Minnesota Orchestra and Sphinx Virtuosi

With conductor Tito Muñoz

Feb 1–3, 2024
Orchestra Hall

Presented by Minnesota Orchestra as part of The Great Northern

Photo courtesy Sphinx Virtuosi.

The Sphinx Virtuosi—the flagship ensemble of the Sphinx Organization based in Detroit, Michigan—shares the stage with the Minnesota Orchestra in a program featuring Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Abels’ Global Warming, Astor Piazzolla’s Winter and Summer, Carlos Simon’s reflective Breathe (inspired by theologian Howard Thurman's book Meditations of the Heart), and Angélica Negrón’s immersive Marejada. Composed of 18 of the nation's top Black and Latinx classical soloists, the Virtuosi are primarily alumni of the internationally renowned Sphinx Competition, and its members work together as cultural ambassadors reaching new audiences.

The Program

ABELS
Global Warming

NEGRÓN
Marejada for String Orchestra

PIAZZOLLA/DESYATNIKOV
Winter and Summer, from The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires

SIMON
Breathe

COLERIDGE-TAYLOR
Symphonic Variations on an African Air

REVUELTAS
Sensemayá

The Sphinx Virtuosi are the nation's most dynamic, exhilarating professional chamber orchestra, dedicated to increasing racial and ethnic diversity in classical music. Composed of 18 of the nation's top Black and Latinx classical soloists, the Virtuosi are primarily alumni of the internationally renowned Sphinx Competition, and its members work together as cultural ambassadors reaching new audiences. This unique ensemble earned rapturous reviews from The New York Times during its highly acclaimed debut at Carnegie Hall in December 2004: Allan Kozinn described their performance as “first-rate in every way” and raved that “the ensemble produced a more beautiful, precise, and carefully shaped sound than some fully professional orchestras that come through Carnegie Hall in the course of the year.”