Santa Fe Symphony to get sudsy with violinist Alexi Kenney

Violinist Alexi Kenney is returning to Santa Fe to perform one of his favorite pieces.

The Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient will play Samuel Barber’s “Violin Concerto, op. 14” with the Santa Fe Symphony at the Lensic Performing Arts Center on Sunday, Feb. 18.

Kenney guesses the concert will mark “about” his seventh time playing in Santa Fe

“It was one of my first-ever performances when I was still in school,” he said in a telephone interview from New York. “I love going back. I love the people there.”

Born in Palo Alto, California, Kenney first picked up a tiny violin at the age of 4.

“All credit goes to my mom,” he said. “My mom was not a musician, but she recognized when she’d play music on the radio, I would perk up — even when I was in the crib.”

The violin was petite enough for small hands to grasp.

“For a long time, you can’t make a good sound on the instrument,” Kenney said. “What sparked my interest was collaboration — getting to play with my friends.”

Growing up in the Bay Area had its advantages, he said.

“I feel very fortunate to have grown up there,” Kenney said. “There’s a lot of private and subsidized student orchestras.”

Today, the Barber Violin Concerto is one of the most-played and most-recorded concertos of the 20th century.

In 1939, Samuel Fels, who made a fortune selling soap, commissioned Barber to write a concerto for his violin-playing son. The deal was for $500 up front, and another $500 upon completion.

Barber filled the first two movements of his new concerto with lush, song-like passages. But the son was disappointed — not flashy enough, he said. Barber reacted by writing him a vigorous finale — with the solo part in almost perpetual motion. But the soap heir wasn’t up to it.

Barber was in danger of losing his commission money. Another musician was brought in to have a go at the supposedly unplayable music. It turned out that the piece could be performed after all, and it was agreed that Barber would receive the full commission fee.

The composer ended up having his own private nickname for the piece. He called it the “Concerto da Sapone,” the Soap Concerto.

“I love playing this piece,” Kenney said. “We don’t really have another great Romantic violin concerto.

“Even from the first note, there’s something arresting about it,” he continued. “I always feel like it opens the curtains on the vast American landscape.”

Orchestra conductor Guillermo Figueroa will give a free 30-minute preview talk about the concert at 3 p.m.