A 19-year-old cellist from New Haven took top honors in the Fifth Annual Finals Concert of the Sphinx Competition held in Detroit.
The Sunday competition featured black and Latino string players from around the county.
Patrice Jackson performed pieces by Haydn and Elgar for her first-place honors. Bryan Hernandez-Luch, a 24-year-old violinist from West Valley City, Utah, took second. Carl St. Jacques, a 21-year-old violist from Bloomington, Ind., placed third.
The first-place winner gets to appear as a soloist with several symphonies, including those in Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston and Baltimore.
The competition also featured a performance by saxophonist Branford Marsalis.
The Sphinx Competition is produced each year by the Sphinx Organization, a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote arts education, awareness and presentation. The competition is open to blacks and Latinos under age 27.
–Associated Press