A total of $100,000 will be awarded to help support ten musicians’ projects
The Sphinx Organization has announced the ten recipients of its annual MPower Artist Grants. The organisation awards a total of $100,000 to the ten artists. The initiative aims to address each individual’s creative needs and career objectives in classical music. Four of the ten recipients are string players. They are: Alejandra Switala, Christopher Johnson, Francesca McNeeley and Lev Mamuya.
Mexican–American violinist Alejandra Switala will launch a chamber music series with Pilsen Classical with the grant support. The series aims to redefine the concert experience and amplify her voice as a curator and social entrepreneur. Switala won second prize in the Sphinx Competition’s Senior Division in 2023.
Bassist Christopher Johnson is a graduate of both the New England Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music, and has played with orchestras including the New Haven Symphony, New York Philharmonic and Philadelphina Orchestra. The MPower grant will support his Brooklyn-based curated performance series Strauss Hauss. The initiative engages audiences and aims to build a community that values and fairly compensates artists.
Haitian–American cellist Francesca McNeeley enjoys a career as a chamber musician, orchestral player and modern music advocate. She is a graduate of Rice University and the New England Conservatory. The MPower grant will help McNeeley bring attention to Haiti’s classical music legacy by connecting with composers and accessing rare archival materials.
Cellist Lev Mamuya won the Junior Division of the 2013 Sphinx Competition at the age of 16. He has appeared as a soloist with the Florida Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, South Bend Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic and Brevard Concert Orchestra. He will use the MPower grant to realise his project of integrating complex electronic elements into his latest work.
Non-string recipients of the MPower Artist Grants are singers Brittney Bryanna Burgess, Dr Lori Hicks, Karen Slack and LaRob K. Rafael, oboist Jose Hernandez Romero and arts manager Mariah C. Forde.
Read: 2025 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipients honoured
Read: Postcard from Detroit: Sphinx Competition and SphinxConnect convention
The number one source for playing and teaching books, guides, CDs, calendars and back issues of the magazine.
In The Best of Technique you’ll discover the top playing tips of the world’s leading string players and teachers. It’s packed full of exercises for students, plus examples from the standard repertoire to show you how to integrate the technique into your playing.
The Strad’s Masterclass series brings together the finest string players with some of the greatest string works ever written. Always one of our most popular sections, Masterclass has been an invaluable aid to aspiring soloists, chamber musicians and string teachers since the 1990s.
The Canada Council of the Arts’ Musical Instrument Bank is 40 years old in 2025. This year’s calendar celebrates some its treasures, including four instruments by Antonio Stradivari and priceless works by Montagnana, Gagliano, Pressenda and David Tecchler.
No comments yet