Violinist returning to musical roots

When Bryan Hernandez-Luch joins Keith Lockhart and the Utah Symphony on Wednesday to open this year's Midsummer Mozart Festival, he'll be playing for some familiar faces.

Born in Provo, Hernandez-Luch grew up in Salt Lake City. He attended Skyline High School and Brigham Young University.

"I studied with Igor Gruppman at BYU for two years before I transferred to the Manhattan School of Music," the 25-year-old violinist said. Hernandez-Luch plans to graduate from the school in one or two years. How long he needs to finish his studies actually depends on whether he can find the time to study between concert appearances.

"Right now I'm looking at taking a leave of absence because of all the performances I've got coming up," Hernandez-Luch said.

The young artist has been caught up in a whirlwind of concert activity since the beginning of the year, thanks in large part to his placing first in the senior division at the Sphinx Competition in Michigan last February.

The Sphinx Organization, which sponsors the competition, was founded in 1996 to kindle a love of classical music among black and Latino youngsters. It encourages minority youth to overcome cultural stereotypes, and supports those who are eager to pursue music as a career.

"This is a pretty wonderful program," said Hernandez-Luch, who qualified for the competition because of his Peruvian heritage. "And it's fairly unique, too. There are no others like it that I know of."

The Sphinx Competition is limited to string players in the junior high school-to-college level. The competition takes place over several rounds. "You tape your performance for the preliminary round and send the tape in." Hernandez-Luch explained. "From that they choose 16 to 18 semifinalists, who travel to Detroit and spend about a week there."

The semifinal round is conducted in front of a panel of judges who select the finalists. In past years, the finalists have performed with an orchestra made up of African-American and Latino professionals, many of whom are Sphinx alumni. This year, however, they played with the Detroit Symphony. "I was fortunate enough to solo with the Detroit Symphony," Hernandez-Luch said. "It was a wonderful experience."

Because of the way in which it promotes classical music among minorities, Hernandez-Luch is an ardent supporter of the Sphinx Organization. "It