Sphinx Virtuosi Orchestra: Songs for Our Times

Heralded for a kaleidoscopically varied repertoire and bold thematic programming, Sphinx Virtuosi is a dynamic professional chamber orchestra that is the flagship performing ensemble of the Sphinx Organization. Creative living voices from the Black and Brown communities are celebrated in this collection of works inspired by events of the present. Aiming to uplift contemporary and historic voices, the program pays tribute to traditions through today’s lens, and illuminates the light and hope generated by empathy, listening, remembrance, and visioning. Eighteen of Sphinx’s most acclaimed artists will take you on a soaring and inspiring evening of stunning works.

Co-Presented in partnership with the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts.

“...true to their name, the Sphinx Virtuosi call up the vision of an iconic mythological feline with its immeasurable power, unwavering command, and soulful beauty.”
— The Washington Post

WEARING MASKS + UP-TO-DATE VACCINATION STATUS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED at this time for attending CMNW concerts.

SPHINX VIRTUOSI ORCHESTRA musicians for this concert
Violin I
Alex Gonzalez
Clayton D Penrose-Whitmore
Hannah White
Sandro Leal-Santiesteban
Violin II
Robyn Quinnett
Maïthéna Girault
Thierry de Lucas
Caitlin Edwards
Viola
Celia Hatton (Principal)
Robert Alvarado Switala
Bill Neri
Kayla Cabrera
Cello
Tommy Mesa (Principal)
Eri Snowden-Rodriguez
Quenton Xavier Blache
Diana Flores
Bass
Jonathan Colbert (Principal)
Christopher Johnson

Patricia Reser Center for the Arts
Tuesday, 10/11 • 7:30 pm PT

Program

Click on any piece of music below to learn more about it.

JESSIE MONTGOMERY “Strum” (2006)

Strum
Jessie Montgomery

Strum is the culminating result of several versions of a string quintet I wrote in 2006. It was originally written for the Providence String Quartet and guests of Community MusicWorks Players, and then arranged for string quartet in 2008 with several small revisions. In 2012 the piece underwent its final revisions with a rewrite of both the introduction and the ending for the Catalyst Quartet in a performance celebrating the 15th annual Sphinx Competition.

Originally conceived for the formation of a cello quintet, the voicing is often spread wide over the ensemble, giving the music an expansive quality of sound. Within Strum I utilized texture motives, layers of rhythmic or harmonic ostinati that string together to form a bed of sound for melodies to weave in and out. The strumming pizzicato serves as a texture motive and the primary driving rhythmic underpinning of the piece. Drawing on American folk idioms and the spirit of dance and movement, the piece has a kind of narrative that begins with fleeting nostalgia and transforms into ecstatic celebration.

Program notes authored by the composers with contributions by Afa S Dworkin, President and Artistic Director of the Sphinx Organization. A heartfelt thank you to each of the composers for their gifts of musical ingenuity and prose.

MICHAEL DUDLEY “Prayer for our Times” (2022)

Prayer for our Times
Michael Dudley

The journey of this piece began in late December 2019, as I attempted to process an unshaken feeling of immense impending loss. Loosely inspired by the colors and spirit of Henry Gorecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, I felt as though I needed to better understand my experience with grief, and to prepare for a period of great trials. Little did I know that the COVID-19 Pandemic would start a short time later, in addition to the upheaval in race relations within the increasingly less “United” States, and my own personal losses due to the gun violence epidemic.

The early texture of the piece reflects the season of winter, with sparse melodic activity mirroring the perceived absence of color and life after the changing of leaves in fall. As the piece continues, it evolves through two more settings that I hope will help all who engage with it to process their own grief from the events of the past few years. If I were to offer a message of prayer, let it be that we learn to not hide our sorrow from loss, and instead recognize grief as a necessary part of the process for growth; may we leave behind what does not serve our future while also being thankful for all that has come before.

