Last year The Henry Ford, a multi-pronged nonprofit based in Dearborn, Michigan, approached the Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra with the idea to loan the orchestra one of its rare violins, part of an effort to provide greater access to its classical violin collection. During a weekend of activities in April 2012, the YSO will perform its 2011-12 season finale featuring violinist Gareth Johnson, a Laureate of the Sphinx Competition, performing on a rare 1703 Stradivari violin on loan from that collection. Johnson will also give a masterclass at Eastern Michigan University, perform in elementary schools in the Ypsilanti area, and at the Ford Museum’s Henry Ford Academy in Dearborn. The YSO, which has partnered with the Sphinx Organization every year since 2007 by featuring a Sphinx Competition winner at one of its concerts, is a community orchestra founded in 1999 by Adam Riccinto, currently serving as music director. The mission of the Sphinx Organization, founded in 1996 by violinist Aaron P. Dworkin, is to encourage the participation of blacks and Latinos in the field of classical music.
Posted July 11, 2011
