Violinist Alexi Kenney curates daring SoundBox concert

Kenney brings unusual and unforgettable music to the San Francisco Symphony's experimental black box space

Published on Feb. 7, 2026

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Star violinist and Bay Area native Alexi Kenney curated the San Francisco Symphony's latest SoundBox concert, "Dream Awake," which featured a program of avant-garde and experimental works by composers like Iannis Xenakis, György Kurtág, and György Ligeti. The concert, held in the Symphony's intimate Zellerbach A rehearsal studio, pushed the boundaries of traditional classical music with intense, mathematically-informed compositions as well as more accessible works by rising composers.

Why it matters

The SoundBox series allows the San Francisco Symphony to explore more adventurous and unconventional programming in a relaxed, intimate setting, appealing to a younger audience and showcasing the orchestra's versatility. Kenney's curation of "Dream Awake" demonstrates the Symphony's commitment to highlighting new and challenging music, as well as elevating the work of emerging composers.

The details

The concert opened with a performance of Iannis Xenakis' percussive work "Peaux," which featured complex, interlocking rhythms that were "loud" yet still managed to convey subtleties. This was followed by selections from György Kurtág's expressionist song cycle "Kafka Fragments" performed by Kenney and soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon. Later in the evening came a concerto by another 20th-century avant-garde composer, György Ligeti. The program also included more accessible works like Andrew Norman's virtuosic violin octet "Gran Turismo" and a Kenney arrangement of Terry Riley's "Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector." Among the new compositions were Nina Shekhar's "Above the Fray," which deconstructed Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 Prelude, and Peter S. Shin's "Screaming Shapes," which blended live instrumentalists with a pre-recorded track.

  • The concert took place on Friday, February 6, 2026.

The players

Alexi Kenney

A 32-year-old violinist and Palo Alto native who is a San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra alumnus. He curated the "Dream Awake" SoundBox concert and performed works by Ligeti and Riley.

Lucy Fitz Gibbon

A soprano who performed selections from György Kurtág's "Kafka Fragments" with Kenney.

Radu Paponiu

The conductor who led the performance of Kaija Saariaho's "Parfum de l'instant" from her orchestral song cycle "Quatre Instants."

San Francisco Symphony

The orchestra that presented the SoundBox concert series in its intimate Zellerbach A rehearsal studio.

SoundBox

A spinoff concert series of the San Francisco Symphony that features more adventurous and experimental programming in a relaxed, black box-style setting.

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What they’re saying

“That might have been a little intense,”

— Alexi Kenney (sfchronicle.com)

The takeaway

The SoundBox concert series allows the San Francisco Symphony to push the boundaries of traditional classical music, appealing to a younger audience and showcasing the orchestra's versatility. Alexi Kenney's curation of "Dream Awake" demonstrates the Symphony's commitment to highlighting new and challenging compositions, as well as elevating the work of emerging composers.