Alexi Kenney - Biography

The recipient of a 2020 Borletti Buitoni Trust Award and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, violinist Alexi Kenney has been named “a talent to watch” by the New York Times, which also noted his “architect’s eye for structure and space and a tone that ranges from the achingly fragile to full-bodied robustness.”

Building a career that defies categorization, following his interests and intuition, Alexi is equally at home creating experimental programs and commissioning new works, soloing with major orchestras, and playing chamber music with some of the most esteemed musicians of our time.

Alexi has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Detroit, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Oregon, Columbus, California, Portland, and Omaha Symphonies, the St. Paul and Lausanne Chamber Orchestras, and in recital at Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, 92nd Street Y, the Phillips Collection, and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern festival.

Chamber music continues to be a major focus of Alexi’s life, performing at festivals including Marlboro, Bridgehampton, ChamberFest Cleveland, Festival Napa Valley, Kronberg, Music@Menlo, Prussia Cove, and Ravinia. He is a member of The Bowers Program at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and has been a guest leader/concertmaster of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

Born in Palo Alto, California in 1994, Alexi is a graduate of the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Donald Weilerstein and Miriam Fried. He plays a violin made by Stefan-Peter Greiner in 2009.

Outside of music, Alexi enjoys hojicha, design, baking for friends, and walking for miles on end in whichever city he finds himself, listening to podcasts and Bach on repeat.

Alexi participated in BBT’s 20th-anniversary celebrations at London’s Wigmore Hall, June 2023.

The Borletti-Buitoni Trust is an extraordinary organisation, headed by people with heart, imagination and wisdom, and it has been a beacon of hope for me during this difficult time. Being able to dream up future projects knowing that I have support from the BBT to make them happen has provided me with the peace of mind to create freely. I am so grateful for their unwavering support, both financially and creatively, and feel deeply honoured to be included on their roster.

Photographs by Simon Weir