American Mirror Sphinx Virtuosi

• Quenton Blache: Habari Gani:
• 1 Blache: Habari Gani 03:38
• Derrick Skye (b. 1982): American Mirror, Pt. 1:
• 2 Skye: American Mirror, Pt. 1 (Mirror 1) 03:31
• 3 Skye: American Mirror, Pt. 1 (Mirror 2) 04:18
• 4 Skye: American Mirror, Pt. 1 (Mirror 3) 02:36
• 5 Skye: American Mirror, Pt. 1 (Mirror 4) 03:45
• Curtis Stewart (b. 1986): Drill for Prepared Drumset and Strings:
• 6 Stewart: Drill for Prepared Drumset and Strings 08:20
• Juantio Becenti: Hané:
• 7 Becenti: Hané (Pt. 1) 03:23
• 8 Becenti: Hané (Pt. 2) 04:03
• 9 Becenti: Hané (Pt. 3) 02:13
• Andrea Casarrubios (b. 1988): Herencia:
• 10 Casarrubios: Herencia (Pt. 1) 03:04
• 11 Casarrubios: Herencia (Pt. 2) 03:23
• 12 Casarrubios: Herencia (Pt. 3) 02:10
• Curtis Stewart: Invention #1: Double Down for 2 Violins:
• 13 Stewart: Invention #1: Double Down for 2 Violins (Pt. 1) 03:30
• 14 Stewart: Invention #1: Double Down for 2 Violins (Pt. 2) 03:36
• Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson )1932 - 2004): Sinfonietta No. 2 "Generations":
• 15 Perkinson: Sinfonietta No. 2 "Generations": I. Misterioso 06:25
• 16 Perkinson: Sinfonietta No. 2 "Generations": II. Alla sarabande 05:14
• 17 Perkinson: Sinfonietta No. 2 "Generations": III. Alla burletta 02:11
• 18 Perkinson: Sinfonietta No. 2 "Generations": IV. Allergo vivace 05:20
• Total Runtime 01:10:40

Info for American Mirror

Sphinx Virtuosi presents American Mirror, a bold new album that reflects the complexity, rhythm, and power of our shared stories.

Praised for playing with “a fire lit under every phrase” (The Boston Globe), the Sphinx Virtuosi, the flagship performing ensemble of the Sphinx Organization, releases its new album American Mirror digitally via Deutsche Grammophon on Friday, August 29, 2025. The album features new works by composers Quenton Blache, Derrick Skye, Curtis Stewart, Juantio Becenti, Andrea Casarrubios, and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, as well as performances by percussionist Josh Jones and violinists Tai Murray and Njioma Grevious. American Mirror’s cover is a mosaic of faces—each one a member of Sphinx Virtuosi, captured in a moment of reflection, pride, and artistry. This visual mirror holds up the group's identity, which is bold, diverse, and unmistakably American.

Luminous album opener Habari Gani, composed by Quenton Blache in 2023, owes its name to the Swahili greeting exchanged during the celebration of Kwanzaa. The ideals of unity and fellowship form the essence of this orchestral showpiece, where rhythm and dance lithely soar throughout. Habari Gani springs forward like the chatter of the latest news in a sub-Saharan community. On the score, Blache says, “What’s the news? The news is joyful, exuberant, and wondrous.” Habari Gani fuses the composer’s Cameroonian ancestral roots and character to form an electric string orchestra debut.

The titular American Mirror, Part 1, composed by Derrick Skye in 2022 and arranged for Sphinx Virtuosi in 2024, reflects on the coming together of cultures in American society, which comprises many generations and descendants of refugees, immigrants, and enslaved people, and how intercultural collaborations are essential to the well-being of American society. Melodically, the piece draws from West African, North African, and Eastern European vocal techniques and ornamentations, in addition to modal scales. Underneath these melodies, American Mirror, Part I employs open harmonies commonly found in Appalachian folk music, and also incorporates drones, a common accompaniment practice in many musical cultures.

Six-time GRAMMY-nominated violinist, composer, and Sphinx’s 24-25 Composer in Residence Curtis Stewart’s Drill takes the listener back to the pandemic, to the phenomenon of outside dining that swept New York City. Drill was composed in 2024 and features percussionist Josh Jones. Of the piece’s inspiration, Curtis Stewart says, “We would sit on Broadway, and let the chaos of the outside world soothe our restless souls, including the muscular roars of passing motorcycles and the wide cadence of ‘drill music’ up and down Broadway. I associate this music with outside, with release, despite its intricate, violent, and chaotic outer layer.” This work for prepared drumset and strings is Stewart’s “summer music,” his “hunter’s call,” his “field recording.” What happens when we bring that outside music inside? When the outside becomes the inside, how will it ring in our walls?

