For her though, Fragments is an attempt to make the concert hall more of a place of adventure again, and less of a dead end. For the first chapter of Alisa Weilerstein s groundbreaking project for solo cello, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, J. S. Bachs First Cello Suite is woven together with new works, responsive lighting, and scenic architecture, inviting audiences into an immersive, multisensory experience. With contemporary music, theres so much context put around it even before weve heard anything.. If Weilersteins response was a common one to a common crisis, the result of her reflections shines with uncommon ambition, so much so that it is hard to think of many soloists of a similar stature who would dare to bring anything like it to the stage. I was interested in other things. Alisa Weilerstein Box-Office Hours But I wanted to go with my gut, and relate my work to something that might connect with her on that level, not a technical or a composer-y level.. Jamie Jung Having scoured the internet to survey the new-music scene, and consulted with past collaborators including Osvaldo Golijov and Matthias Pintscher, Weilerstein invited 28 composers to participate. After premiering the first two chapters in Toronto in early 2023, with subsequent performances at New Yorks Carnegie Hall and beyond, she looks forward to touring all six chapters in seasons to come. Weilerstein at the Fragments premiere in Toronto. Business. Here's a space to search our entire website. I know many people who say, I got inspired by such-and-such conductor when my school took me on a field trip to hear a concert, or such-and-such musician came to my school, and then I knew I loved classical music. The goal is not necessarily that theyll all become musicians, but just that this music will be part of their lives. Her Sarabandes are extraordinary, very slow (a lot of the high time total is racked up here) without being emotionally overwrought: they are deeply meditative. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. An ardent proponent of contemporary music, she has also premiered and championed important new works by composers including Pascal Dusapin, Osvaldo Golijov and Matthias Pintscher. In this interview from the Harris Hall stage in Aspen, Performance Today's Fred Child talks with renowned cellist Alisa Weilerstein about the Aspen experience, and what the school and festival means to her. The newly renovated Dock Street Theater in Charleston, S.C., plays host to Gypsy-inspired sounds. You have to have a willingness to collaborate. 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. December 22, 2012 The albums that sum up our year span genres and borders. (1988) and When Alisa Met Elliott (2012). Because its hard enough, even when you love it. To keep growing with them. To everyones credit, I think, everyone is wrestling with this issue, Weilerstein said in a recent interview from Toronto. The perspective gives you something. Does the Pressure of a Pandemic Transform a Cellists Bach? I have played it countless times, but there was actually a long period of time where I was not playing it, maybe five or six months. Also, you cant be afraid of performing. Alisa Weilerstein Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More | AllMusic Among these cookies, cookies classified as necessary are stored on your browser because they are essential for the functioning of the basic functionality of the website. Certain aspects of it may be familiar. Monday to Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., or until 30 minutes after the concert starts She was awarded the MacArthur genius grant in 2011. I certainly didnt want that and no one around me wanted that for me. So each of the six programs, which Weilerstein will offer over the next few seasons, will have a dramaturgical element: Hanako Yamaguchi, the former, longtime director of music programming at Lincoln Center, is her artistic adviser, and her production team includes the director Elkhanah Pulitzer, the set and lighting designer Seth Reiser, and the costumer Carlos J. Soto. An authority on Bachs music for unaccompanied cello, Weilerstein recently released a best-selling recording of his solo suites on the Pentatone label, streamed them in her innovative #36DaysOfBach project, and deconstructed his beloved G-major prelude in a Vox.com video, viewed almost 1.5 million times. She will be there, playing solo. How many of us do that, where we look at the bio, were making assumptions about gender, race, nationality, compositional precedent, who where their teachers, and when were they born?, The aim, she added, is to strip as much of that presumptive meaning as possible away, so that listeners can follow Weilersteins attempts to create new meaning in her musical quilts, and dare to embark on this journey of not knowing, and allow it to be OK.. Monday to Friday: noon to 5 p.m. Jamie Jung Thats a constant discussion. The range of interpretive choices facing performers of Bach's Suites for solo cello, BWV 1007-1012, is vast. So thats how I always looked at it. When youre playing with someone new, do differences in interpretation ever cause problems? Alisa Weilersteins new project, Fragments, comes to Zankel Hall on April 1. People assume that this is the only thing you know how to do, or that your talent is a kind of idiot-savant type of thing. Weilersteins cello is her id. Without real love and doggedness and tenacity, its still nearly impossible. Meet Fragments, a project whose first installment of six Weilerstein will perform at Zankel Hall on April 1. Today her career is truly global in scope, taking her to the most prestigious international venues for solo recitals, chamber concerts and concerto collaborations with all the preeminent conductors and orchestras worldwide. You try to treat the score as something thats living and breathing, and therefore, malleable. Reisers set stays constant, a deconstructed theater arrayed so that it evokes soloists constant struggles to create a room of ones own as they travel the worlds halls, Pulitzer said, and at the same time reawakens the spaces for the people who are familiar with them. Each composer has a specific lighting color, to give a sense of which fragments combine to make wholes. These cookies do not store any personal information. Theyre chamber music players, which means that theyre listening to each other individually. Theres the potential for a really deep kind of collaboration with them, which is kind of unique. She collaborated with conductor Daniel Barenboim, whose late wife, Jacqueline du Pre, was the standard-bearer for this work. Saturday and Sunday: from 2 hours before the concert starts