2024 Sphinx Medals of Excellence Honorees Announced

The Sphinx Organization awarded its highest honor to conductor Kalena Bovell, tenor David Portillo, and VC Young Artist cellist Sterling Elliott

Recognizing extraordinary Black and Latinx classical musicians, the Sphinx Medal of Excellence comes with a $50,000 career grant.

The Sphinx Organization, which is dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts, aims to recognize artists who early in their career demonstrate artistic excellence and display an outstanding work ethic, a spirit of determination, and an ongoing commitment to leadership and their communities.

The 2024 Sphinx Medals of Excellence honorees include conductor Kalena Bovell, cellist Sterling Elliott, and tenor David Portillo.

Cellist and VC Young Artist Sterling Elliott is a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and the winner of the Senior Division of the 2019 National Sphinx Competition. Named the 2023 YCAT Robey Artist, Sterling will fulfill an ambassadorial role in partnership with Music Masters in London, delivering workshops and engaging with young learners in schools across the United Kingdom. He was recently selected by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for its Bowers Program, a three-year residency for exceptionally talented young artists. Sterling has performed with major orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Sterling will be pursing an Artist Diploma at Juilliard under the tutelage of Joel Krosnick and Clara Kim. He performs on a 1741 Gennaro Gagliano cello on loan through the Robert F. Smith Fine String Patron Program, in partnership with the Sphinx Organization.

Panamanian-American conductor Kalena Bovell is the 2023 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient — the highest honor given by the Sphinx Organization — in addition to being a 2022-2024 Awardee of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship. Bovell's 2023-2024 season sees her traverse Canada, the U.S., and Switzerland where she will make debut performances with the Louisiana Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, and the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera.  She has been featured as the conductor on the Chineke! Orchestra’s 2022 album — Coleridge-Taylor, a celebration of the eponymous African-British composer.

Tenor David Portillo has performed leading roles on opera stages around the world, including Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Deutsche Opera Berlin, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Glyndebourne Festival, Opera Philadelphia, Opera Australia at the Sidney Opera House, and the Wiener Staatsoper. The Metropolitan Opera has seen Mr. Portillo in major tenor roles in The Magic Flute, The Merry Widow, The Barber of Seville, and Dialogues of the Carmelites among others. He has premiered roles in new operas, including Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves, Thomas Ades’ The Exterminating Angel, and he just recently created Johnathan Harker in John Corigliano’s Lord of Cries at the Santa Fe Opera. In concert, Mr. Portillo has sung with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, the New York Choral Society at Carnegie Hall, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Bayerrische Rundfunk Orchester at the Salzburger Festspiele, and the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal conducted by Yannick Nézet–Séguin.

"Sphinx has been the backbone in my musical life providing community and mentorship since I was 12 years old," Sterling Elliott said. "I’m incredibly grateful for the enriching experience I had playing alongside inspirational friends in programs such as Sphinx Performance Academy, Sphinx Competition, and Sphinx Virtuosi.

"These opportunities continue to provide a plethora of representation with leading artists of colors, and the chances for young musicians to become the stars we’ve always looked up to," he continued. "Having grown up in this wonderful family, I am absolutely honored to be awarded the Sphinx Medal of Excellence!"