The Wichita Symphony Orchestra’s new WSO Connect series launched in July with a sold-out collaboration at Somewhere Works, pairing Brazil’s Alejandro Brittes Trio with a Wichita Symphony string quartet in a black-box setting that put listeners within arm’s reach. The excitement around unusual repertory in fresh spaces was obvious.

That spirit continues Saturday, October 4, when violinist Alexi Kenney brings “Shifting Ground” to Friends University’s Sebits Auditorium. The program threads solo Bach through music by living composers, with electronics and projected films by media artist Xuan. Since the program’s debut in 2023, it has been featured at prestigious venues such as California’s Ojai Festival. 

The following afternoon, Kenney will be back on stage at Century II for the opening of WSO’s 2025-26 Masterworks series, appearing as soloist in the Korngold Violin Concerto. This 1945 work evokes the “Hollywood” orchestral sound that Korngold, through his scores for films such as “The Adventures of Robin Hood” and “The Sea Hawk,” helped define. Kenney will be required to exhibit extreme virtuosity. It should be quite a spectacle. 

Also on Sunday’s program: “Rainbow Body,” by living composer Christopher Theofanidis, and Paul Hindemith’s “Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber.” After last season’s successful outing with Hindemith’s “Mathis der Maler” Symphony, music director Daniel Hege doubles down — a vote of confidence in both a lesser-known composer and the audience’s curiosity.

— Sam Jack writes on classical music, opera, and other topics for The SHOUT.

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