2B — Thursday, March 9, 2017
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Clayton 
Penrose-Whitmore 

was 12-years-old the first time 
he made the trek to Detroit 
to 
compete 
in 
the 
Sphinx 

Competition.

The Evanston, Ill. native, 

now 23, had heard about the 
annual 
strings 
competition 

— open to African-American 
and Latino players — from his 
violin instructor. Attending the 
Sphinx Competition served as 
a subtle revelation: Penrose-
Whitmore, who had become 
accustomed to being the only 
Black violin player among his 
peers, was now surrounded by 
people who looked like him and 
shared similar experiences.

“[There] was an unspoken 

understanding throughout the 
competition 
of 
community,” 

said 
Penrose-Whitmore 
in 

a 
phone 
interview. 
Nearly 

a decade after his Sphinx 
experience, he emerged from 
the 2014 competition with a 
second place prize in the Senior 
Division.

Annelle 
Gregory, 
like 

Penrose-Whitmore, first heard 
about Sphinx when she was 12 
or 13, through a family friend. 
Now, she’s 21. Over the years 
she came closer and closer to 
nabbing the top prize, until 
this year, when she was named 
champion.

“It was very rewarding for 

me to be named the winner 
this year,” she wrote in an 
email, “having been through 
every other placement in the 
competition previously.”

The 
Sphinx 
Organization, 

which runs the competition, is 
a Detroit-based organization 
dedicated to increasing the 
diversity 
of 
top-tier 
string 

players across the country. The 
inaugural competition was held 
in 1998, but the organization, the 
brainchild of Aaron Dworkin, 
then a student in the School 
of Music, Theatre & Dance 
(where he is now the dean), 
began earlier. Dworkin noticed 

an acute lack of diversity in 
the upper echelons of classical 
music performance — which 
would deter young minorities 
from taking up classical music 
— and decided to address it.

Afa 
Dworkin, 
now 
the 

Executive 
Director 
of 
the 

Sphinx 
Organization, 
first 

learned about Sphinx through 
Aaron, her then classmate.

“We spoke at length about 

why he felt something like this 
was necessary at the time,” she 
revealed over the phone, “and 
while it seemed laudable at the 
beginning, and while it seemed 
like a wonderful idea, there was 
nothing like actually meeting 
the first cohort of musicians 
and just recognizing the depth 
of talent and of need that was 
out there.”

Dworkin joined Sphinx in 

1999 
as 
the 
organization’s 

first intern, working on the 
programmatic team, developing 
the curriculum, scholarships, 
partnerships and the programs 
around the competition. The 
experience was illuminating.

“At the same time when I 

was recognizing how much 
talent there is in the pool of the 
musicians that are working,” 
she said. “I realized how little 
opportunity there is and how 
much work there is in order 
to connect the talent with the 
resources that are out there.”

When 
the 
Sphinx 

Competition began, Blacks and 
Latinos each comprised less 
than 1.5 percent of the talent 
in the top tiers of classical 
orchestra performance. Now, 
thanks in large part to Sphinx 
and programs for which it 
has served as inspiration and 
catalyst, that number is up to 4.6 
percent. But, Dworkin said, the 
inaugural competition revealed 
that the problems underlying 
the lack of diversity in the most 

prestigious 
orchestras 
ran 

deep. Students need to start 
playing at a very young age, 
and when schools only begin 
to teach music to 12-year-olds 

or 13-year-olds, they’ve already 
passed a critical point.

Danielle Belen, who won the 

2008 Competition and has gone 
on to serve on the competition’s 
jury and teach some of Sphinx’s 
programs, agrees. She considers 
herself 
lucky 
because 
her 

parents believed music was 

a critical component of early 
education. But she admits that 
her experience is not universal.

“Most parents are not geared 

that way,” she said. It is here 
where Sphinx can fill in the 
gap. Sphinx has been stitching 
classical music into the lives of 
African-American and Latino 
students at an earlier and 
earlier age where public schools 
are lacking.

Sphinx 
quickly 
began 
to 

develop preparatory programs 
for students after school and a 
“boot camp” over the summer. 
The programs combined access 
and education so that playing 
classical music was achievable 
to all students. Costs, too, were 
not lost on Sphinx, which has 
built 
numerous 
scholarships 

and grants over the decades and 
has awarded about $2.5 million 
to date.

