Maxim Eshkenazy is to conduct rising violin star Alexi Kenney

This Classic FM Radio Orchestra concert is scheduled for January 31, 2018 as part of “The Concertmasters” concert series

January 9, 2018, Sofia
Maxim Eshkenazy is to conduct a concert featuring rising violin star Alexi Kenney. The young American virtuoso is to make his Bulgarian debut as part of “The Concertmasters” concert series at the end of January. Alexi Kenney is to perform the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Violin Concerto in E minor alongside the Classic FM Radio Orchestra. The program also includes Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4, “Italian”, and Carl Maria von Weber’s Concertino for Clarinet and Orchestra, with young Bulgarian clarinetist Angelina-Ogniana Gotcheva as soloist. Ms. Gotcheva was awarded the Cantus Firmus prize at the 2017 Young Virtuosi Competition. The concert is to take place on January 31, 2018 at 7:30PM at Bulgaria Hall. This event is financed by the Sofia Municipality Cultural Program. Ticket prices range from 20 to 50 Bulgarian leva, and can be purchased at Cantus Firmus’s box-office at Bulgaria Hall, as well as online at www.ticketsbg.com.
“A talent to watch” is how the New York Times describes 23-year-old American violinist Alexi Kenney. He is the recipient of the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant. At the age of 19, Alexi won the 2013 Concert Artists Guild Competition, which led to a critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut recital. Born in Palo Alto, California in 1994, Alexi holds a Bachelor’s degree in music from the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he is currently completing his Artist Diploma as a student of Donald Weilerstein and Miriam Fried.
Highlights of Alexi’s 2017-2018 season include debuts with the Detroit, Columbus, California, and Amarillo symphonies, return engagements with the Santa Fe Symphony and the Las Vegas Philharmonic, as well as several recitals with pianist Renana Gutman at Carnegie Hall. Mr. Kenney made yet another successful appearance at Lincoln Center’s “Mostly Mozart Festival”. As a performer of chamber music, he has collaborated with such partners as Gidon Kremer, Christian Tetzlaff, and Steven Isserlis, among others.
Maxim Eshkenazy is one of Bulgaria’s most prominent conductors. In addition to creating and conducting the popular Fortissimo educational concert series, he has also been conducting a number of symphony concerts with the Classic FM Radio Orchestra, as part of the “Music of America” series, which has featured world-renowned musicians, such as Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Pinchas Zukerman, Midori Goto, and Elizabeth Pitcairn, to name a few. On January 31, 2018 Mr. Eshkenazy will team up on stage for the first time with America’s up-and-coming talent – Alexi Kenney.