Vol. 10, No. 1

The Quarter Note12th Annual Sphinx Competition

Semi-Finalists Announced

Continued page 3

It has been over a decade since the first Sphinx Competition

for young Black and Latino string players. The competition that began in 1998 as the dream of an idealistic college student has spawned a national non-profit organization, performances around the country, and has awarded more than one million dollars in prizes and scholarships.

This year the Sphinx Competition presented by Chase will bring nineteen of the nation’s best string players to Southeast Michigan seeking prizes, scholarships and performance opportunities. The Competition begins on January 28 in Ann Arbor and culminates in the Finals Concert on February 1 in Detroit.

The nineteen semi-finalists in the competition come from as far as Hawaii and range in age from 17 to 26 years. The junior division semi-finalists are: Khari Joyner of Atlanta; Alexandra Switala of Grapevine, Texas; Mary Loftus and Michael Casimir of Philadelphia; Andrew Gonzalez

of Chesapeake, Virginia; James Zabawa-Martinez of Faribault, Minnesota; Anna Maria Litvinenko of Miami; Yvonne Smith of Baltimore; and Kiyoe Wellington of Kaneohe, Hawaii.

The senior division includes five violinists, two violists and cellists, and one bassist. The ten semi-finalists in this division are: Jannina Barefield, Benjamin Harris, Nicole Leon, and Robyn Quinnett of New York; Tony Rymer of Boston; Whittney Thomas and Alejandro Duque of Los Angeles; John Martin Sanderson of Bloomington, Indiana; Mildred Fernandez of Cazenovia, New York; and Caleb Jones of Randallstown, Maryland.

Since the 1998 competition, Sphinx has been proud to count many fine performers and educators among the Sphinx Competition jury panel. The five jurors this year are Pamela Frank, a concert violinist and educator; Andrés Díaz, a distinguished cellist and educator; violist Kim

Winter 2009

Inaugural Sphinx Toura Resounding Success

When asked how to get to Carnegie Hall, members of the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra would tell you practice, practice, Urbana, Chicago, Germantown, Granville, Detroit, State College, and more practice. As the inaugural Sphinx Chamber Orchestra stopped in eight cities from Chicago to Boston this fall, the performances received thunderous ap-plause and standing ovations from audiences, praise from presenters, and glowing reviews in the press.

Through eight performances and numerous community outreach and in-school performances, more than 10,000 people experienced artistry of the young musicians of the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Chelsea Tipton, II.

The New York Times heralded the Carnegie Hall concert as “lively,” “virtuosic,” and “passionate.” One critic praised the orchestra, writing “Their sound and style ride on exquisite technique, fresh and convincing enthusiasm, and the highest artistry.” A critic for the Chicago Sun-Times raved about the ensemble’s “tightly woven sound and palpable zest.”

Sphinx Founder and President Aaron P. Dworkin echoed that praise. “Ten years ago, a tour like this was a dream,” he said. “Today the tour is not only a reality, but also a huge success, thanks to our young artists, presenters, and committed supporters!”

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, Skillman Foun-dation, and Target Corporation generously supported the tour. Through leadership support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the orchestra will tour again this fall and in 2010.

See center of the newsletter for photos of the SCO tour. Also, check out sphinxmusic.org/blog/sco.php to read more from the tour.

Michael Casimir

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Andrew Gonzalez Khari Joyner Anna Maria Litvinenko Mary Loftus Yvonne Smith

Alexandra Switala Kiyoe Wellington James Zabawa-Martinez Jannina Barefield Alejandro Duque Mildred Fernandez

Caleb Jones Nicole Leon Tony Rymer Robyn Quinnett John Sanderson Whittney Thomas

vvv 2009 Sphinx Competition Semi-Finalists vvv

Benjamin Harris

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’s nOTEDear Friends and Supporters,

As we approach the 12th annual Sphinx Competition presented by Chase, I am happy to welcome and congratulate all of our new and returning Semi-Finalists!

I am also pleased to share that our Preparatory Music Institute at Wayne State University wrapped up the fall semester with a success-ful and exciting student recital. Further, our Overture program saw a 40 percent increase in its enrollment this year—more evidence of the need for this important program.

