Violinist Allison Lovera wins the $3,500 in the Strings and Harp category

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Allison Lovera and Logan May

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The Sphinx Organization has announced the results of the 2025 Sphinx Orchestral Partners Auditions Excerpt Competition, which held its live round on 22 January at the SphinxConnect convening in Detroit, Michigan, US. Following the initial recorded submission round, the invited candidates competed in a live blind audition at Detroit’s Orchestra Hall.

In the Strings and Harp division, the first prize of $3,500 was awarded to Venezuelan violinist Allison Lovera, and the second prize of $1,000 to US bassist Logan May.

Lovera debuted as a soloist at the age of 13, performing with the Aragua Symphony Orchestra, and was a first violin in El Sistema’s Simon Bolivar Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel. She studied at the Chicago College of Performing Arts with Almita Vamos, and at the Rudi E Scheidt School of Music with Marcin Arendt.

Lovera has performed with numerous ensembles, including the Sphinx Virtuosi, and has won accolades such as the Maurice Hasson National Violin Competition first prize and the Luminarts Cultural Foundation String Fellowship Award.

May has studied with New York Philharmonic principal bassist Timothy Cobb at the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School. He won second prize at the 2021 International Society of Bassists’ Orchestral Competition

Prizes of $250 were also awarded respectively to the Most Outstanding musician for each instrument category, based on performance in the first round. Lovera and May received the prizes for violin and bass, while Roberto Switala won the prize for Most Outstanding Viola and Kamila Dotta the prize for Most Outstanding Cello.

The jury for the Strings and Harp division comprised Alex Kerr (concertmaster, Dallas Symphony Orchestra), Christian Colberg (principal viola, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra), Cole Randolph (cello, Detroit Symphony Orchestra), Joseph Conyers (principal bass, Philadelphia Orchestra) and Elisabeth Remy Johnson (principal harp, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra).

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