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Katy Salomon
Primo Artists
212-837-8466
Katy@PrimoArtists.com

Sphinx Organization: Change for Good

‘Classical music is both for us, and by us,’ says Aaron P. Dworkin, founder of the Sphinx Organization, which for the past 26 years has been dedicated to increasing the numbers of black and Latinx musicians in classical music. ‘I was working on my degree at the University of Michigan, and I went into a lesson one day and my teacher said, “How would you like to play music by black composers?” I never knew there were black composers until that moment,’ he recalls. ‘I was often the only child of colour playing the violin while growing up.’

From that simple observation came ambition coupled with imagination, and in 1997 Dworkin founded the Sphinx Organization in Detroit, Michigan. Over the past quarter-century the organisation, which began as a competition for string players, has spread its reach into all aspects of the US classical music industry and beyond, with initiatives including youth development, a professional symphony orchestra, string and vocal ensembles, and arts leadership programmes. These days, the efforts are led by Afa Dworkin, also a violinist (and Aaron’s wife), who is propelling the organisation into the future.
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They Were Ahead of the Curve on Classical Music

It was the late 1990s, and Afa Sadykhly Dworkin saw a woman crying backstage at a concert hall in Michigan.

Dworkin was there helping to run a competition for young artists started by the Sphinx Organization, a newly founded group devoted to fostering diversity in classical music. When she spied the woman in tears, she assumed that a bow or string had broken. But when she tried to help, the woman waved her off, saying that although her child had lost the competition, her tears were happy ones.

“I’m crying because we thought my daughter was the best,” Dworkin recently recalled the woman telling her. “There’s no one who lives near us who plays at her level, so we came assuming we were going to win. And we didn’t win anything, but she has a family now. She has all these sisters and brothers now.”
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Detroit's Sphinx Organization Set to Make International Debut

The Detroit-based Sphinx Organization and its premier touring ensemble will make its international debut Monday in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The 18-member, Sphinx Virtuosi ensemble of Black and Latinx string musicians from around the U.S. is traveling to the South American country to perform in its main concert hall as part of the Tucca International Concert Series.
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Review: Sphinx Virtuosi Bring an Intriguing Vision to Carnegie Hall

“Tracing Visions” was the intriguing title of the program Sphinx Virtuosi, an ensemble of 18 top-notch string players who are Black and Latino, presented at Carnegie Hall on Friday. As Afa S. Dworkin, the president of Sphinx, explained in comments to the audience, that phrase spoke both to the organization’s mission and the music played so impressively on this night.
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For These Classical Musicians, It’s Always Been About Racial Equity

“Dedicate 15 percent of your budget, for the next 10 years, to all issues of equity and diversity,” Dworkin said. “That can include bringing in expertise that you don’t have. And if you are hiring for a position and diversity is a priority, make sure at least 25 percent of your pool is nonwhite.”
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Musicians on How to Bring Racial Equity to Auditions

Conductors, players and administrators don’t necessarily want to abandon blind auditions. But they say the lack of diversity in American orchestras is more complicated than that.
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