“For Venezuelan-American Erica Snowden-Rodriguez, the Sphinx Organization made all the difference in the cellist’s pursuit of a career as a classical musician,” writes Kerry Clawson in Tuesday’s (11/13) Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio). “Snowden-Rodriguez, raised in Buffalo and now principal cellist for the Akron Symphony Orchestra … was used to being one of only two Latinx musicians in high school orchestra…. As a junior in the Sphinx Competition in 2008, the musician was blown away seeing the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, comprised solely of young African-American and Latinx musicians, at the University of Michigan. ‘It kind of changes the way the mind perceives what an orchestra looks like,’ the cellist, 31, said Tuesday… Snowden-Rodriquez … tours nationwide with Sphinx Virtuosi, a chamber orchestra comprised of the nation’s top Latinx and African-American string players…. Snowden-Rodriguez is now active with the National Alliance for Audition Support…. The Akron Symphony recently joined more than 40 partner orchestras in the initiative, which offers African-American and Latinx musicians everything from audition preparation to financial support for travel.… Snowden-Rodriguez, on the artistic advisory board for the Akron Symphony, has had conversations … about programming more works by people of color and women.” The National Alliance for Audition Support is a program of the Sphinx Organization, the New World Symphony, and the League of American Orchestras. Click here to learn more.
Posted November 15, 2018
In photo: Cellist Erica Snowden-Rodriguez spoke Tuesday on “Music Without Barriers,” sponsored by the Akron Symphony Guild. (Credit: Phil Masturzo/Beacon Journal/Ohio.com)
