Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Wednesday, April 3, 2024 at 7:30 pm
Kaufmann Concert Hall and Online
Leading NYC cultural institution welcomes audiences to 2023/24 Tisch Music Season

New York, NY - February 26, 2024 - The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY), one of New York’s leading cultural venues, presents Alisa Weilerstein, cello on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 at 7:30 pm at Kaufmann Concert Hall. Online streaming is also available for 72 hours following the performance. Tickets start at $25 and are available at https://www.92ny.org/event/alisa-weilerstein-cello.

A spectacular solo program from one of the foremost cellists of our time. Alisa Weilerstein returns following her sold-out Tisch Music 2022/23 Season finale concert with violinist Stefan Jackiw and pianist Daniil Trifonov to perform two of Bach’s iconic suites and the rapturous, tour-de-force sonata by Kodály – a work Weilerstein has made her own. Gramophone called Weilerstein’s recording of the Kodály sonata “impassioned” and “formidable.” Don’t miss the chance to hear one of the world’s premier cellists in this touchstone solo work.

“Technically flawless and deeply expressive.” - The New York Times

Bach, Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009

Kodály, Sonata in B Minor for Solo Cello

Joan Tower, For Alisa

Bach, Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007

Alisa Weilerstein is one of the foremost cellists of our time. Known for her consummate artistry, emotional investment and rare interpretive depth, she was recognized with a MacArthur “genius grant” Fellowship in 2011. 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. “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,” marvels the New York Times. “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,” agrees the Los Angeles Times. As the UK’s Telegraph put it, “Weilerstein is truly a phenomenon.”

With her multi-season new project, “FRAGMENTS,” Weilerstein aims to rethink the concert experience and broaden the tent for classical music. A multisensory production for solo cello, the six-chapter series sees her weave together the 36 movements of Bach’s solo cello suites with 27 new commissions. After premiering the first two programs at Toronto’s Koerner Hall in early 2023, the 2022-23 season saw subsequent performances at Santa Barbara’s Campbell Hall, San Diego’s Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, Cleveland’s Severance Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Tanglewood music festival’s Ozawa Hall, among others. In the 2023-24 season, Weilerstein returns with the project to the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center and performs selected FRAGMENTS programs at Boston’s Sanders Theatre, Maison symphonique de Montréal, Los Angeles’s Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She looks forward to touring all six programs in seasons to come.

In the 2023-24 season, Weilerstein plays concert repertoire spanning three centuries, from Haydn’s C-major Concerto with the Boston Symphony and Karina Canellakis to Anna Clyne’s DANCE with the Helsinki Philharmonic. She headlines the Staatskapelle Berlin’s season-opening concerts at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Berliner Philharmonie, performing Unsuk Chin’s Cello Concerto with her husband, Rafael Payare, whom she subsequently rejoins for Barber’s Cello Concerto with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and for Dvo?ák’s Cello Concerto with the San Diego Symphony, on a U.S. tour that culminates at Carnegie Hall. In addition, she opens the Barcelona Symphony’s season with accounts of Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante, plays Lutos?awski’s Cello Concerto with the Seattle Symphony, and performs Elgar’s Cello Concerto, first to launch the Rochester Philharmonic’s centennial season and then for a tour and week of subscription concerts with the Detroit Symphony. In recital, as well as continuing “FRAGMENTS,” she performs a solo program at New York’s 92NY and undertakes collaborations with violinist James Ehnes, pianist Inon Barnatan and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Her discography also includes chart-topping albums and the winner of BBC Music’s “Recording of the Year” award, while other career milestones include a performance at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama.

About The 92nd Street Y, New York: The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a world-class center for the arts and innovation, a convener of ideas, and an incubator for creativity. 92NY offers extensive classes, courses and events online including live concerts, talks and master classes; fitness classes for all ages; 250+ art classes, and parenting workshops for new moms and dads. The 92nd Street Y, New York is transforming the way people share ideas and translate them into action all over the world. All of 92NY's programming is built on a foundation of Jewish values, including the capacity of civil dialogue to change minds; the potential of education and the arts to change lives; and a commitment to welcoming and serving people of all ages, races, religions, and ethnicities. For more information, visit www.92NY.org.