The seventh annual Sphinx Competition, presented by the Detroit-based organization that showcases young black and Latino string players, announced its winners on February 22. The top players in the senior division were: (1st place) violist Kaila Potts, 23, of Cincinnati, Ohio; (2nd place) double bassist Joseph Conyers, 22, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and (3rd place) violinist Mariana Green, 25, of Bronx, New York. The winners in the junior division were: (1st place) violinist Trevor Ochieng, 14, of Wyandanch, New York; (2nd place) cellist Tony Rymer, 14, Dorchester, Massachusetts; and (3rd place) cellist Katherine Black, 15, of Skokie, Illinois. . . . The winners of ASTA National Orchestra Festival competition, held in March at the organization's convention in Dallas, were the Caddo Magnet High School Chamber Orchestra (1st place); Chattahoochee High School Sinfonia (2nd place); and Lassiter High School Orchestra (3rd place). The 2004 National Solo Competition winners included, in the senior division, cellist D. Joshua Roman (2nd place); cellist Nan Zhang (3rd place); violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley (4th place). The winners in the junior division included violinist Shannon Lee (2nd place); violinist Lydia Hong (3rd place); and cellist Sifei Wen (4th place). No first prizes were awarded in either solo division. . . . The Zehetmair Quartet, which picked up a Grammy nomination and several major prizes last year for its ECM recording of Schumann's first and third string quartets, has won two more awards: the coveted Prix Caecilia 2003, given by the Belgian music press, and the Klara Muziek-Prijs, from the Flemish classical radio station KLARA. . . . The Music Board of the Australia Council has announced that violinist Jan Sedivka has won the 2004 Don Banks Award, which carries an annual prize of Aus$60,000. The award is given to an artist of high distinction who has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to Australian music over a period of many years. Sedivka was the subject of the 1999 film documentary Man of Strings.

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