Congratulations to the young winners of the 15th annual Sphinx Competition, held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, over the weekend. The competition—founded by violinist Aaron Dworkin, who serves the president of the Sphinx Organization—was created to promote the careers of black and Latino string players.

The winners in the Senior Division are:

Gabriel Cabezas, cello (First Place and Audience Choice Award);

Francisco Vila, cello (Second Place)

Danielle Wiebe, viola, (Third Place)

Rainel Joubert, violin (Fourth Place)

The winners in the Junior Division are:

Ade Williams, violin (First Place)

Lev Mamuya, cello (Second Place)

Tristan Flores, violin (Third Place)

The jurors this year were Haitian-American violinist, educator, and composer Daniel Bernard Roumain; chamber musician, soloist, and educator Steven Tenenbom, a member of the viola faculty of the Juilliard School and the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and the coordinator of string chamber music of the Curtis Institute of Music; Christopher Jenkins, violist, a founding member of the Catalyst Quartet; Raphael Jiménez, director of orchestras at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music; Emil J. Kang, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's executive director for the arts; and Jennifer Ross joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as principal second violin in 1998.

Added by Greg Cahill on Feb 13, 2012 at 1:43pm –