VALERIE COLEMAN “Tracing Visions” (2022)

Tracing Visions
Valerie Coleman

Tracing Visions embodies the common threads of community and empathy, reminding us that we are one people. The first movement, TILL. is an elegy dedicated to the parents of the Uvalde massacre, Emmett Till, and even Ruby Bridges’ mother, the latter who had to find strength enough to allow her child to face the dangerous climate of hate in the midst of desegregation. Written during the time of Uvalde, it began to expand itself to be a voice for the grief that we all continue to feel for the tragedy. There is a section within the music that personifies the ugliness of apathy and violence of domestic terrorism, which is met by an anthem of fierce parental statement - a battle cry that all children ARE human beings who have a right to exist within a safe environment, in order to for the genius blueprint seed to grow within each of them.

The 2nd movement, called Amandla! (Which means “power!” in Zulu) is a tour de force juba that celebrates the work of the Sphinx Organization. As a concert finale-style work in its own right, Amandla! personifies a vision of unity, with melodies and grooves that depict many cultures coming together into an empowered tapestry of voices. To the composer, this is the very definition of the ethos of Sphinx. At certain points within the music, small chamber configurations briefly emerge to recognize the breadth and depth of Sphinx’s work in developing future leaders within the arts industry. Featuring the morse code word, “Sphinx” at the beginning as the main motif throughout, this jubilation movement fills the stage with dancing rhythms that allow the “Familia” to cut loose with joy.

JESSIE MONTGOMERY “Divided” for Cello & Orchestra (2022)

Divided for Solo Cello and Orchestra
Jessie Montgomery

Divided for solo cello and orchestra is a response to the social and political unrest that has plagued our generation in the recent past. Specifically, the sense of helplessness that people seem to feel amidst a world that seems to be in constant crisis, whether it is over racial injustice, gender or religious discrimination, greed, power and poverty, or climate change. In a world that is so fast-paced, where all of these disparate realities have been unveiled by the Internet with constant visual bombardment to the human psyche, how do we regain control and find beauty amid the chaos? How can we stack good actions over the negative reactions that easily emerge out of conflict? The cello is a voice crying out to be heard, in chorus with a few, passionate and unrelenting, with the orchestra performing a gritty accompaniment.

CARLOS SIMON “Between Worlds” (2019)

Between Worlds
Carlos Simon

Bill Traylor was born a slave in Alabama in 1853 and died in 1949. He lived long enough to see the United States of America go through many social and political changes. He was an eyewitness to the Civil War, Emancipation, Reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation and the Great Migration. As a self-taught visual artist, his work reflects two separate worlds— rural and urban, black and white, old and new. In many ways the simplified forms in Traylor’s artwork tell of the complexity of his world, creativity, and inspiring bid for self-definition in a dehumanizing segregated culture. This piece is inspired by the evocative nature as a whole and not one piece by Traylor. Themes of mystical folklore, race, and religion pervade Traylor’s work. I imagine these solo pieces as a musical study; hopefully showing Traylor’s life between disparate worlds.

Text related to Bill Traylor and the project title Between Worlds are borrowed from, and organized in relation to, Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor, by Leslie Umberger for the Smithsonian American Art Museum, (book and exhibition), 2018: https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/traylor.

HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS Bachianas Brasilerias No. 9 (1945)

Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9
Heitor Villa-Lobos

Villa-Lobos was quoted saying that “The music of Bach is without question the most sacred gift to the world of art…” The Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9 is an ingenious tribute to the great Bach. It is also a beautiful homage to the folk sounds of Brazil. We can all look forward to hearing some elements of polyphony specific to the baroque period. The case is made even stronger through the titles that signify the baroque form (like Fuga). Our particular selection, No. 9, was originally conceived for chorus and reimagined for string orchestra. We felt it fit organically into a program that celebrates the heritage of voices of yesteryear and those of today while continuing to enrich our ever-evolving canon.

RICARDO HERZ “Sísifo na Cidade Grande” (2022)

Sísifo na Cidade Grande
Ricardo Herz

“Sisyphus in the big city” is a piece in 3 connected movements that embodies world music. Listen for new Israeli jazz, open your heart to the traditional Pernambuco style “Maracatu” and much more.

At the beginning, the use of the “ricochet” bowing (successive naturally rebounding sound) and the accentuation at the second 16th notes tries to imitate the snare and bass drums and of a macaratu ensemble. The agitated harmony and the melodic movement that struggle to go up and suddenly fall again, building the imagery of the mythological character surrounded and disturbed by the city traffic. The pizzicatos (or plucking sounds) introduce a more Brazilian traditional flavor. In the second, slow movement, imagine a more peaceful scene: a moment of repose from city noise, with a melody that moves through the entire orchestra. The third and final movement reintroduces a race up and down the hill, with renewed energy.

BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata No. 9, Op. 47 (“Bridgetower”)

Sonata No. 9 for Violin and Piano, Op. 47 (“Bridgetower”)

Beethoven wrote this work as his ninth sonata for violin with piano in the spring of 1803. The famed sonata was dedicated to a violin virtuoso of African descent, George Polgreen Bridgetower (1778-1860), who not only premiered it but performed it several more times throughout Europe. Unfortunately, the composer and the violinist were involved in a quarrel, and as a reaction, Beethoven rededicated the work to a French violinist Rudolph Kreutzer. Kreutzer did not favor nor ever perform the work, yet it has been memorialized with his name. Our rendition of the work was reimagined for the Sphinx Virtuosi by Venezuelan violinist and arranger Rubén Rengel, who is a member of the Sphinx Family. We dedicate the work to Bridgetower, to honor and celebrate an important artist who was forgotten by time and circumstance.

Program notes authored by the composers with contributions by Afa S Dworkin, President and Artistic Director of the Sphinx Organization. A heartfelt thank you to each of the composers for their gifts of musical ingenuity and prose.

Artists

Sphinx Virtuosi Orchestra Chamber Orchestra

The Sphinx Virtuosi is a dynamic and inspiring professional self-conducted chamber orchestra and serves as the flagship performing entity of the Sphinx Organization – the leading social justice non-profit dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. Comprised of eighteen accomplished Black and Latinx artists, a critical aim of the Sphinx Virtuosi is to evolve and transform the face of classical music through artistic excellence, pioneering programming, and impassioned community engagement. Its members serve as cultural and diversity ambassadors for audiences and communities around the United States during national tours.

Since 2004, the Sphinx Virtuosi’s concerts have been presented by the leading arts organizations, including annual return visits to Carnegie Hall where it is an established highlight of the fall season. Frequently selling out venues, the ensemble has garnered effusive accolades including from The New York Times that has described the group as “...top-notch…more essential at this moment than ever…a vibrant, assured performance…”; and The Washington Post that wrote “true to their name, the Sphinx Virtuosi call up the vision of an iconic mythological feline with its immeasurable power, unwavering command, and soulful beauty.”

Heralded for its kaleidoscopically varied repertoire and bold thematic programming, Sphinx Virtuosi concerts give prominence to historically excluded Black and Latinx composers such as Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Alberto Ginastera, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Florence Price, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and George Walker. In an effort to expand its repertoire and engage new audiences, the ensemble commissions new works annually. Commissions have included major new works from Michael Abels, Terence Blanchard, Valerie Coleman, Xavier Foley, Jimmy Lopez, Jessie Montgomery, Daniel Bernard Roumain, and Carlos Simon.

Members of the Sphinx Virtuosi have performed as soloists with major American orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland, Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras. Members also hold professional orchestral and academic positions. The Sphinx Virtuosi’s community engagement initiatives regularly extend beyond masterclasses and workshops to members leading DEI initiatives within arts organizations and connecting with other Sphinx programming to further the mission of achieving excellence through diversity. As a bilingual ensemble, these artist-citizens frequently break down existing barriers empowering the artform to connect with the broader community. During the pandemic in 2020/21 the ensemble found creative ways to connect with audiences and communities virtually through performances, panel discussions, masterclasses, Q&A sessions, and more reaching over 30,000 people across 20 organizations.

The Sphinx Virtuosi has collaborated with major artists such as Terence Blanchard, Denyce Graves, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Damien Sneed, Will Liverman, J’Nai Bridges, and Davóne Tines, among others. Outside of the classical realm, its musicians have also worked with leading international artists such as Beyoncé and Jay-Z, and made high profile appearances including on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and the broadcast of the 2022 Grammy Awards. In October 2022, the ensemble will make its international debut at the Sala São Paulo in Brazil.

Sphinx Virtuosi Tours are made possible through the support of Robert F. Smith, JPMorgan Chase, and National Endowment for the Arts.

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Sphinx Virtuosi Orchestra: Songs for Our Times

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