This Violinist Films Exquisite Visual Album in Sonoma Wine Country

<p>In this episode of the <em>Classical Post Podcast</em>,&nbsp;concert violinist <a href="https://www.alexikenney.com/" target="_blank">Alexi Kenney</a> shares his experience of releasing a visual album (Paul Wianko’s <em>X Suite for Solo Violin</em>) earlier this year that was filmed in wine country at a fabulous estate in Sonoma, California.</p> <p><a href="https://www.thedonumestate.com/" target="_blank">The Donum Estate</a> was founded 20 years ago on 190 idyllic acres. Today, 91one those acres are planted with grapes such as pinot noir and chardonnay. But more interestingly, the grounds are dotted with an incredible sculpture collection of modern art.</p> <p>The resulting series of videos from this album — that you can <a href="https://youtu.be/eItkJk6jV1s" target="_blank">watch on YouTube</a> — features Alexi playing amidst this dynamic landscape of Vineyard-bliss and contemporary sculptures.</p> <p>He commissioned the composer <a href="http://paulwiancko.com/" target="_blank">Paul Wiancko</a> to write this work called <em><strong>X Suite for Solo Violin</strong></em>. The visual album pairs the seven movements with seven sculptures at this vineyard. The work originally premiered at London's prestigious Wigmore Hall in 2019. But now this is the <em>recording</em> premiere in multiple formats — the video on YouTube and audio recordings you can find on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/20OVANEHhtvstSWymjZ1FF?si=dn7jxHzDR7epeN2DukVDvg&amp;dl_branch=1" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, Apple Music, etc.</p> <p>Alexi is one of those people that sees art as "total art", encompassing not just what you hear, but what you see and experience in the physical world. I know I personally value this and want the classical music world to move in this direction. But for now, I want to highlight his viewpoint on just that — creating art music that's not in a vacuum, but inextricably tied to the visual experience.</p> <p>How is this valuable to you?</p> <p>Some might find art music esoteric, but I'm here to showcase Alexi's