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Alisa Weilerstein

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American cellist (born 1982)
Alisa Weilerstein
Weilerstein in 2012
Background information
Born (1982-04-14) April 14, 1982 (age 42)
Rochester, New York, US
GenresClassical
InstrumentCello
Websitewww.alisaweilerstein.com
Musical artist
Camille Saint-Saëns's "Le cygne" (The Swan) (2:56) Weilerstein and Jason Yoder (marimba) perform Camille Saint-Saëns's "Le cygne" (The Swan) from The Carnival of the Animals at the White House Evening of Classical Music (November 2009)
Audio only
Problems playing these files? See media help.

Alisa Weilerstein (born April 14, 1982) is an American classical cellist. She was named a 2011 MacArthur Fellow.

Life and career

Weilerstein was born in Rochester, New York. to a secular Jewish family. She started playing the cello at age four. She made her debut at age 13 with the Cleveland Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme. As a soloist she has performed with a number of other major orchestras on four continents. She also is active in chamber music and performs with her parents, violinist Donald Weilerstein (the founding first violinist of the Cleveland Quartet) and pianist Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, as the Weilerstein Trio. The trio currently resides at the New England Conservatory in Boston. Her brother is the violinist and conductor Joshua Weilerstein (born in 1987). She is married to Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare.

Weilerstein has received a number of honors. In 2000–01, she won an Avery Fisher Career Grant and was selected to play in the ECHO "Rising Stars" program and Chamber Music Society II, the young artists' program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In 2004 she graduated from Columbia University in New York City with a BA in Russian history. In 2006 she was awarded the Leonard Bernstein Prize at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. In 2011 she received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant".

A champion of contemporary music, Weilerstein has worked extensively with composers Osvaldo Golijov, Lera Auerbach and Joseph Hallman. She performed the New York premiere of Golijov's Cello Concerto "Azul" at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, the world premiere of Auerbach's 24 Preludes for Cello and Piano at the Caramoor International Music Festival, Auerbach's transcription of Shostakovich Op. 34 for Cello and Piano at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and Hallman's Cello Concerto with the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

In May 2016, she premièred Outscape, Pascal Dusapin's second cello concerto, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, to positive critical reception.

In March 2017, at Symphony Hall, she performed the world premiere of Matthias Pintscher's concerto for cello and orchestra "un despertar" with the Boston Symphony Orchestra to critical acclaim. She plays a 1730 Domenico Montagnana cello.

Since 2013, she has been married to Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare. They have two daughters.

In 2023, she began a six-chapter series of concerts called "FRAGMENTS," multisensory solo cello productions combining 27 new commissions with Bach’s solo cello suites.

Discography

  • Beethoven Cello Sonatas, PENTATONE, PTC 5186884 (2022)
  • Bach Cello Suites, PENTATONE, PTC 5186751 (2020)
  • Old Souls – Chamber Music for Flute and Strings with Gili Schwarzman, Guy Braunstein, Amihai Grosz, Susanna Yoko Henkel (Antonín Dvořák, Ludwig van Beethoven, Hugo Wolf, Fritz Kreisler) PENTATONE PTC 5186815 (2019)
  • Transfigured Night: Haydn & Schönberg. Alisa Weilerstein, Trondheim Soloists. PENTATONE PTC 5186717 (2018).
  • Alisa Weilerstein & Vivian Hornik Weilerstein: Works for Cello and Piano (recording in the EMI Classics "Debut" Series) (EMI 5 73498 2)
  • The Weilerstein Trio, with Donald Weilerstein (violin), Alisa Weilerstein (cello) and Vivian Hornik Weilerstein (piano): Dvořák Trios (recording from Koch International Classics) (Koch B000CC4W14)
  • Joseph Hallman: Cello Concerto (St. Petersburg) (live recording of premiere performance): Alisa Weilerstein (cello) and the St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Philharmonic, Jeffery Meyer, conductor and Artistic Director (jhallmanmusic 884502022742).
  • Alisa Weilerstein, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Jiri Belohlavek (Cond.): Dvořák Cello Concerto (Decca 0289 478 5705)
  • Alisa Weilerstein, Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim (Cond): Edward Elgar Cello Concerto op. 85, Elliott Carter Cello Concerto, Max Bruch Kol Nidrei op. 47 (Decca 0289 478 2735)
  • Alisa Weilerstein Solo: Zoltán Kodály Sonata op. 8, Osvaldo Golijov Omaramor, Gaspar Cassadó Suite per violoncello, Bright Sheng Seven Tunes Heard in China (Decca 0289 478 5296)

Media

Luigi Boccherini's Sonata for Two Cellos in C Major – 1. Allegro moderato (3:18) Weilerstein and Sujari Britt perform Luigi Boccherini's Sonata for Two Cellos in C major – 1. Allegro moderato at the White House Evening of Classical Music (November 2009)
Audio only version
Problems playing these files? See media help. Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 – 4. Finale, Allegro assai appassionato (8:08) Joshua Bell, Awadagin Pratt, and Weilerstein perform Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 – 4. Finale: Allegro assai appassionato, at the White House Evening of Classical Music (November 2009)
Audio only version

References

  1. "MacArthur Fellows Program: Meet the 2011 Fellows". September 20, 2011. John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  2. "Alisa Weilerstein in rehearsal with Jonathan Gilad at the 2008 Verbier Festival". YouTube. 2008-07-22. Archived from the original on 2021-12-14. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  3. "Q&A: Cellist Alisa Weilerstein on Winning 'Genius Award'".
  4. "Donald Weilerstein Biography – The Banff Centre". Banffcentre.ca. Archived from the original on 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  5. "He's got rock star looks and a very famous cellist wife ... meet the conductor about to make a baton charge on the Ulster Orchestra". Belfast Telegraph. 2014-09-26.
  6. "AitN: May 24, 2017". Columbia College Today. 22 May 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-06-20. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  7. "2011 MacArthur Fellows Alisa Weilerstein Cellist". Archived from the original on September 23, 2011. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
  8. "Joseph Hallman". compositiontoday.com.
  9. "The St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic | Concert Seasons | 2007-08". St-pcp.org. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  10. Rhein, John von. "Weilerstein compelling in world premiere of Dusapin cello concerto with CSO". Chicago Tribune.
  11. "Weilerstein Excels in New Dusapin Concerto". Seen and Heard International.
  12. "With a world premiere, BSO and cellist Alisa Weilerstein explore the edges of dreaming". The Boston Globe.
  13. Blum, Roland (2023-10-11). "Making music is a family affair for Alisa Weilerstein and Rafael Payare". ABC news. Retrieved 2023-11-11.
  14. Oussama Zahr (2 April 2023), Review: ‘Fragments’ Proposes a New Kind of Cello Recital, The New York Times, retrieved 26 February 2024

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