Of the many musical riches being ushered into our town courtesy of CAMA (Community Arts Music Association), the most adventurous-while-accessible item on the season roster arrives at the Lobero Theatre on Friday, March 15, in the form of the Sphinx Virtuosi. Making their Santa Barbara debut, this widely praised and “conductor-less” chamber ensemble, composed of gifted musicians of color performing music of composers of color, was founded in 2004 and is enjoying a relevance and its strongest stride yet.
An important public-linked arm of the mothership Sphinx Organization — “dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts” — the Virtuosi has built up an impressive roster of connections through the group and its individual players, alongside a healthy practice of commissioning new music. That commissioned composer list includes Terence Blanchard, Jessie Montgomery, Carlos Simon, and Valerie Coleman. They have collaborated with Blanchard, Davóne Tines, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and Denyce Graves, and made appearances at the Grammy Awards and on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
This is one serious music endeavor with fingers on multiple pulses, including the pulse of advancing racial parity in the arts.