22 year old Venezuelan violinist Ruben Rengel has just minutes ago been awarded the $50,000 Senior 1st Prize at the 2018 21st Annual Sphinx Competition, in Detroit, USA.
The annual competition, open to American Black and Latino Junior High, High School and College students, is aimed at the encouragement, development and recognition of classical music talent in the Black and Latino communities.
A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and current post graduate student at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Jaime Laredo and Paul Kantor, Ruben is a former prize winner at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
2nd prize was awarded to 19 year old cellist Gabriel Martins.
3rd prize and this year’s audience prize were awarded to 21 year old violinist Randall Goosby.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z_KG5SVuhs
In the Junior Division, 1st prize was awarded to 17 year old cellist Levi Powe.
2nd and 3rd prizes were awarded to 15 year old violinist Sophia Ayer and 14 year old violist Sophia Ines Valenti.
This year’s jury comprised: Pamela Frank, Juan-Miguel Hernandez, Jaime Laredo, Rachel Barton Pine, Sharon Robinson, Dmitry Sitkovetsky and Peter Wiley.
