Alisa Weilerstein

Violoncelle

„C'est un équilibre délicat que de respecter les connaissances que nous avons maintenant sur la façon dont ils jouaient soi-disant à l'époque, tout en étant capable de s'exprimer librement et respectueusement."

Alisa Weilerstein, New York Times, avril 2017

Biographie

Contact Rebekka Aebi

Alisa Weilerstein

Biographie
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Programmes
Agenda
Discographie
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Biographie

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Alisa Weilerstein is widely recognized as one of the most compelling cellists of her generation. Renowned for her consummate artistry, emotional commitment, and exceptional interpretive depth, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship—commonly known as the "Genius Grant"—in 2011. Today, her career is taking her to the world's leading concert halls and festivals for solo recitals, chamber music, and concerto appearances, including Carnegie Hall, the Verbier Festival, the Aldeburgh Festival, Severance Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Kennedy Center, and the Tanglewood Music Festival. She regularly collaborates with distinguished conductors and musicians including Franz Welser-Möst, Gustavo Dudamel, Lahav Shani, Karina Canellakis, Alan Gilbert, Alain Altinoglu, Ryan Bancroft, Daniel Harding, Joshua Weilerstein, Leonidas Kavakos, Kirill Gerstein, and Inon Barnatan.

„Weilerstein is truly a phenomenon.”UK Telegraph

For the 2026/27 season, Alisa serves as Artist-in-Residence with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She also tours with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and appears as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. During the season, she collaborates with conductors including Sir Antonio Pappano, Rafael Payare, Hannu Lintu, Ryan Bancroft, Cristian Măcelaru, James Gaffigan, and Paavo Järvi.

„Weilerstein is a throwback to an earlier age of classical performers: not content merely to serve as a vessel for the composer’s wishes, she inhabits a piece fully and turns it to her own ends”New York Times

This season also marks the Asian debut of Alisa's acclaimed Fragments project. The six-part concert cycle interweaves Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suites with 27 specially commissioned contemporary works, presented within a bespoke theatrical production featuring original staging and lighting design. Following acclaimed performances at Southbank Centre (during her 2025/26 residency), Carnegie Hall, De Doelen in Rotterdam, and the Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Fragments now travels to Asia for the first time. In addition, she gives recitals at the Edinburgh International Festival and the Tivoli Festival.
Highlights of the past two seasons include concerto appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. She also gave the world premieres of cello concertos by Thomas Larcher with the New York Philharmonic and Gabriela Ortiz with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

„Weilerstein’s cello is her id. She doesn’t give the impression that making music involves will at all. She and the cello seem simply to be one and the same”Los Angeles Times

As an authority on Bach’s music for unaccompanied cello, in spring 2020 Weilerstein released a best-selling recording of his solo suites for Pentatone, streamed them in her innovative #36DaysOfBach project, and deconstructed his beloved G-major prelude in a Vox.com video, now viewed more than 2.2 million times. Her discography also includes chart-topping albums and the winner of BBC Music’s “Recording of the Year” award.

Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at nine years old, Weilerstein is a dedicated advocate for the T1D community. She lives with her husband, Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare, and their two young children.

2026/2027

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Contact: Rebekka Aebi

Images

Programmes

2027 / 2028

Vous trouverez les programmes actuels dans l’IMPRESARIUM de la saison 27/28

Agenda

28/11/2026
19:30 h

Musikverein, Großer Saal
Wien, Austria

Alisa Weilerstein, Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, Fabien Gabel

29/11/2026
15:30 h

Musikverein, Großer Saal
Wien, Austria

Alisa Weilerstein, Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, Fabien Gabel

30/11/2026
19:30 h

Festspielhaus St. Pölten, Großer Saal
St. Pölten, Austria

Alisa Weilerstein, Tonkünstler-Orchester, Fabien Gabel

Discographie

Shostakovich: Cello Concertos

Dmitri Shostakovich
Cello Concertos No. 1 & 2

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Pablo Heras-Casado - Conductor

Decca, DDD, 2015

Rachmaninov & Chopin

Sergey Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov
Sonata in G Minor for Cello & Piano, Op. 19
Vocalise, Op 34, No. 14

Frédéric Chopin
Sonata in G Minor for Cello & Piano, Op. 65
12 Etudes, Op. 25
Introduction & Polonaise Brillante, Op. 3

Inon Barnatan - Piano

DECCA, 2017

Elgar, Carter & Bruch: Cello Concertos

Edward Elgar
Cello Concerto, Op. 85

Elliot Carter
Cello Concerto

Max Bruch
Kol Nidrei, Op. 47 for Cello & Orchestra

Staatskapelle Berlin
Daniel Barenboim - Conductor

Decca, DDD, 2011

Alisa Weilerstein - Solo

Zoltán Kodály
Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8

Osvaldo Golijov
Omaramor for Solo Cello

Gaspar Cassado
Suite for Solo Cello

Bright Sheng
Seven Tunes Heard in China

Decca, 2014

Dvorak: Cello Concerto

Antonin Dvorak
Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
Rondo in G minor, Op. 94
Silent Woods, Op. 68/5

Anna Polonsky - Piano
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Jiri Belohlavek - Conductor

Decca, 2013

Elgar: Cello Concertos

Richard Wagner
Prelude of "Meistersinger" (Act III)

Edward Elgar
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 85

Johannes Brahms
Symphony No. 1

Berliner Philharmoniker
Daniel Barenboim - Conductor

EuroArts, 2011

Weilerstein & Weilerstein

Niccolo Paganini
Variations on "Preghiera" From Rossini's "Mosè", for Violin & Guitar (or Piano), MS 23

Antonín Dvořák
Silent Woods (Klid), for Cello & Piano (arr. from "From the Bohemian Forest", B. 133), B. 173 (Op. 68/5)

Alberto Ginastera
Pampeana No. 2, Rhapsody for Cello & Piano, Op. 21

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Songs without Words for Cello & Piano in D major, Op. 109

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pezzo capriccioso, for Cello & Orchestra (or Cello & Piano) in B minor, Op. 62

Gabriel Fauré
Après un rêve ("Dans un sommeil"), song for Voice & Piano, Op. 7/1

Leoš Janáček
Pohádka (Fairy Tale), for Cello & Piano ("The Story of Tsar Berendyey"), JW 7/5

Camille Saint-Saëns
The Swan (from "Carnival of the Animals"), original (for 2 Pianos & Ensemble) and arrangements

Manuel de Falla
Suite Populaire Espagnole, for Violin & Piano (arr. from "Popular Spanish Songs" by Kochanski)

Vivan Hornik Weilerstein - Piano

EMI classics, 2000