Allan Kozinn in New York Times: 'Fledgling Musicians Spread Their Wings'

[Bottom Photo: Randall Goosby (Daniel Barry for The New York Times). Top 3 Photos by Nan Melville: Catalyst Quartet; Melissa White and Elena Urioste; Sphinx Chamber Orchestra with Damon Gupton, Conductor]

New York Times

NYTimes.com

Music Review

By Allan Kozinn

Published: October 6, 2010

“The annual Carnegie Hall performances by the young musicians from the Sphinx Organization are always illuminating, not only because they are the fruits of an inspiring program, but also because the performances are invariably energetic and finely burnished. Sphinx, which is based in Detroit and was started in 1996 by Aaron P. Dworkin, a violinist, is dedicated to getting black and Hispanic students involved in classical music, mainly by training them to play and compose but also through music history courses that help produce informed listeners.”

“The ensemble, conducted by Damon Gupton, opened its program with a shimmering, lovingly shaped reading of Sibelius’s Andante Festivo. All the hallmarks of a first-rate string ensemble were in place: its tone was warm and varied, it moved with unity and fluidity, and its textures were appealingly transparent. Those qualities, reconfigured to yield a trim, Classical sound, enlivened a brisk performance of Mendelssohn's youthful String Symphony No. 7. Mr. Gupton also led a lilting account of 'Coqueteos,' a seductively melodic movement from Gabriela Lena Frank's 'Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout,' and closed the program with the hard-driven finale of Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson's Sinfonietta No. 1.

“Solo and chamber performances were interspersed with the orchestral scores. The Catalyst Quartet, a new ensemble sponsored by Sphinx, played the Allegro Rustico movement from Ginastera’s Quartet No. 2 with an earthy vigor that made you wonder why whoever assembles Sphinx’s programs did not have them offer the complete work. Elena Urioste and Melissa White, two superb violinists whose performances were also highlights of last year's concert, returned to collaborate on a sizzling, acidic account of Prokofiev's Sonata for Two Solo Violins (Op. 56).

“A third violinist, Randall Goosby, the first-prize winner in the junior division of this year’s Sphinx Competition, exerted a masterly level of control and lavished an exquisite tone on Ysaÿe’s unaccompanied Sonata No. 3. Mr. Goosby does not yet have a fully developed sense of how to fill a phrase with drama, but that will come: he is only 13, and his performance won him a deserved standing ovation for its sheer virtuosity.” [Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a complete Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University Conservatory]

Times Square Gossip: 'Sphinx Organization Presents The Next Generation of Classical Musicians'

[BELOW: Delroy Lindo; ABOVE: Cassandra Seiden Feld Lyster With Randall Goosby]

TimesSquareGossip.com

August 7, 2010

“Bloomberg and The Sphinx Organization launched the campaign for 'Sphinx Laureates at Carnegie Hall' with an elegant reception hosted by event chair actor/director Delroy Lindo at the Bloomberg building. Not only did guests have the opportunity to learn more about The Sphinx Organization, a non-profit arts and youth development organization dedicated to building diversity in classical music but they were able to see the results in a brilliant virtuoso performance by 13 year old violinist Randall Goosby from Memphis that gave music lovers goose bumps. Goosby was the winner in the 2010 Sphinx Competition.

“With the belief that the next generation of classical musicians must reflect the cultural diversity present in everyday life and that music must play a part in every child’s life, The Sphinx Laureates at Carnegie Hall, co-presented by Sheila C. Johnson, will take place on October 5, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium. The concert will feature the critically acclaimed all Black and Latino Sphinx Chamber Orchestra and soloists from the Sphinx Competition for young Black and Latino string players. Last year's inspiring concert sold out to an audience of nearly 3,000 and was critically acclaimed by Allan Kozinn of The New York Times.

“The event, chaired by Delroy Lindo, Actor and Director, has already received leadership support from Sphinx sponsors Sander Buchman and Norma K. Buchman, James M. and Jaclyn P. Fox, Carl and Charlene Herstein, John Morning, Nordstrom, Inc., William F. Pickard, Detroit, Michigan, Victoria Hull Sharp, Paul and Kathy Weaver, and actress/singer Vanessa Williams. The concert directly promotes Sphinx’s mission to build diversity in classical music on stage, in the audience, and through the performance of works by composers of color." [The Founder/President of The Sphinx Organization is violinist Aaron P. Dworkin (b. 1970), who is profiled at AfriClassical.com.]