Sphinx Virtuosi

The flagship performing ensemble of the Sphinx Organization returns to Krannert Center following the recording of two albums with Deutsche Grammophon-Songs for Our Times, a powerful new follow-up that continues the ensemble's artistic journey. "The Sphinx way was to play with a fire lit under every phrase," writes The Boston Globe of this 18-member, self-conducted chamber orchestra. Sphinx musicians foreground their role as cultural ambassadors as is evident in their program, "Visions of Peace." Centered around Quenton Blache's commissioned work of the same name, it also includes music by Jose White, Clarice Assad, Jessie Montgomery, Prokofiev, Ginastera, and Ponce, as well as William Grant Still's Suite for Cello featuring 2019 Sphinx Competition winner and 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient Sterling Elliott. The Sphinx Virtuosi inventively and jubilantly celebrate the resiliency of the human spirit as the blaze a new path in the classical music world.

José White Lafitte: La Bella Cubana
Clarice Assad: Selections from Impressions
II. Fusion, Dança Brasileira
IV: Precision, Perpetual Motion
Jessie Montgomery: Chemiluminescence
William Grant Still, arr. by Randall Goosby: Suite for Violin or Cello and String Orchestra
I. African Dancer
II. Mother and Child
III. Gamin
Sterling Elliott, cello

Intermission

Quenton Blache: Visions of Peace Sergei Prokofiev, arr. Rubén Rengel: Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 83 "Stalingrad"
IV. Allegro inquieto
V. Andante caloroso
VI. Precipitato
Alberto Ginastera: Concerto for Strings, Op. 33
IV. Finale