I am excited to welcome our newest partner, the C. S. Mott Founda-tion. Their generous support will allow us to expand our partnership with the Flint Institute of Music and create new opportunities for the young people we serve in Flint, Michigan.

On a serious note, surely few among us have been unaffected by the economic turmoil of the past months. These trying times have taken their toll on many non-profit organizations, as well as the organizations and individuals that support us. Ensuring the long-term sustainability of Sphinx is es-sential to our ability to offer our much-needed programs, and is something that our Board of Direc-tors, staff and I take very seriously. As we begin this new year, I hope you will consider making a tax-deductible gift to support our programs. Making a gift only takes minutes at www.SphinxMusic.org. On behalf of all of our artists, I sincerely thank you for your support during the past year, but now, more than ever, your continued generosity is crucial to the success of our mission. I wish you a happy and healthy new year filled with prosperity and joy.

Yours, Tania McGee

Editor: Stephan BobalikContributors: Stephan Bobalik, Tania McGeeDesign & Layout: Julie Renfro

Founder/PresidentAaron P. Dworkin

Board of DirectorsRuben Acosta, ChairJenice Mitchell Ford, Vice-ChairAnthony Glover, TreasurerKurtis T. Wilder, SecretaryDeidre Bounds Phil Cole Martha Darling Aaron P. Dworkin Kenneth C. Fischer Al McDonough Daedra McGhee David Rudolph Beverly Willis

Board of AdvisorsSanford Allen David Cerone Ronald A. Crutcher Dominique de Lerma Matthew Derr Roberto Diaz Anthony Elliott Sandra Gibson Juanita Jackson Polly Kahn Christopher Kendall Christian Matjias Lolita Mayadas Charlene J. Mitchell Lester Monts Willis Patterson Juan Ramirez Stephen Shipps Albert Webster

Honorary CommitteeNikki Giovanni Ida KavafianNigel Kennedy Jaime Laredo Yo-Yo E. Ma Branford Marsalis Mark O’Connor Christopher O’Riley Itzhak Perlman André Previn Leonard Slatkin Michael Tilson Thomas George Walker

© 2009 Sphinx Organization400 Renaissance Center, Ste 2550Detroit, MI 48243 313-877-9100www.sphinxmusic.org info@sphinxmusic.org

Lula C. Wilson Trust

Bingham Trust

Leo Guthman Fund

Aaron Copland Fund

Sphinx Presenter

Claire Giannini Fund

Mr. David Rockefeller

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Scherman Foundation

Dorothy Richard StarlingFoundation

The Loraine & Melinese ReuterFoundation

The Kresge Foundation

Max & Victoria DreyfusFoundation

Frank & Lydia BergenFoundation

PHOTOS FROM THE INAUGURALSPHINX CHAMBER ORCHESTRA TOUR

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SPHINX NEWS

Sphinx Competition, cont.

Kashkashian of New England Conservatory; violinist and violist Patinka Kopec of the Manhattan School of Music; and pianist, conductor, and educator Awadagin Pratt. The Competition this year begins with the semi-final round at the University of Michigan’s Rackham Auditorium on Thursday, January 29. Three junior division finalists will compete for their final ranking during the Honors Concert at Rackham Auditorium on Friday, January 30. Each will perform with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra in a concert attended by more than one thousand local school children. The Honors Concert is made possible by GMAC Financial Services and presented in partnership with the University Musical Society.

For three senior division finalists, the Competition will culminate in the Finals Concert on Sunday,

The application deadline for the Sphinx Performance Academy at Walnut Hill School is April 6, 2009. For information on live auditions, please contact the Dean of SPA, Chris Jenkins, at chris@sphinxmusic.org; 313-877-9100, ext 711.

Congratulations to 2004 Sphinx Laureate Joseph Conyers, who recently won a position in the bass section of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Gabriel Cabezas, Laureate of the 2007 Sphinx Competition is chronicling his transition from high school to college in a series of articles in Strings magazine. This fall Cabezas will enroll at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Fresh from the SCO Tour, bassist Patricia Silva performed with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas in the Vatican’s Festival of Sacred Music and Art for an audience that included Pope Benedict XVI.

Roberto Arundale , a semi-finalist in the 2008 Sphinx Competition, won the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competition 16 to 18-year old division. Last summer, Roberto studied at the Bowdoin International Music Festival.

