Alisa Weilerstein

Last updated
Alisa Weilerstein
Alisa-weilerstein-2012-ffm-086.jpg
Alisa Weilerstein after a concert in 2012
Background information
Born (1982-04-14) April 14, 1982 (age 42)
Rochester, New York
GenresClassical
InstrumentCello
Website www.alisaweilerstein.com

Life and career

Weilerstein was born in Rochester, New York. [2] to a secular Jewish family. [3] 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 [4] (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. [5]

Weilerstein has received a number of honors. In 2000–2001 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. [6] In 2006 she was awarded the Leonard Bernstein Prize at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. In 2011 she received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant". [7]

A champion of contemporary music, Weilerstein has worked extensively with composers Osvaldo Golijov, Lera Auerbach and Joseph Hallman. [8] 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. [9]

In May 2016, she premièred Outscape , Pascal Dusapin's second cello concerto, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, to positive critical reception. [10] [11]

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. [12] She plays a 1730 Domenico Montagnana cello.

Since 2013 she has been married to Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare. They have two daughters. [13]

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. [14]

Discography

Media

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franz Danzi</span> German conductor and composer (1763–1826)

Franz Ignaz Danzi was a German cellist, composer and conductor, the son of the Italian cellist Innocenz Danzi (1730–1798) and brother of the noted singer Franzeska Danzi. Danzi lived at a significant time in the history of European music. His career, spanning the transition from the late Classical to the early Romantic styles, coincided with the origin of much of the music that lives in our concert halls and is familiar to contemporary classical-music audiences. In his youth he knew Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whom he revered; he was a contemporary of Ludwig van Beethoven, about whom he — like many of his generation — had strong but mixed feelings and he was a mentor for the young Carl Maria von Weber, whose music he respected and promoted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Geringas</span> Lithuanian cellist and conductor

David Geringas is a Lithuanian cellist and conductor who studied under Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1970 he won the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. He also plays the baryton, a rare instrument associated with music of Joseph Haydn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arabella Steinbacher</span> German classical violinist

Arabella Miho Steinbacher is a German classical violinist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mats Lidström</span>

Mats Lidström is a Swedish solo cellist, recording artist, chamber musician, composer, teacher and publisher.

Daniel Müller-Schott is a German cellist.

Ralph Henry Kirshbaum is an American cellist. His award-winning career combines the worlds of solo performance, chamber music, recording and pedagogy.

Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi is a world renowned Japanese cellist. In an international career which began in 1954, Tsutsumi has performed and recorded all of the principal standard works in the cello repertoire, both solo and concerto. He has appeared as soloist with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C..

Laszlo Varga was a Hungarian-born American cellist who had a worldwide status as a soloist, recording artist, and authoritative cello teacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mari Kodama</span> Japanese musician

Mari Kodama is a classical pianist who has performed in Europe, North America and Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johannes Moser (cellist)</span> German-Canadian cellist

Johannes Moser is a German-Canadian cellist who has played with leading orchestras internationally.

The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra is a Dutch symphony orchestra based in Amsterdam.

Andrew Shulman is an English virtuoso cellist, conductor and composer. He is currently the principal cellist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and maintains his cello studio at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, California.

Marc Albrecht is a German conductor resident in The Netherlands. He was chief conductor of the Dutch National Opera, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra from 2009 to 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Power</span>

Lawrence Power is a British violist, born 1977, noted both for solo performances and for chamber music with the Nash Ensemble and Leopold String Trio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alissa Firsova</span> Russian composer

Alissa Firsova is a Russian-British classical composer, pianist and conductor.

Inon Barnatan is an American/Israeli classical pianist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Helmchen</span> German pianist

Martin Helmchen is a German pianist. He has played with international orchestras and has recorded discs of many classical composers.

Jesús Castro-Balbi is an internationally recognized cellist, pedagogue, higher education and community leader. As of July 2022, Dr. Castro-Balbi assumed the position of Interim Associate Dean at Kennesaw State University Journey Honors College.

Outscape is a cello concerto written by the French composer Pascal Dusapin for the cellist Alisa Weilerstein in 2014–2015. It was premièred by Weilerstein and the co-commissioning Chicago Symphony Orchestra under conductor Cristian Măcelaru on May 26, 2016. Following its creation, Weilerstein gave the first European performances of the work with the Stuttgart and Paris Opera Orchestras in 2016 as well as the UK première at the Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra on July 19, 2017.

Kristin Merscher is a German classical pianist and professor at the Hochschule für Musik Saar in Saarbrücken, Germany.

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