Newtown Friends of Music will introduce a young rising star — violinist Alexi Kenney — to audiences at Edmond Town Hall on Sunday, November 23, at 3 pm.  Mr Kenney was the winner of the 2013 Concert Artists Guild International Competition.

Accompanying him on the Knabe concert grand will be French pianist Yannick Rafalimanana, performing a number of violin sonatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, Leoš Janáek, Robert Schumann, Johann Paul von Westhoff, and Ludwig van Beethoven. All works composed over three centuries, the concert promises to delight listeners of all ages.

Mr Kenney is an extremely creative, sensitive and elegant violinist. He communicates to his listeners with depth and unusual sense of musical style.

He also won the 2013 CAG Victor Elmaleh Competition at the age of 19. Awards also include top prizes at Yehudi Menuhin International Competition (2012), Mondavi Center Competition (2010), and 2013 Kronberg Academy master classes.

Mr Kenney has been praised for his “beautiful, aching tone” by Strings magazine for a performance of the Sibelius Concerto with China Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing. He has given recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Napa’s Festival del Sole, and the Mondavi Center, and has been featured on NPR’s “From the Top.”

Recent chamber music performances include those at Carnegie Hall, as part of a week-long residency studying with Takács Quartet; The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and Jordan Hall in Boston; and a tour with Musicians from Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute and Miriam Fried.

Born in Palo Alto, Calif., Mr Kenney attends New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he studies with Donald Weilerstein and Miriam Fried on The Richard Elias Scholarship. Previous teachers include Wei He, Jenny Rudin, and Natasha Fong.

French pianist Yannick Rafalimanana has developed an international concert career, performing recitals and chamber music concerts regularly throughout Europe, the United States, and Africa. He won first prize in the 2012 Tufts/New England Conservatory Soloist Competition, a prize that led him to appear as a soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra in Symphony Hall in Boston in May 2012.

Mr Rafalimanana has won numerous awards and prizes, including the Bruxelles J-Musiciens Competition, Brest Piano Competition, and the International Ravel Academy’s Rotary-Lions Competition.

As a soloist he has performed regularly with Orchestre CNR de Lille, Orchestre Impromptu, and the Ensemble Parisien. He recently founded and conducted the LFO, a chamber music orchestra based in Boston, involving NEC students, with whom he has also played as a soloist.

Tickets for the November 23 performance are $25, cash or check only, and can be reserved by sending a check and self-addressed, stamped envelope to Newtown Friends of Music, PO Box 295, Newtown CT 06470-0295.

Remaining tickets will also be sold at the box office of Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street, beginning at 2 pm the day of the concert.

Students K-12 will be admitted free of charge when accompanied by a ticket-holding adult, as are students with a valid student ID.

Edmond Town Hall is handicap accessible. An informal reception following the concert will offer concert goers the opportunity to meet and mingle with the musicians.

For information regarding this and other concerts and to print out an order form, or to learn more about Newtown Friends of Music, visit NewtownFriendsOfMusic.org. Additional information is also available by calling 203-426-6470.