Sphinx Organization Announces 2023 Sphinx Medals Of Excellence Honorees

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Date: Tue, Jul 19, 2022 at 11:30 AM
Subject: Sphinx Organization Announces 2023 Sphinx Medals of Excellence Honorees
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For Immediate Release

SPHINX ORGANIZATION ANNOUNCES THE 2023 SPHINX MEDALS OF EXCELLENCE HONOREES CELEBRATING BLACK AND LATINX ARTISTS

Cellist Thomas Mesa, soprano Aundi Marie Moore, and composer Joel Thompson each to receive the award and a $50,000 career grant

L-r: Thomas Mesa, Aundi Marie Moore, and Joel Thompson

DETROIT, MICHIGAN (JULY 19, 2022) - The Sphinx Organization has announced the 2023 Medal of Excellence honorees: cellist Thomas Mesa, soprano Aundi Marie Moore, and composer Joel Thompson. The Sphinx Medal of Excellence is the organization's highest honor recognizing extraordinary classical Black and Latinx artists who early in their career demonstrate artistic excellence, outstanding work ethic, a spirit of determination, and an ongoing commitment to leadership and their communities. The medal comes with a $50,000 career grant.

This year Sphinx-the social justice organization dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts-celebrates its 25th anniversary. All three of the 2023 medal honorees are part of the anniversary concert events: Thomas Mesa is principal cellist of the Sphinx Virtuosi, the professional self-conducted chamber ensemble and Sphinx's flagship performing entity, and will be the soloist during the ensemble's fall tour in the newly commissioned work, Divided, by Jessie Montgomery (Sphinx Medal of Excellence 2020) including at Carnegie Hall on Thursday, October 13; Aundi Marie Moore will join the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra and EXIGENCE Vocal Ensemble as a guest soloist on two 25th anniversary concert performances at UMS Ann Arbor (Sunday, January 29) and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. (Tuesday, January 31); and Joel Thompson's Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, a widely acclaimed multi-movement choral work that memorializes the last words spoken by seven African-American men killed by police or other authority figures, will be performed at the two anniversary concerts by the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra and EXIGENCE Vocal Ensemble with members of The Washington Chorus joining them at the Kennedy Center. Thompson is also a founding member of Sphinx's EXIGENCE ensemble.

Sphinx President and Artistic Director, Afa S. Dworkin says:

"We are overjoyed to celebrate these brilliant artists this year. As thousands of artists were forced off the stage by the pandemic, each of our recipients served as beautiful examples of leadership and service. Joel's new compositions, including his rendition of Lift Every Voice, served as a source of refuge to his beloved EXIGENCE ensemble, Tommy personally commissioned and performed a whole series of composers to support fellow artists during a challenging time, and Aundi offered a series of motivational videos to empower her community of fellow artists. Their artistic pedigree is second to none and their dedication to excellence is authentically synonymous with the ethos of this award."

Since the inaugural Sphinx Medal of Excellence in 2012, the organization has bestowed nearly $5 million in scholarships and artist grants, nurtured 850 alumni and reached a live audience of 2 million per season. Past recipients include pianists Michelle Cann and Lara Downes, conductor Dr. Eugene Rogers, composers Jessie Montgomery and Carlos Simon, sopranos Julia Bullock, Raquel González and Ailyn Pérez, pianist/conductor/composer Damian Sneed, baritone Will Liverman, and bass-baritone Davóne Tines. View the full list of recipients here.

The winners will receive their medals on March 1, 2023 at a luncheon hosted by The Kennedy Center and a private Black-tie dinner in Washington, D.C.

THOMAS MESA

"It's an incredible honor to receive a Medal of Excellence from the Sphinx Organization and to join a roster of phenomenal artists who have received this acknowledgement. I want my voice as a cellist to be a vehicle for anyone who needs me. There are so many composers who have so much to say and they require a voice. I want to be the person they can rely on to follow them into the deep end of their world. The human experience is so complex and what we can share with each other is limitless."

Cuban-American cellist Thomas Mesa has established himself as one of the most charismatic, innovative, and engaging performers of his generation. He is the recipient of the First Prize in the Sphinx Competition , winning the inaugural Robert Frederick Smith Prize in 2016, and was a winner of the Astral Artists 2017 National Auditions. He has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras that include The Cleveland Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Madison Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and The Philadelphia Orchestra among numerous others. Highlights in the upcoming 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons include premiering and touring Jessie Montgomery's Divided for solo cello and orchestra, approximately thirty recitals, a residency at Colburn Conservatory, curating and performing chamber music programs with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and duo recording projects with Olga Kern, JP Jofre, and Michelle Cann. Next season's venues will include Carnegie Hall, Colburn School of Music, Kohler Foundation, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, The Supreme Court of the United States, and numerous others.
Mesa was the featured cover story on Strings Magazine, September/October 2020. He is the cello professor at The Conservatory of Music at SUNY Purchase College located in Purchase, New York.

