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The Sphinx Virtuosi Unveils New Album, American Mirror, on Deutsche Grammophon
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The Sphinx Virtuosi Unveils
Works by Quenton Blache, Derrick Skye, Curtis Stewart, Juantio Becenti, Andrea Casarrubios, and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson
Featuring Percussionist Josh Jones and Violinists Tai Murray and Njioma Grevious
Out Digitally August 8 on Deutsche Grammophon
“This elegant ensemble has ascended into the upper ranks of string orchestras.”
– The Strad
“The ensemble's performances are as consistently polished as they are passionate.”
– Gramophone
New York, NY (June 25, 2025) – Praised for playing with “a fire lit under every phrase” (The Boston Globe), the Sphinx Virtuosi, the flagship performing ensemble of the Sphinx Organization, releases its new album American Mirror digitally via Deutsche Grammophon on Friday, August 8, 2025. The album features new works by composers Quenton Blache, Derrick Skye, Curtis Stewart, Juantio Becenti, Andrea Casarrubios, and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, as well as performances by percussionist Josh Jones and violinists Tai Murray and Njioma Grevious. American Mirror’s cover is a mosaic of faces—each one a member of Sphinx Virtuosi, captured in a moment of reflection, pride, and artistry. This visual mirror holds up the group's identity, which is bold, diverse, and unmistakably American.
Luminous album opener Habari Gani, composed by Quenton Blache in 2023, owes its name to the Swahili greeting exchanged during the celebration of Kwanzaa. The ideals of unity and fellowship form the essence of this orchestral showpiece, where rhythm and dance lithely soar throughout. Habari Gani springs forward like the chatter of the latest news in a sub-Saharan community. On the score, Blache says, “What’s the news? The news is joyful, exuberant, and wondrous.” Habari Gani fuses the composer’s Cameroonian ancestral roots and character to form an electric string orchestra debut.
The titular American Mirror, Part 1, composed by Derrick Skye in 2022 and arranged for Sphinx Virtuosi in 2024, reflects on the coming together of cultures in American society, which comprises many generations and descendants of refugees, immigrants, and enslaved people, and how intercultural collaborations are essential to the well-being of American society. Melodically, the piece draws from West African, North African, and Eastern European vocal techniques and ornamentations, in addition to modal scales. Underneath these melodies, American Mirror, Part I employs open harmonies commonly found in Appalachian folk music, and also incorporates drones, a common accompaniment practice in many musical cultures.
Six-time GRAMMY-nominated violinist, composer, and Sphinx’s 24-25 Composer in Residence Curtis Stewart’s Drill takes the listener back to the pandemic, to the phenomenon of outside dining that swept New York City. Drill was composed in 2024 and features percussionist Josh Jones. Of the piece’s inspiration, Curtis Stewart says, “We would sit on Broadway, and let the chaos of the outside world soothe our restless souls, including the muscular roars of passing motorcycles and the wide cadence of ‘drill music’ up and down Broadway. I associate this music with outside, with release, despite its intricate, violent, and chaotic outer layer.” This work for prepared drumset and strings is Stewart’s “summer music,” his “hunter’s call,” his “field recording.” What happens when we bring that outside music inside? When the outside becomes the inside, how will it ring in our walls?
Hané (Story) by Navajo composer Juantio Becenti was composed in 2000 (arranged for string quartet in 2024) during a summer he spent at the Walden School for Young Musicians in New Hampshire at only 17 years old. Its intuitive voice marks the beginning of a compositional path that Becenti has continued to shape largely on his own terms. Since then, Becenti has been largely self-taught to preserve and express the intuitive nature of his compositional style. Of Diné (Navajo) descent, Becenti grew up in Aneth, Utah, near the Four Corners, Navajo Nation. The piece reflects his early embrace of storytelling or hané as a powerful vessel for memory, identity, and lived experience.
In her new work, composed in 2023 and titled Herencia, the Spanish word for both "inheritance" and "heritage," GRAMMY-nominated composer Andrea Casarrubios notes it is natural for the listener to wonder about the roots of the piece itself and the myriad stylistic threads with which it is woven. However, for this work, Casarrubios’ inspiration was not a particular musical "heritage" or genre; rather, it was the artists who would be playing it. “I envisioned the remarkable musicians of Sphinx Virtuosi taking the stage to play this piece, and I thought of how each individual has trailing behind them a unique history of unfathomable complexity; an epic that they bring to bear in every moment of performance,” Casarrubios says.
In Curtis Stewart’s second piece on the album, Invention #1: Double Down for two violins, the name plays on words. Specifically, the two-hand inventions made canonical by Bach, including the double-down violin bow stroke, which lends extra energy to rhythmic music, and doubling down on virtuosic elements presented in the Wieniawski and Prokofiev duos for two violins. “It is a scherzo moving between colorful chromatic runs and gospel riffs, wild bariolage and songful passage work, funk grooves and thrown bow strokes,” Stewart says. Invention #1: Double Down was composed in 2024 and commissioned by the Sphinx Organization for Tai Murray and Njioma Grevious, who are featured soloists on this record and have performed the work on tour at Carnegie Hall.
The final song on the album is Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Sinfonietta No. 2, "Generations”, composed in 1996. Perkinson was an American composer whose interests spanned jazz, dance, pop, film, television, and classical music. The inspiration for this included composition, though non-programmatic, is somewhat autobiographical in that it represents Perkinson’s attempts at “what were and are my relationships to members of my family,” including past and present. While each of the four movements is without a strict “formal” mode, the work’s clear jazz influences lift the spirit, and the surprise ending leaves listeners with a sense of effervescent delight.
