toledoblade.com --

DETROIT - From the strikingly beautiful extemporized version of the "Star Spangled Banner" to the emphatic finale of Michael Abels' "Delights and Dances," the debut concert by the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra yesterday in Orchestra Hall was an artistic triumph and a marvel of institutional collaboration.

Under the sensitive baton of Chelsea Tipton II, the touring orchestra was nothing less than professional in its performance of works tracing the history of classical music from Baroque and Classical standards to late-breaking compositions reflecting today's society.

Actually, professional-level playing was just the starting point for this youthful yet seasoned group of 18 musicians making its first national tour under the auspices of the Sphinx Organization. Their sound and style ride on exquisite technique, fresh and convincing enthusiasm, and the highest artistry.

A trio of presenters gathered on stage, eager musicians seated behind, to celebrate the event and the behind-the-scenes cooperation necessary to bring it off.

"This is a day about music and about passion," exulted Anne Parsons, president of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, one of the presenters.

Still, Aaron Dworkin, who founded Sphinx in 1998, had the last word.

"In the history of our country, there has never been an orchestra of black and Latino performers on tour. It involves great risk," he said before introducing Tipton and violinists Elena Urioste and Melissa White.

Urioste and White presented an elegant, innovative, and thoroughly patriotic rendition of our National Anthem while the audience - diverse in every way - stood enrapt.

Then it was on to the "Presto" from Mozart's Divertimento in D Major, given a light but wonderfully nuanced performance. Urioste, who is touring with the SCO as a soloist, returned for "Winter in Buenos Aires," from Piazzolla's marvelous Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. Playing a 1750 Bergonzi instrument on longtime loan, Urioste sent a husky, warm sound spinning through the historic hall in a virtuosic performance given precise and subtle support by the SCO.

After infusing spirit and caprice into the fugue from Villa-Lobos's Bacchianas Brasileiras No. 9, the orchestra turned tender in a sensitive performance of George Walker's Lyric for Strings. A mid-20th century work, it married the tenderness of Samuel Barber with the surprising acidity of contemporary composers such as Arvo Part. Tipton and the SCO pulled out every bit of subtlety and contrast in a beautiful performance.

The astonishingly vital Harlem Quartet - violinists Ilmar Gavilan and White, violist Juan- Miguel Hernandez, and the memorable cellist Desmond Neysmith - wrapped up the first half with a portion of Wynton Marsalis's intense, engaging "Hellbound Highball."

Violinists Gavilan, Urioste, White, and the enfant terrible of the group, 15-year-old Clayton Penrose-Whitmore, delivered a solid and convincing account of Vivaldi's beloved Concerto for 4 Violins and Orchestra.

But the best work came last: Michael Abels' engaging Delights and Dances, commissioned to mark the first decade of Sphinx, and given a rapturous reading by the Harlem Quartet and the SCO.

Contact Sally Vallongo at:
svallongo@theblade.com.

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