Saturday, September 19, 2015

ChicagoTribune.com: Unique string group Sphinx Virtuosi to come to CLC [College of Lake County] stage

Sphinx Virtuosi consists of 18 young black and Latino men and women string players invited to travel and perform. (Sphinx Virtuosi / Handout)


September 16, 2015

Sheryl DeVore

Sphinx Virtuosi is about opportunities — both for the audience and for the young professional musicians who comprise the acclaimed touring group, said Abigayl Venman, director of artistic affairs for the Sphinx Organization, based in Detroit.
Starting a six-week tour this month, 18 of the nation's finest black and Hispanic string instrumentalists of high school and college age will come to CLC Sept. 25 and later head to Carnegie Hall, where they have been welcomed for seven consecutive years.

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In a return engagement to CLC, the ensemble will perform a program titled "Inspiring Women," a collection of works written by women or inspired by great women, including Jennifer Higdon, a contemporary and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer. "It's a piece she wrote for a full orchestra and reworked for a string ensemble," Venman said.
Another piece was written by composer Daniel Bernard Roumain and in honor of Rosa Parks, a civil rights activist in the 1950s.
"The second movement is particularly great," Venman said. "There's clapping involved and a lot of different rhythms and string effects to create different sounds. It makes you want to move, to dance. It's really energetic."

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Sphinx Virtuosi


When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25

Where: James Lumber Center, College of Lake County, 19351 Washington St., Grayslake

Tickets: $12-$30

Information: jlcenter.clcillinois.edu; 847-543-2000


Copyright © 2015, Lake County News-Sun

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