, and as a performer on the Apollophone.  His trombone solos have occasioned great enthusiasm.  Chosen from a wide field of applicants, because of his musicianly attainments, his cordial reception by patrons of the company has proved the wisdom of his selection.

MR. J. D. LATTIMER has held important professional musical positions for the past twenty years, such as clarinet soloist for a long period with the famous Finny's U. S. Band, and Assistant Director of the N. H. D. V. S. Band ten years.  As a clarinetist, saxophonist and viola de amour artist he has been winning new laurels since joining the Apollos.

MISS LETITIA WHITTEN is recognized by the musical world as a dramatic soprano of great merit.  She is a pupil of Mme. Alma Brauman of New York.  In addition to splendid vocal work she adds variety to this notable program by her readings, pianologs and ensemble numbers on the Apollophone.  Her work commends itself to the most critical audiences by its artistic merit and her charming personality.


Instrumental Quartet





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The Apollo Concert Company

Saxophone Quartet




PRESS COMMENT

Albion Weekly News, Albion, Neb. (1915)
—The Apollos came to Albion highly recommended and they lived up to the reputation that preceded them.  From the opening number on the Apollophone to the closing saxophone quartet, the company held the close attention of the audience.  The ensemble numbers were especially pleasing.  Mr. Wells won marked applause on his banjo selections and Miss Harding captivated the audience with her solos, readings and pianologues.


Jackson, Miss., Ledger
—The audience last night consisted in the main of people of advanced literary and artistic taste and these were unanimous in pronouncing the entertainment given by the Apollo Concert Company one of the best that has visited the Capital City.


Milwaukee, Wis., Daily News
—The best of the kind that has ever appeared in the city.  That they are all artists, the audience is left no opportunity to doubt after their first selection.  They are proficient on every instrument and were enthusiastically received by the audience.


Warren, Pa., Evening Mirror
—The Apollo Concert Company are one of the best looking, best dressed, artistic and courteous lyceum attractions that has been heard in Warren for many seasons.  They are men and women of true refinement whose presence dignifies the broad lines of educational work of their profession.


Bartlesville, Okla., Daily Enterprise (1915)
—Never before has a company or individual so pleased the audience as did this excellent company.  It fully deserved the magnificent reception accorded it.  It will tax the coming attractions to maintain the high standard set by the Apollos.


Rochester, N. Y., Herald
—No more pleasing number in the Y. M. C. A. Starr Course has been given than that which was presented in the Music Hall by the Apollo Concert Company of Chicago.


Houston, Tex., Post
—The Apollo Concert Company have the happy faculty of presenting a program that does not tire their audience, the individual numbers being just brief enough to create a desire for more.  Members of the company are possessed of unusually diversified talents.


Bellaire, Ohio, Tribune
—The Apollos, fire peerless entertainers, so delighted their audience that they were unanimously voted the best group of artists ever seen in Bellaire.


Brookville, Pa., Republican
—To do one thing well is often a gift; to do several things fairly well is an achievement; to do a dozen things in faultless style, and around them all wreath a personality which attracts and makes friends—This is art Apolloized.


Wilmington, N. C., Dispatch
—Mr. Well's third encore, following his banjo solo, was cheered to the echo, which proved that his banjo playing, as well as his own cheerful personality, won the audience.



AFFILIATED LYCEUM BUREAUS of AMERICA


Mutual Lyceum & Chautauqua System, Chicago
White Entertainment Bureau, Boston
Dixie Lyceum Bureau, Dallas, Texas
Coit Lyceum Bureau, Cleveland
Alkahest Lyceum System, Atlanta
Coit-Neilson Lyceum Bureau, Pittsburgh
Ellison-White Lyceum Bureau, Boise, Idaho
Coit-Alber Chautauqua Co., Chicago—Cleveland

The Apollos use and recommend the celebrated Buescher True-Tone instruments





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COMMENDATION

The Apollo Concert Company afforded patrons of the Lyceum Course a very delightful evening and we are proud of their work.  The program was artistically built and well prepared.  The Apollophone is interesting, and the company handle it skillfully.  Their work was brilliant, clean, full of exquisite shading, contrasts and good phrasing.  The opening march, Suppe's Pique Dame, and the ever beautiful Sweet and Low were their best numbers.
The Orpheus Overture was masterfully given by the saxophone quartet.  The work was finished, and such rich tone quality, blending and phrasing and brilliancy is forthcoming from only those who are real musicians and have given their concentrated effort to perfect their work.
Mr. Wells is a banjo virtuoso and so artistic in his performance that the listener can associate the master works of music with the instrument.
Charming Mrs. Wells is a splendid accompanist and contributed much to the success of the program.

Ellen Ramona Little, Tulare, Calif.



MANY ENCORES—AS USUAL

Members of the Apollo Concert Company gave a highly appreciated recital to a crowded house at the Auditorium last evening.  When the entertainment started every seat in the house was taken and all the available standing room was made use of by those eager to hear the famous musicians.
Every number on the program was encored to the extent that the twelve numbers originally announced were augmented until thirty selections had been rendered.
One of the unique features of the entertainment was the originality of the musical instruments used and the selections played on them.  One instrument which extended the entire length of the stage and which is known as the Apollophone was made and designed by Mr. Wells, leader of the company, and won much favorable comment in the beauty of the tone it produced and for its massive and complicated structure.

Butte (Mont.) Miner.


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ARTHUR WELLS AMERICAN BANJO KING

ALTA R. WELLS PIANO MONOLOGS







MRS. ALTA R. WELLS



MISS LETITIA WHITTEN



CONCERNING THE APOLLOS
THE Apollo Concert Company has for a number of years occupied, by general consent of Lyceum critics, the place of pre-eminence among the popular musical companies of the platform.  It was organized in response to a demand from the most discriminating committees for a company of strictly high-class musicians and entertainers, capable of giving a program of great variety and superior quality, and from the very first it won its way in a peculiar and distinctive manner into the hearts of the Lyceum public.

It has been the constant aim of the management to present good music in such a way as to merit the approval of the most exacting musical critic, while making its appeal primarily to the layman, who asks only that art be understandable and pleasing.  The present personnel has particularly been chosen with that end in view, and the result is a combination of talents seldom seen in one organization—each member a competent soloist and real artist in his line—and the ensemble unsurpassed.

New instruments have been purchased and the instrumentation broadened while retaining those features which have made the Apollo programs distinctive and delightful, notably the Apollophone, specially designed by and built for this company, and used by no other.  Vocal numbers and readings by Miss Whitten add color and variety to the offering, and the saxophone quartet work which has proved such a feature is accorded a place of prominence.

A record of success attained in practically every state in the Union and Canada attests the popularity of the programs, and the universally satisfactory rendition given them by this all-star company.  Our time for this company is filled each year long before the booking season is over.

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