American Mirror is Sphinx Virtuosi’s second album following their critically acclaimed debut, Songs for Our Times, released by Deutsche Grammophon in 2023, which was hailed as “a knockout” by Gramophone, who praised their “consistently polished and passionate performances.”
American Mirror Track Listing
1. Quenton Blache (2023) – Habari Gani [0:03:40]
2. – 5. Derrick Skye (2022, arr. 2024) – American Mirror, Part 1 [0:14:00]
3. Curtis Stewart (2024) – Drill for Prepared Drumset and Strings [0:08:00]
Josh Jones, percussion
7. – 9. Juantio Becenti (2000, arr. 2024) – Hané [0:10:00]
10. – 12. Andrea Casarrubios (2023) – Herencia [0:08:44]
13. – 14. Curtis Stewart (2024) – Invention #1: Double Down for two violins [0:06:00]
Tai Murray and Njioma Grevious, violins
15. – 18. Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1996) – Sinfonietta No. 2, "Generations" [0:19:20]
Total Time: [01:09:44]
Credits:
Catalogue No: 00028948677580
Recording Producer, Editor, and Mastering: Alan Bise
Recording Location: Van Cliburn Hall at Texas Christian University (March 10-11, 2024 – Habari Gani, Herencia, Sinfonietta No. 2, “Generations”), Goshen College Music Center (February 19-21, 2025 – American Mirror, Part I, Drill, and Hané), and Reservoir Studios (April 28, 2025 – Invention #1: Double Down for two violins)
Cover Art Photography: Goodyear Agency
About Sphinx Virtuosi
Sphinx Virtuosi is a dynamic, self-conducted chamber orchestra and the flagship performing ensemble of the Sphinx Organization, the nation’s leading nonprofit dedicated to transforming the arts. Comprising 18 of the nation’s most accomplished professional string players, Sphinx Virtuosi is redefining classical music through artistic excellence, pioneering programming, and cultural leadership.
Recognized for their artistry and commanding presence, Sphinx Virtuosi has been praised by The New York Times as “top-notch... more essential at this moment than ever.” The Strad lauds their “elegant ascent into the upper ranks of string orchestras,” a testament to their growing influence in the field. With performances that captivate audiences nationwide, their annual Carnegie Hall appearance has become a celebrated highlight of the fall season. Their critically acclaimed debut album, Songs for Our Times (Deutsche Grammophon) was hailed as “a knockout” by Gramophone, which praised their “consistently polished and passionate performances.”
Members of Sphinx Virtuosi are sought-after soloists, chamber musicians, and faculty members at top institutions. They have performed with major American orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, and the Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, Seattle, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras. Beyond the concert stage, they are artist-citizens, leading impactful community initiatives and fostering deep engagement with audiences worldwide.
Sphinx Virtuosi has collaborated with legendary artists such as Terence Blanchard, Denyce Graves, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Damien Sneed, Will Liverman, J’Nai Bridges, Abel Selaocoe, and Davóne Tines. Members of Sphinx Virtuosi have also worked with cultural icons like Beyoncé and Jay-Z, with high-profile appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and the GRAMMY Awards.
Sphinx Virtuosi Tours are made possible through the support of Robert F. Smith, JPMorgan Chase, and National Endowment for the Arts. Learn more at www.SphinxMusic.org/sphinx-virtuosi.
About Deutsche Grammophon
One of the most prestigious names in global classical music since its foundation in 1898, Deutsche Grammophon has always stood for the highest standards of artistry and sound quality. Home to the greatest artists of all time, the famous yellow label is a beacon to which music lovers all over the world look for outstanding musical interpretations, audio recordings and visual productions. Highly dedicated to the development of new repertoire in art music, Deutsche Grammophon fosters and promotes a whole range of popular contemporary artists and eminent composers. The label also prides itself on its innovative use of the latest technology to provide music digitally to audiences worldwide.
Deutsche Grammophon’s current artist roster boasts some of the most distinguished figures in classical and contemporary music today, including Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Seong-Jin Cho, Gustavo Dudamel, Elina Garanca, Hélène Grimaud, Hilary Hahn, Lang Lang, Bruce Liu, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Víkingur Ólafsson, Alice Sara Ott, Nadine Sierra, Grigory Sokolov, Daniil Trifonov, Yuja Wang, and Krystian Zimerman, as well as Joep Beving, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Joe Hisaishi, Agnes Obel, and Max Richter. In addition, the label’s catalogue represents the cultural legacy of whole generations of maestri and features recordings from many of the finest artists in music history, including Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Vladimir Horowitz, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Herbert von Karajan, Carlos Kleiber, Maurizio Pollini, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Andrés Segovia. Learn more at www.deutschegrammophon.com.
About Sphinx Organization
The Sphinx Organization is dedicated to transforming lives through the power of the arts and has reached more than 100 million people worldwide.
Focused on increasing representation in classical music and celebrating excellence, Sphinx programs serve beginner students, seasoned classical music professionals, cultural entrepreneurs, and artistic administrators by addressing the systemic lack of access within Black and Latino communities.
Based in Detroit, Michigan, with global reach, Sphinx envisions a day where every young person has the opportunity to express themselves and learn classical music, where audiences reflect the people we see on our streets, and where leadership – on stage and off – includes all deserving voices. We are working toward a future in which our art form reflects our greater society. Learn more at www.SphinxMusic.org.
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