The Harlem Quartet performed a recital at the Library of Congress in December. They played the recital on the Library’s quartet of Stradivarius instruments.

Clayton Penrose-Whitmore, 2008 Sphinx Jr. Laureate, performed as a soloist with the New World Symphony in December.

February 1 in Detroit’s Orchestra Hall. The nationally broadcast concert will also feature the junior division first-place Laureate and two past Sphinx Competition winners performing with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestra will perform under the baton of Detroit native Damon Gupton.

Tickets to the Sphinx Competition Finals concert on Sunday, February 1 at 2:00 pm are available through the Detroit Symphony Orchestra box office at (313) 576-5111 or www.DetroitSymphony.com.

Sphinx is pleased to acknowledge Chase as the presenting supporter of the Sphinx Competition, as well as GMAC Financial Services and General Motors for their support of the Competition, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, host of the Finals Concert at Orchestra Hall.

PHOTOS FROM THE INAUGURALSPHINX CHAMBER ORCHESTRA TOUR

Sphinx CompetitionFINALS CONCERT

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Q &A400 Renaissance CenterSuite 2550Detroit MI 48243

Something to Ponder:

I cannot say what I think is right about music. I only know the rightness of it. -Keith Jarrett

NON PROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE PAIDPERMIT # 124ANN ARBOR MI

Q. What African American conductor spent 25 years at the helm of the Oregon Symphony and won the national Medal of Arts for his contribution to American musical life as a distinguished conductor?

A. James DePriest, newly a p p o i n t e d P e r m a n e n t Conductor of the Tokyo M etro p o l i tan Sy m p h o ny Orchestra is D i rector of Conducting and Orchestral Studies at the Julliard School and Laureate Music Director of the Oregon Symphony. Widely esteemed as one of America’s finest conductors, he has served as Music Director of L’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Sweden’s Malmö Symphony, L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and the Oregon Symphony. Maestro DePriest has over 50 recordings to his credit and is also a published poet.

CENTER STAGEmade conducting appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, National Symphony Orches-tra, the Detroit Symphony, the Princeton Symphony, the Toledo Symphony, the Orquesta Filarmonica de UNAM, the New York University Orchestra, and the Kinhaven Music School in Weston, VT. Most recently, he was Assistant Conductor with the Kansas City Sym-phony from 2006 to 2008. In addition to his success as a conductor, Gupton has found success as an actor. After graduating from Michigan, Gupton went on to the Julliard School to earn his diploma from the school’s Drama Divi-sion in 1999. As an actor, he has appeared in television and film, as well as on stage. He starred opposite Tony award-winner Phylicia Rashad in the world premiere of Tracey Scott Wilson’s critically acclaimed The Story at New York’s Public Theater. On television, he has appeared on Law and Order, Conviction, Hack and Draft, and was a principal cast member of NBC’s Deadline. On film, he has appeared in the 2002 drama Unfaithful directed by Adrian Lyne, the Loretta Claiborne Story, Helen at Risk, and, most

recently, Sidney Lumet’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Gupton was recently named co-winner of the Third Eduardo Mata International Conducting Competition, held in Mexico City. Eighteen competitors selected worldwide from more than one hundred applicants spent five days conducting challenging programs for a distinguished panel of judges. Part of Gupton’s prize includes several conducting engagements in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and other Latin American countries this season. His other awards include the Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize and The Aspen Conducting Prize. He is also the inaugu-ral recipient of the Emerging Artist Award from the Uni-versity of Michigan School of Music Alumni Society. In this issue of The Quarter Note, we are proud to recog-nize the guest conductor of the 2009 Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, Damon Gupton.

Damon Gupton

For Damon Gupton, con-ducting the Sphinx Sym-

phony Orchestra during the 12th annual Sphinx Competi-tion brings the accomplished conductor and actor back to his old stomping grounds. A native of Detroit, Gupton graduated from Cass Tech high school and went on to the University of Michigan, where he earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree.

Gupton has studied conduct-ing with Detroit Symphony Music Director Leonard Slatkin at the National Conducting Institute, as well as David Zin-man and Murry Sidlin at the Aspen Music Festival. He has