In an intrepid act of programming, the insightful young violinist Alexi Kenney matches well-loved solo works by J.S. Bach with new compositions by the best and brightest voices in contemporary music. Kenney, a recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant, enjoys melding the new with the old, the familiar with the undiscovered, and here highlights the spiritual and mystical dimensions of Bach’s music. The revered Chaconne from the Partita in D minor is the jewel at the center of Kenney’s recital, illuminating recent works for solo violin (with and without electronics) by a host of contemporary composers. The title Shifting Ground references the heart of all Baroque music—the omnipresent ground bass—upon which variations are built. “Spellbinding…[an] architect’s eye for structure and space and a tone that ranges from the achingly fragile to full-bodied robustness” (The New York Times).

This performance is made possible, in part, by Art Berliner and Marian Lever.