Eighteen-year-old African American violinist Maria Sanderson is the latest Sphinx Competition Winner and she's coming to Buffalo.
The Sphinx Competition is held every year in Detroit, Michigan and is open to all Junior High, High School, and college-age black and Latino string players residing in the U.S. The Sphinx Competition offers young black and Latino classical string players a chance to compete under the guidance of an internationally renowned panel of judges and to perform with established professional musicians in a competition setting. Its primary goals are to encourage, develop and recognize classical music talent in the black and Latino communities.
Sanderson has attended Indiana University’s String Academy for nine years where she studies with Mimi Zweig. In 2014 she was a Sphinx Junior Division Semi-Finalist, then in 2015 a Junior Division 3rd Place Laureate, and then in 2016 she was the Junior Division 1st Place Laureate. She'll be in Buffalo traveling to various high schools as part of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra's "West Side Connection" program, will perform with the orchestra, but will also perform for the public in a free recital at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church 555 Northampton Street Buffalo 14208 (near Martin Luther King Park) at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 12.
She spoke with WNED|WBFO's Peter Hall.
