From January 27-29, 2022 the Orchestras Canada team had the pleasure of attending the SphinxConnect: Forging Alliances conference. The annual convening, held virtually this year, brought together a stellar lineup of presenters across the North American arts ecosystem (musicians, administrators, board members, funders, and more) to discuss diversity in classical music – including fellow Canadian and Orchestras Canada’s own board member, Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser. The conference culminated in the annual Sphinx Competition for young Black and Latinx string players – another virtual adaptation for this year, but with no loss of talent and creativity.
In the blog post below, OC staff share a few of our reflections on themes that emerged – however, we encourage you to learn from the thoughtful presenters directly as you are able. The recordings of the conference presentations are all generously made available for free in a playlist on the Sphinx Organization’s YouTube channel!
About the Sphinx Organization
The Sphinx Organization is a US-based “social justice organization dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts,” founded by American violinist and music educator Aaron Dworkin. It began its work in 1997 as the Sphinx Competition for young Black and Latinx string players. The competition continues to this day, but Sphinx has since evolved a robust suite of programming focused on fostering excellence and increasing representation of Black and Latinx classical artists – including education, performance, commissioning of new works, and leadership development opportunities for Black and Latinx artists and arts workers.
Conference reflections
1- Human potential and innovation
A theme that arose repeatedly in the sessions that OC staff attended is the human potential and innovation that is possible for orchestras, if we are willing to embrace its full spectrum. The conference program covered so many areas of opportunity for orchestras – from governance, to artistic programming, to music education and community engagement and beyond. There is so much talent – both in emerging artists and arts workers, as well as existing expertise in folks already working in the art form – that we can engage with and learn from.
As Achia Floyd put it in the “Rising LEADers” session: don’t think within a frame of what we are losing by diversifying classical music, but instead what we are gaining… the opportunities for developing the talent and art form you already have in your organization, and how we can grow through better, more innovative and inclusive collaboration.
2- An ongoing tension for orchestras: Upholding tradition vs. Responding to today’s realities
A quote that stands out in particular to OC staff is “Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but maintaining the fire,” shared by Enrique Márquez in the Rising LEADers session. WOW! How can (and will) orchestras’ art, our capacity to gather people to enjoy music together, serve our neighbours in 2022 and beyond?
For the last couple of centuries, orchestras have been (by and large) in the business of tradition – particularly Eurocentric tradition, at the expense of racialized artists, workers, and patrons. While there is much beauty in the music we have played through centuries, presenters across SphinxConnect sessions rightly point out that the continued survival and elevation of classical music in the 21st century depends on a keener attention to the needs and ambitions of the communities in which we presently live – especially those that our Eurocentric traditions have excluded.
Not only is drawing from a broader palette of talent (in the work played, in those playing it, and in those “keeping the lights on” behind the scenes) the right thing to do from an anti-racist + being good humans and art-makers point of view, it enriches an orchestra’s work and is essential to the perception of our continued relevance and value. For example, one panelist pointed out that millennials expect diversity when they enter arts spaces – if your orchestra is not reflecting the communities you serve, you risk being passed over by your audiences of present and future.
Jazmín Morales, host of the “Where the Wild Things Are” panel, emphasized that to be “wild” and thus responsive to the “wild times” in which we live means to think freely about what is possible and not get stuck in procedure and habit. And as the “Higher Registers: Evolving Artistic Excellence” panel pointed out, the pandemic has broken many habits (e.g. rigid artistic planning cycles, length of concerts) — how can we continue to evolve with and respond to our turbulent times?
3- Sustaining and continuing to build on positive change
In his closing keynote, Weston Sprott stated that he had seen more progress on diversity and inclusion in classical music in the last two years than he had seen prior to that in his entire lifetime – however, “the jury is still out” on how long the work lasts… as such, “It’s on us to keep the pressure to ensure that all this progress is not temporary”.
