BREAKING | Prizes Awarded at Detroit’s Junior Sphinx Competition

14-year-old Esme Arias-Kim has been awarded 1st prize in the Junior Division of the 2020 Sphinx Competition

14-year-old Esme Arias-Kim from Chicago has just minutes ago been awarded 1st prize in the Junior Division of the 2020 Sphinx Competition - in Detroit.

A student of Almita Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago, Esme is a former 1st prize winner at the Rockford Symphony Orchestra and New York International Artists Association Concerto Competitions.

Open to American Black and Latino classical string soloists under 18-years of age, Esme will receive US $10,000, a number of solo concerto engagements plus a nationally-broadcast radio appearance on ‘From The Top‘.

2nd prize was awarded to 14-year-old cellist Brandon Leonard, from Stone Mountain, Georgia.

3rd prize was awarded to Sophia Ayer from Austin, Texas.

The 2020 jury comprised: Beverly Kane Baker, Lena Fankhauser, Pamela Frank, Bella Hristova, Charlotte Lee, Melissa Kraut and Tito Muñoz.

As the competition’s official online broadcast partner, The Violin Channel will be streaming the 2020 Sphinx Competition Senior Competition Final on Saturday the 8th of February – live from Detroit.

ESME ARIAS-KIM | MOZART | VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 4 IN D MAJOR | 1ST MVT | CARLOS ANDRES BOTERO & SPHINX HONORS ORCHESTRA | 2020 SPHINX COMPETITION | 1ST PRIZE

BRANDON LEONARD | BOCCHERINI | CELLO CONCERTO IN B-FLAT MAJOR | 1ST MVT | CARLOS ANDRES BOTERO & SPHINX HONORS ORCHESTRA | 2020 SPHINX COMPETITION | 2ND PRIZE

SOPHIA AYER | VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 4 IN D MAJOR | 1ST MVT | CARLOS ANDRES BOTERO & SPHINX HONORS ORCHESTRA | 2020 SPHINX COMPETITION | 3RD PRIZE