Aundi Marie Moore

"The Sphinx Medal of Excellence represents the hopes, dreams, and uttered prayers that have come to life on my journey as a classical artist. My dreams are deeply rooted in the belief that Jeremiah 29:11 speaks personally to me: "For I know the plans I have for you thus saith the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I am so grateful that my steps are ordered but not in my wildest dreams that I would receive such a high honor as this. Thank you to the Sphinx Organization for believing in my talent and trusting that I will continue to bring excellence to the field of classical music."

Soprano Aundi Marie Moore established herself as an exceptional talent with her Metropolitan Opera debut as Strawberry Woman in the Met's 2020 production of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Previous operatic stage career highlights include Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at L'Opéra de Monte Carlo for her international debut, Nedda in I Pagliacci at Sarasota Opera, and Mimi in La Boheme at the Amalfi Coast Festival. A member of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera, Moore has appeared in numerous operas at WNO, including as the Fifth Maid in Elektra under the baton of Heinz Fricke, and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni conducted by Placido Domingo.
Moore completed her Masters of Music at the University of Michigan and her Bachelors degree at George Mason University. She participated in the Salzburg Music Festival Young Artist Program in 2008, covering the roles of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and the title role of Rusalka, and appeared as a featured soloist in the Gala concert conducted by Ivor Bolton.
Concert highlights include her performance with the New World Symphony for Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 under the baton of Steven Jarvi, as well as the National Symphony Orchestra's featured guest soloist for the Christmas Pops concert conducted by Marvin Hamlisch. Moore has won various accolades including the 2016 Bronze Medal at the American Traditions Competition in Savannah, Georgia, First Place at both Florida Grand Opera Young Patronesses Voice Competition and Vocal Arts Discovery Series of Washington DC, and was a finalist at Operalia.

JOEL THOMPSON

"I'm so grateful for this honor that the Sphinx Organization has bestowed upon me, and I feel even more gratitude for the investment they made in me six years ago as I was just discovering this path towards a career in composition. The first time I ever wrote for a full orchestra was when Sphinx commissioned me to orchestrate my Seven Last Words of the Unarmed for its 20th Anniversary. That opportunity allowed me to apply to a summer music festival which allowed me to show my music to brilliant pedagogues who then encouraged me to apply to esteemed academic institutions to further hone my craft, and my proximity to those institutions has opened many doors for me and allowed me to continue doing what I love, but it was Sphinx that pushed that first domino. The grant attached to the Medal of Excellence will not only allow me to sustain my artistry, but will also help me to create more equitable pipelines for young Black music-makers and community-builders, and to invest in their dreams, just as Sphinx did for me not too long ago. I hope this award will be a symbol of a continued partnership with the Sphinx Organization to create music-centered spaces for collective healing, transformation, and liberation."

Joel Thompson is an Atlanta-based composer, conductor, pianist, and educator, currently serving as composer-in-residence at the Houston Grand Opera and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Committed to creating space for healing and community through music, Thompson has collaborated with numerous orchestras including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.
Thompson is best known for his choral work, Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, which premiered in November 2015 by the University of Michigan Men's Glee Club conducted by Dr. Eugene Rogers (Sphinx Medal of Excellence 2017). In August 2021 he premiered another new work in Boulder at the Colorado Music Festival, To Awaken the Sleeper, setting the writings of James Baldwin to music.
His works have been performed by ensembles such as the Atlanta Master Chorale, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, EXIGENCE Vocal Ensemble, Los Angeles Master Chorale, San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, and Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. Currently a doctoral student at the Yale School of Music, Thompson was also a 2017 post-graduate fellow in Arizona State University's Ensemble Lab/Projecting All Voices Initiative and a composition fellow at the 2017 Aspen Music Festival and School, where he studied with composers Stephen Hartke and Christopher Theofanidis and won the 2017 Hermitage Prize. Thompson taught at Holy Innocents' Episcopal School in Atlanta from 2015 to 2017, and served as Director of Choral Studies and Assistant Professor of Music at Andrew College from 2013 to 2015. Thompson received a B.A. in Music and an M.M. in Choral Conducting, both from Emory University.

ABOUT THE SPHINX ORGANIZATION

The Sphinx Organization is a social justice organization dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. Sphinx's four program areas - Education & Access, Artist Development, Performing Artists, and Arts Leadership - form a pipeline that develops and supports diversity and inclusion in classical music at every level: music education, artists performing on stage, the repertoire and programing being performed, the communities represented in audiences, and the artistic and administrative leadership within the field.

Sphinx programs reach more than 100,000 students and artists, as well as live and broadcast audiences of more than two million annually. Read more about Sphinx's programs at SphinxMusic.org.

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Press contact:

Shuman Associates | Jennifer Scott
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