Belen 
has 
been 
on 
the 

receiving 
end 
of 
Sphinx’s 

help. After her win, Belen was 
invited to perform with various 
orchestras, 
including 
the 

Cleveland Symphony, the San 
Francisco Symphony and the 
Boston Pops, among others.

“It was a whirlwind of a year,” 

she said in the phone interview. 
Belen 
has 
also 
won 
two 

different awards, amounting 
to $55,000, which she used to 
fund scholarships at a summer 
festival she started.

One 
of 
Sphinx’s 
larger 

mechanisms 
for 
financial 

support is the MPower Artist 
Grant, which is open to alumni 
of various Sphinx programs. 
The average award is $25,000, 
according to Sphinx’s website.

After her win, Belen began 

to focus on education, building 
connections and teaching at the 
Colburn School in Los Angeles, 

then in the Violin Department 
at the University of Michigan.

“Sphinx has always been 

there, always along the way, 
providing support,” she said.

Sphinx’s 
commitment 
to 

networking within the classical 
music community, an ever-
important role in the field, is 
manifested in a more recent 
development, Sphinx Connect 
— “our epicenter for artists and 
leaders in diversity,” Dworkin 
said — which helps players 
network 
to 
find 
openings 

in a field notorious for its 
competition for opportunities. 
At 
the 
center 
of 
Sphinx 

Connect is a yearly convention 
for musicians. This past year, 
over 
500 
people 
attended 

from across the world. Sphinx 
Connect continues throughout 
the year by hosting webinars, 
contributing 
to 
a 
mentor 

network that serves as a “true 
conduit” for rising musicians 
to an industry increasingly 
attuned to the necessity of 
inclusion.

The 
Sphinx 
Organization 

also runs a litany of educational 
programs. 
One 
is 
Sphinx 

Overture, which provides free 
introductory lessons to Detroit 
and Flint students. The Sphinx 
Performance Academy is a full-
scholarship summer program 

for solo instrumentalists to 
hone their craft. Not to be 
limited by geography, Classical 
Connections assists teachers in 
incorporating classical music 
into 
classrooms 
across 
the 

country.

As the Sphinx Competition 

approaches its 20th birthday, 
Dworkin looked back at the 
organization’s progress.

“There’s 
been 
a 

transformative 
impact,” 
she 

said, not only indicated by the 
experiences of musicians the 
organization has affected. “But 
also the field being so much more 
responsive and connected” to 
the organization’s work. When 
orchestras and institutions try 
to confront their own lack of 
diversity, Sphinx often serves 
as an exemplary model.

Sphinx’s direct impact is also 

substantial. There are over 600 
alumni of the organization and 
two million people are reached 
each year through live and 
broadcast audiences.

Not to mention, Sphinx’s 

extraordinary 
musical 

achievements amount to the 

DANIEL HENSEL

Daily Film Editor

Approaching its 20th anniversary, 
Sphinx Organization takes stock

Clayton Penrose-
Whitmore was 
12-years-old the 
first time he made 
the trek to Detroit 

to compete 
in the Sphinx 
Competition.

Sphinx quickly 
began to develop 

preparatory 
programs for 
students after 

school and a “boot 

camp” over the 

summer

Executive Director of organization aimed at increasing numbers of Black and 
Latino classical string musicians reflects on past success and current climate

COURTESY OF SPHINX ORGANIZATION

final word in a skeptic’s debate 
over 
whether 
exceptional 

talent existed in enough Latino 
and African-American players 
to justify the program. That 
doubt, abundantly disproven 
at this point, had cast a shadow 
over Sphinx as it began, but 
by now concerns have largely 
dissipated.

“[Sphinx participants] have 

proven 
that 
inclusion 
does 

not mean any sacrifice on the 
excellent front … it can exist 
in tandem and be celebrated,” 
Dworkin said.

Belen 
agreed. 
When 
she 

performed with the Sphinx 
Virtuosi, 
an 
orchestra 

comprised 
of 
competition 

alumni, she noted, “There are 
absolutely no excuses or special 
standards” 
because 
of 
the 

orchestra’s racial makeup. On 
the contrary, she said, “[there’s] 
an incredibly high level of 
musicianship.”

For Belen, Sphinx’s 20th year 

represents a critical juncture in 
the organization’s success.

