Sphinx Symphony Orchestra: Concert Evaluation

703 Words2 Pages

On February 23, I attended the 17th Annual Sphinx Competition held at the Detroit Orchestra Hall. The concert was phenomenal, and surprisingly enough to me I actually relished the performance. The reason the concert satisfied me was due to the fact of the meaning that was upheld throughout the concert. The Sphinx Orchestra is an amazing foundation in which supports Black and Latino string classical musicians and gives them a chance to better their life through the prodigious gift of scholarships. At this specific concert three finalist strived to see who truly has the utmost talent amongst the three. The three musicians included nineteen year old bassist, Xavier Foley; twenty-one year old cellist, Nicholas Mariscal; and twenty year old violinist, Clayton Penrose-Whitmore. Each musician did an extraordinary and gave the impression that they played their pieces flawlessly. Although all the young musicians achieved mere perfection; there had to be a winner and that was Xavier Foley. He received fifty thousand dollars in scholarships and by all means deserved it. The conductor of the concert was Maestro Brandon Keith Brown, who also did astonishing. In addition to all of those great musicians I also had the honor of hearing Simon Shaheen playing the oud. All together the performance was just incredible in my eyes.
Each young musician did their own piece as well as Simon Shaheen. Xavier Foley played an amazing piece by Giovanni Bottesini. Xavier performed Concerto No. 2 in A Minor: l. Allegro. Nicholas Mariscal selected a piece by Sir Edward Elgar, and was his Concerto in E Minor: lV. Allegro – Moderato – Allegro, ma non troppo, which translates to Lively – Moderate – Lively, but not too much. Clayton Penrose-Whitmore designated to a...

... middle of paper ...

...while performing the double bass, that nickname being ‘Paganini of the double bass’. This individual did things with three strings that most people on the face of the planet could not do with hundreds. His movements were so fluent and he possessed the greatest talent one could ever think of. This particular piece was written to achieve romance, and in my opinion he did just that. Xavier Foley has to have a fine taste in music in order to choose such a wonderful song.
The 17th annual Sphinx Orchestra Finals Competition Concert has changed my perspective on classical music. I fully enjoyed the performance and might even consider going to next year’s performance. The young musician upheld incredible talent and the orchestra was just as unbelievable. I applaud the Sphinx Orchestra for putting on such a miraculous performance that anyone would enjoy a classical concert.

More about Sphinx Symphony Orchestra: Concert Evaluation

Open Document