Alexi Kenney
Alexi Kenney joins WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab for 2023
Violinist Alexi Kenney has been selected to join WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab for 2023. This innovative program is designed to support classical music artists in the creation of original work and in connecting with new audiences.
As part of the APL, five new artists – Zlatomir Fung, Briana Hunter, Alexi Kenney, Curtis Stewart, and Shelley Washington – will be given the space and support to create new work and to share their diverse perspectives and projects with radio, digital, and in-person audiences. Each artist is committed to expanding conventional ideas about Western classical music and making the artform more relevant to a new generation of listeners.
The APL was founded during the early days of the pandemic to support musicians when live performance came to a standstill. The program now continues as a way to give artists a venue for experimentation and greater exposure for their work. Over 100 artists were nominated by a committee of over 55 experts in the music field, including presenters, educators, and leadership organizations that support young musicians.
Alexi Kenney is forging a career that defies categorization, following his interests, intuition, and heart. He has appeared as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Indianapolis Symphony, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, among many others, in recital at Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, 92nd Street Y, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and in a play-conduct role as guest leader of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. In early 2023, he will debut Shifting Ground, a solo violin recital that interweaves Bach with contemporary works (including two commissioned compositions by Salina Fisher and Angélica Negrón), at Cal Performances, Celebrity Series Boston, Princeton University Concerts, and the Phillips Collection. A sought-after chamber musician, Alexi regularly performs at festivals including Chamber Music Northwest, ChamberFest Cleveland, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, La Jolla, Marlboro, Ojai, Seattle, and Spoleto, and as a member of the new quartet collective Owls, alongside violist Ayane Kozasa, cellist Gabe Cabezas, and cellist/composer Paul Wiancko.