until 30 minutes after the concert starts | Disclaimer | Sitemap like. Alisa Weilerstein | The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Theres also something beautiful and important about presenting different composers side by side, and behind a curtain, so that youre not focusing on their name, or whether or not theyre Bach.. 2023 Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. Alisa Weilerstein - Biography - IMDb Dont do it for anybody else. 2023 Orchestre symphonique de Montral. Im always juggling a lot of repertoire at the same time, which requires a lot of rehearsal. She asked that the new pieces be about 10 minutes long, and that they come in two or three fragments that she could intersperse with other scores without violating the meaning of the music. Webby James Manheim. Weilerstein recently premiered Joan Towers new cello concerto, A New Day, at the Colorado Music Festival. Known for her consummate artistry, emotional investment and rare interpretive depth, she was recognized with a MacArthur genius grant Fellowship in 2011. Shes collaborated with many artists over the years and performed at well-known venues and schools all over the world, as well as being a solo cellist. If you have played these pieces many times, as I have, this is the sort of thing you crave. Ive been looking forward to working with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra because they dont play like a typical orchestra with a conductor at the head, in which case you just follow the conductors beat. Oh, baby! Cellist Alisa Weilerstein gives birth to a daughter and a Gerardo Antonio Sanchez Torres/courtesy of the artist I have actually recorded the Elgar with Daniel Barenboim. We also use third party cookies which help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The Elgar was the signature piece of Barenboim's late wife, cellist Jacqueline du Pre. I just want to have a kind of outpouring of music, of thoughts, and everything else, she told The New York Times then. hide caption. AT FIRST GLANCE, Fragments might appear to be another of Weilersteins explorations of Bach, a successor to her all-in-one-night performances of the six suites, her emotive recording of them on the Pentatone label and her pandemic streaming series. May 27, 2011 A consummate artist even before she was out of her teens, 29-year-old Alisa Weilerstein has already been granted extraordinary opportunities, from playing for President Obama to taking on an iconic musical assignment. For me, it didnt matter whether I was playing in front of people or not. Alisa Weilerstein has won the MacArthur Foundation "genius grant." FC: And you mentioned Dorothy DeLay, who's a legendary violin teacher at Julliard and here in Aspen. I think of Mozart as a true prodigy. September 20, 2011 Hear the young cellist discuss her new award and watch her play at the NPR offices. Since making her professional and Carnegie Hall debuts in her early teens, she has been in high demand as a solo recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist with leading orchestras worldwide. Her discography also includes chart-topping albums and the winner of BBC Musics Recording of the Year award, while other career milestones include a performance at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama. Alisa Weilerstein - IMDb There are myriad reasons, of course, Weilerstein said, exploring the apparent divergence in the fields, but there is one very fundamental thing, which is, you walk into an exhibition, you see the painting or you see the work of art before anything, and it can hit you right where it needs to hit and then you can find out all the context around it. Labels are generally very, very unhelpful. I am traveling almost all the time. That's an honor and a litmus test which Barenboim has only granted one other artist: Yo-Yo Ma. Her brother is also a conductor and violinist. She mentioned that her first cello was a cereal box with a chopstick for a bow! Cellist Alisa Weilerstein, explaining her decision to retract an earlier promise not to play the pieces until she was older, says that the suites "present the player with infinite possibilities." hide caption. Cellist Alisa Weilerstein has announced on her Facebook page that she and her husband, the conductor Rafael Payare, are expecting their first child together. Its very hard to write anything for solo cello and not have some subconscious relationship to Bach.. Im going to give you a similar answer to what I would say about the label of prodigy. Of course, these labels are flattering. If theres a piece that Ive been playing over and over again, its very helpful to put it away for a while. A Cellist Breaks Music Into Fragments, Then Connects Them You can also deactivate these cookies. Alisa Weilerstein is one of the foremost cellists of our time. Its familiar, theres such a child-like purity to it, says Weilerstein. I was 14 when I went with my manager. Ive found that my happiest collaborations with conductors, where Im playing a concerto with them, have been times where you come together from very, very different places. At least I dont.. September 23, 2011 A "genius" cellist, more protesting letters from London, Iraqi musicians go to Germany, and dreams of "comfort sounds" series: All the news that's fit to link. (1988) and When Alisa Met Elliott (2012). Daniel Day-Lewis tour de force. May 27, 2011 A consummate artist even before she was out of her teens, 29-year-old Alisa Weilerstein has already been granted extraordinary opportunities, from If there's such a thing as cello mojo, Alisa Weilerstein has it. Since Alisa Weilerstein was just 6, the three have performed together around the globe as the Weilerstein Trio. Known for her consummate artistry, emotional investment and rare interpretive depth, she was recognized with a MacArthur genius grant Fellowship in 2011. Everyone brings their perspective and insight into what the composer actually meant. September 11, 2008 Cellist Alisa Weilerstein was born into a musical family with a love for chamber music. Carlos Kleibers live recording of Brahms 2nd Symphony reminds me of what utter joy and inspiration sounds (and looks!) Alisa Weilerstein (cello) Recorded: 2012-10-14 Recording Venue: Teldex Studio, Berlin 1. The work was co-commissioned with the Detroit Symphony; the Cleveland Orchestra, where Weilerstein performed it last fall; and the National Symphony, where she reprised it in May. Going to hear a concert and not looking at whats on the program and not knowing what comes next those have been some of my deepest and most revealing listening experiences, Shaw said. Alisa Weilerstein | Opus 3 Artists William Struhs Cellist Is Chosen, And Challenged