Music in Every Neighborhood: Monarch Chamber Players expands its Mission

The sign outside the Northwest Houston church where the Monarch Chamber Players opened their sixth season read, “We bring the concert hall to your neighborhood.” Inside, the musicians performed an ambitious program titled Beethoven and the Blues, including the composer’s witty “Eyeglasses Duo,” a blues-inspired arrangement of his infinitely recognizable Für Elise, and his beloved Septet for Winds and Strings. The performers spoke briefly to the audience about each piece, what they find interesting about the work and what to listen for, making the music personal and approachable.

This season, Monarch is set to perform five Mainstage indoor concerts in different communities across Houston. This nimble chamber music collective exploded onto the Houston performing arts scene during the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020, popping up in outdoor spaces when concert halls were shut down. “When Monarch was founded during the pandemic, we played outdoors because that was the only place we could safely perform in at the time,” says Allison Asthana, Monarch’s Executive Director and flutist. “Luckily that is still a really big part of what we do. The most frequent types of venues we play in are porches and parks. Monarch’s mission is reaching the community, all across Houston, not limited to specific neighborhoods but everywhere we can get to.” Churches, schools, and other public spaces from farmer’s markets to museums are also a big part of Monarch’s presence in the community.

The outdoor community concerts have been rebranded this season as Garden Sessions, designed to be more casual and flexible than the formally curated Mainstage events. “We have a lot happening around the holidays and when the weather gets really nice in Houston,” says Asthana. Monarch’s spooky Halloween concert gets the neighborhood in the Halloween spirit. The set list runs the gamut from classical favorites such as Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King and Saint-Saens’s Danse Macabre to music from Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Ghostbusters, to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Danny Elfman’s “This is Halloween,” all creatively arranged for woodwind quintet. “I think the combination of the more classical works paired with recognizable pops tunes makes it easier for people who maybe don’t go to classical music concerts as often feel that this is for them as well,” says Asthana.

Other perennially popular programs are the Holiday Pops and the Neighborhood Nutcracker, an original production of Tchaikovsky’s timeless score arranged for wind quintet and percussion, accompanied by a video projection of the ballet. The celebratory Garden Sessions concerts are offered year-round. With its flexible configurations of winds, strings, harp, percussion, and piano, Monarch is able to create thematic programs with diverse instrumentation centered around Valentine’s Day, Pride, Hispanic Heritage, Women’s History, Texas History, and more.

Fourteen core musicians make up the beating heart of Monarch. “All of our musicians are accomplished professionals,” says Asthana. “We love being able to put together really fun, creative, fulfilling programs and connect with the audience.” Whatever the program and setting of the concert, Monarch performances are always top-notch. “That high quality combined with our accessibility is such a big part of what makes us stand out,” says Asthana. “Audiences can hear this really exceptional music-making and then feel comfortable talking to us and asking us questions afterwards.”

This season Monarch expanded its leadership structure to include a team of managing directors, with flutist Allison Asthana as Executive Director, oboist Katie Hart as Director of Operations, violist Tonya Burton as Program Director, clarinetist Julian Hernandez as Director of Advancement, and flutist Douglas DeVries as Production Manager.

“I think today’s working professional musicians have much more of a portfolio career where we are performing all over the place and doing so many different things,” explains Asthana. Monarch musicians play in professional orchestras, freelance widely, and teach at universities. Asthana lists a few examples of the musicians’ multi-faceted careers. Flutist Doug DeVries plays regularly in the Philadelphia Orchestra and teaches at Houston Christian University. Founder and clarinetist Rebecca Tobin plays with the San Francisco Ballet and freelances across the country. Katie Hart teaches oboe at Lone Star College and plays often with the Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet. Julian Hernandez is a successful real estate agent and also plays in the opera and ballet orchestras. Violinist Sam Park plays in the Houston Symphony and with the Kinetic Ensemble. Harpist Hope Cowan is on the University of Houston faculty and runs a large private teaching studio. Violist Tonya Burton teaches at Sam Houston State University and plays with Kinetic as well. Pianist Yvonne Chen teaches at the St. John’s School, plays with many chamber music ensembles, and serves as Board President at Kinetic. Executive Director Allison Asthana plays piccolo with the San Antonio Philharmonic, is a member of the Emissary Flute Quartet, and serves as Vice President of the Houston Flute Club and competition coordinator for the National Flute Association. The list of accomplishments is long.

This season’s remaining Mainstage concerts begin in the new year with a double header of lush, romantic piano trios at Kinsmen Lutheran Church (Jan. 9, 2026) and First Congregational Church (Jan. 10, 2026). Asthana will be curating a program of music by South Asian composers in March, celebrating the colorful Hindu festival of Holi and the arrival of spring. Then for Francophone Month, also in March, Monarch will be performing a concert at Alliance Francaise of Houston centered around Debussy’s Trio for Flute, Viola, and Harp. And for the season finale Roots and Reunion concert, the founding members of the Monarch Chamber Players woodwinds will return in an exciting performance of the Mendelssohn Octet.

Asthana is appreciative of all the groundwork the founding members of Monarch did to build a successful performing arts organization. “They worked really hard to reach out to anybody and everybody to spread the word, and now we can really see the fruits of that coming back to us. We already have a solid group of supporters and audiences, but to grow, we want to reach more people, introduce them to what we do, and get them involved so they can bring us into their communities. Staying rooted in our Houston community is a crucial part of what makes us work.”

—SHERRY CHENG