Hané (Story) by Navajo composer Juantio Becenti was composed in 2000 (arranged for string quartet in 2024) during a summer he spent at the Walden School for Young Musicians in New Hampshire at only 17 years old. Its intuitive voice marks the beginning of a compositional path that Becenti has continued to shape largely on his own terms. Since then, Becenti has been largely self-taught to preserve and express the intuitive nature of his compositional style. Of Diné (Navajo) descent, Becenti grew up in Aneth, Utah, near the Four Corners, Navajo Nation. The piece reflects his early embrace of storytelling or hané as a powerful vessel for memory, identity, and lived experience.

In her new work, composed in 2023 and titled Herencia, the Spanish word for both "inheritance" and "heritage," GRAMMY-nominated composer Andrea Casarrubios notes it is natural for the listener to wonder about the roots of the piece itself and the myriad stylistic threads with which it is woven. However, for this work, Casarrubios’ inspiration was not a particular musical "heritage" or genre; rather, it was the artists who would be playing it. “I envisioned the remarkable musicians of Sphinx Virtuosi taking the stage to play this piece, and I thought of how each individual has trailing behind them a unique history of unfathomable complexity; an epic that they bring to bear in every moment of performance,” Casarrubios says.

In Curtis Stewart’s second piece on the album, Invention #1: Double Down for two violins, the name plays on words. Specifically, the two-hand inventions made canonical by Bach, including the double-down violin bow stroke, which lends extra energy to rhythmic music, and doubling down on virtuosic elements presented in the Wieniawski and Prokofiev duos for two violins. “It is a scherzo moving between colorful chromatic runs and gospel riffs, wild bariolage and songful passage work, funk grooves and thrown bow strokes,” Stewart says. Invention #1: Double Down was composed in 2024 and commissioned by the Sphinx Organization for Tai Murray and Njioma Grevious, who are featured soloists on this record and have performed the work on tour at Carnegie Hall.

The final song on the album is Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Sinfonietta No. 2, "Generations”, composed in 1996. Perkinson was an American composer whose interests spanned jazz, dance, pop, film, television, and classical music. The inspiration for this included composition, though non-programmatic, is somewhat autobiographical in that it represents Perkinson’s attempts at “what were and are my relationships to members of my family,” including past and present. While each of the four movements is without a strict “formal” mode, the work’s clear jazz influences lift the spirit, and the surprise ending leaves listeners with a sense of effervescent delight.

American Mirror is Sphinx Virtuosi’s second album following their critically acclaimed debut, Songs for Our Times, released by Deutsche Grammophon in 2023, which was hailed as “a knockout” by Gramophone, who praised their “consistently polished and passionate performances.”

Sphinx Virtuosi
Josh Jones, percussion

The Sphinx Virtuosi
is a dynamic and inspiring professional self-conducted chamber orchestra and serves as the flagship performing entity of the Sphinx Organization, the leading nonprofit dedicated to transforming lives through the power of the arts. Comprised of 18 accomplished Black and Latino artists who reflect the highest level of musicianship in America, a critical aim of the Sphinx Virtuosi is to evolve the breadth and impact of classical music through artistic excellence, pioneering programming, and impassioned community engagement. Its members serve as cultural ambassadors for audiences and communities around the United States and abroad.

Since 2004, the Sphinx Virtuosi's concerts have been presented by leading arts organizations, including annual return visits to Carnegie Hall as an established highlight of the fall season. Frequently selling out venues, the ensemble has garnered effusive accolades, including from The New York Times, which has described the group as "top-notch ... more essential at this moment than ever ... a vibrant, assured performance." Their debut album, Songs for Our Times, was released on Deutsche Grammophon in July 2023 and represents the rich history of the Sphinx Organization, and the vibrant future of classical music by centering the artistry of extraordinary composers and artistic visionaries.

In an effort to expand its repertoire and engage new audiences, the ensemble commissions new works annually. Commissions have included major new works from Michael Abels, Terence Blanchard, Valerie Coleman, Xavier Foley, Ricardo Herz, Jimmy Lopez, Jessie Montgomery, Daniel Bernard Roumain, and Carlos Simon. Outside of the classical realm, its musicians have also worked with leading international artists such as Beyoncé and Jay-Z and made high-profile appearances, including on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and the broadcast of the 2022 GRAMMY Awards.

Josh Jones
A native of Chicago, Illinois, Josh Jones started hitting things at age two and received his first drum set at age three. Josh began his formal studies in percussion with the Percussion Scholarship Program under the direction of Chicago Symphony member Patricia Dash, and Chicago Lyric Opera member Douglas Waddell. He earned his bachelor’s in music from DePaul School of Music and was the orchestra fellow of both the Detroit and Pittsburgh symphonies. In 2022, Josh joined the Grant Park Festival Orchestra as Principal Percussionist. Josh has been featured at Carnegie Hall, on radio and television, and had two short documentaries made about his musical development and experience. He also authored a percussion method book series, “Spatial Studies for Hitting Things,” and writes musical and philosophical blogs on his website, drummojo.com. Josh really enjoys giving back to the community as well as mentoring young musicians and traveling.

This album contains no booklet.