Columbus State University music student Samuel Vargus has been awarded first place in the senior division of the 2021 Sphinx Competition. The awards were announced from Detroit on Saturday.

Vargus, a Venezuelan-born violinist and student of Sergiu Schwartz, the William B. and Sue Marie Turner distinguished faculty chair in CSU’s Schwob School of Music, received the $50,000 Robert Frederick Smith Prize plus invitations to make a number of significant solo debuts with major orchestras in the future.

The Sphinx Competition is a national competition offering young Black and Latinx classical string players a chance to compete under the guidance of an internationally renowned panel of judges, and to perform with and receive mentorship from established professional musicians.

“These are the artists and leaders who are shaping the present and the future of the classical music industry,” Sphinx Organization President and Artistic Director Afa Dworkin told The Violin Channel. “What a privilege we have to support their careers and build a network so that they may innovate and collaborate.” 

Vargas represented CSU and the Schwob School of Music in the competition that included students from The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Rice University, Boston University, Northwestern University, and the University of Southern California.

Founded in 1997, The Sphinx Organization is the social justice organization dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts by forming a pipeline that develops and supports diversity and inclusion in classical music at every level: music education, artists performing on stage, the repertoire and programing being performed, the communities represented in audiences, and the artistic and administrative leadership within the field.

Vargas’ performance is available for viewing at: www.dptv.org/sphinx.