“As an educator, I am seeing 

that there are young people who 
have now grown up in a world 
where there has always been a 
Sphinx Organization,” she said. 
Progress in the field is slow, 
she admits, because players 
start early but only reach the 
pinnacles much later, perhaps 
15 or 20 years in the future.

“We’re 
seeing 
an 
entire 

new generation of kids being 
influenced 
by 
this,” 
Belen 

said. All this progress amounts 
to a major change in the 
classical music community’s 
demographics.

“You 
want 
to 
look 
at 

musicians 
on 
stage 
that 

reflect the musicians of the 
community,” 
Belen 
added. 

“That’s the goal and it’s a long 
process because it has to start 
deep down, with little kids, and 
giving opportunities.”

Gregory 
named 
that 

demographic 
change 
as 

a 
particularly 
important 

development.

“Sphinx has opened up minds 

to the fact that musicians of 
color can not only play classical 
music, but that we can be 
extremely successful at it,” she 
wrote,

Still, there’s work to be done. 

Dworkin noticed a persistent 
and acute lack of diversity that 
remains in America’s academic 
music circles — conservatories 
and music schools. To take 
diversity seriously, she said, 
these 
institutions 
must 
go 

beyond 
supporting 
Sphinx; 

they need to follow its lead. For 
Dworkin, a lack of diversity is 
an existential crisis for classical 
music. Without making sure 
top tier classical musicians 

reflect the population as a 
whole, “our field stands to feel 
and become irrelevant and 
therefore suffer and eventually 
become extinct,” she said. 

Gregory finds meaning in 

the music she plays not just 
through the notes, but the 
context — playing with friends. 
“Performing 
[the 
Sibelius 

Violin Concerto, the required 
repertoire for the 2017 finals] 

with the Sphinx Symphony 
Orchestra was a wonderful 
experience that I will always 
remember,” she wrote, “not just 
because I won but because I 
know many of the members on 
a first-name basis and it was 
like giving a concert with my 
friends.”

Like 
Gregory, 
Penrose-

Whitmore’s history with the 
Sphinx Competition has been 
shaped by the relationships he’s 
developed over the years. He 
was surprised the first time he 
participated in the competition.

“It felt more like a family 

reunion than a competition. 
It was great,” he said. Music 
competitions of the sort are 
typically 
extra 
competitive, 

leaving little room for bonding 
and socializing. But Sphinx was 
different.

“I made a lot of friends that 

I still have. It was just a great 
vibe over all,” Clayton said.

Belen 
shared 
a 
similar 

experience 
at 
her 
first 

competition. “It didn’t feel 
like a competition,” she said. 
“It felt like a family.” They call 
it “la Sphinx familia,” Belen 
said, and it’s clear why. The 
Sphinx Competition extends 
far beyond the competition 
itself. 
Scholarships, 
master 

classes and concerts are open 
to a larger swath of competitors 
than the elite few who advance 
to the final rounds. In the 
mean time, competitors learn 
about collaboration and work 
with each other in creative 
situations. 
Experience 
as 

pedagogy reigns supreme as 
competitors bask in a diverse 
classical music cornucopia.

As Penrose-Whitmore grew 

up, Sphinx’s magic didn’t fade. 
“A lot of times over the years 
I’ve gone back to the Sphinx 
Competition 
to 
participate 

in the orchestra, or compete 
again, and honestly I look 
forward to just going back,” he 
said, “not to compete but just to 
see everyone, see the old friends 
that I’ve made, and really have 
that sense of community there.”

La Sphinx familia extends 

beyond 
pleasantries 
at 
the 

competition. Belen said many 
Sphinx alumni’s careers have 
progressed with Sphinx very 
much in the background or 
foreground. Opportunities have 
been opened and connections 
have been made through the 
organization’s work.

And for some, Sphinx has 

provided 
much 
more 
than 

musical opportunities. The first 
violinist and the violist of the 
Catalyst Quartet, an ensemble 
of Sphinx Competition alumni, 
are getting married.

The Sphinx 
Organization 

also runs a litany 

of educational 

programs

“Sphinx has 

opened up minds 

to the fact that 

musicians of color 
can not only play 
classical music, 
but that we can 
be extremely 

successful at it”

“It felt more 
like a family 

reunion than a 
competition. It 

was great”

The Sphinx 

Organization is 
a Detroit-based 

organization 
dedicated to 
increasing the 
diversity of top-
tier string players 
across the country

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