Presenters also emphasized that lasting change in the diversity of our art forms is key – and part of ensuring lasting change is (as David Stull put it) by “altering the DNA” of arts institutions, structurally inserting and creating mechanisms that require change to continue, such as multi-year ongoing programs that commit to diverse artists’ advancement over the long term – not just the present moment.
Multiple conference presenters advocated for a broad scope for diversity work in each organization: it cannot be siloed on one committee or in one role. Presenters emphasized the importance of aligning values at all levels of decision-making (including board, executive leadership, and funders) – but also noted that change can happen in any team or role. For example, in “Learning to Disrupt ‘the White Racial Frame’ in an Industry Rooted In It” marketing and communications staff reflected on how they had applied anti-racism in their daily work at Minnesota Orchestra, sharing examples of racist vs. anti-racist language.
4- Last but never least… the music! A chat with 2022 Sphinx Competition judge, Juan-Miguel Hernandez
Juan-Miguel Hernandez, a Montréal-born violist with a distinguished international performance career, is no stranger to the Sphinx Competition. In a mid-February phone conversation with Boran Zaza (OC Communications and Development Director) Hernandez credited his top prize in the Senior Division at the 2006 Sphinx Competition as an important “kickstart” for his success as a classical musician:
“I had it in me, but I needed them to say, okay, we’ll give you what you need to kickstart the career. […] It’s the whole being in the right place at the right time. Sphinx makes sure you’re in the right place at the right time.”
When discussing the 2022 competition, for which Hernandez was one of several judges, he emphasized that each young performer arrives with outstanding technical skills – to decide on the top prizes, Hernandez boils judges’ expectations “down to an incredible artistry in a way of doing music. […] And we were incredibly impressed with the level of artistry that we saw.” Given the virtual format of the 2022 competition, judges cast their votes individually after the performances to decide on competition winners (as opposed to gathering in person to reach a decision). Despite the change in format, for Hernandez “this year I have to say I was very, very happy with the end result.”
Congratulations to the 2022 Sphinx Competition Winners!
Senior Division
- First Place Laureate & winner of the Robert Frederick Smith Prize ($50,000): Kebra-Seyoun Charles, double bass
- Second Place ($20,000) : Gabriela Lara, violin
- Third Place ($10,000): Harper Randolph, viola
- Audience Choice ($5,000): Gabriela Lara, violin
Junior Division
- First Place Laureate ($10,000): Jonathan Okseniuk, violin
- Second Place ($5,000) : Brandon Leonard, cello
- Third Place ($3,000): Ana Isabella España, violin
- Audience Choice ($1,000): Brandon Leonard, cello
Links to resources
The full recording of the 2022 Sphinx Competition can be viewed here.
Recordings of all SphinxConnect conference sessions: YouTube
Notes on conference sessions attended by OC staff here.
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I should like to advocate the possibility of developing socially-inclusive, community-based ‘open’ youth ‘orchestras’, in partnership with established professional orchestras throughout Canada, as a strategic and practical response to the report’s understandably challenging and uncompromising demands, drawing on the Setúbal Youth Ensemble model which I have developed over the past five years through my Music Festival in Portugal. In brief, through an open auditioning process which makes no assumptions of any Eurocentric orchestral structure, the resulting Ensemble has recruited and maintained roughly a quarter of its membership from the aural tradition, reflecting the local population of immigrants from former African and South American colonies of Portugal, another quarter comprising young people with various disabilities and special needs, and approximately half coming via the mainstream of music education – all chosen for their talent. With the instrumentation dependent on the selected young musicians rather than the other way about, there is no standard repertory and therefore all the Ensemble’s music has be specially composed or arranged: this has given unique creative opportunities to a new generation of composers, embracing unusual instrumental combinations (including the use of accessible technology, where appropriate) and inventing special notations to enable the participation of those unable to read the conventional musical language. This Ensemble is Setúbal’s official ‘youth orchestra’.