MacArthur Fellow Alisa Weilerstein Goes Solo, Plays Elgar and Dvorák with Orchestras of New York, Cleveland, London, Tokyo, and More in 2014-15
MacArthur Fellow Alisa Weilerstein marks a major career milestone this season with the release of Solo, her compilation of unaccompanied 20th-century cello music for Decca Classics, from which she draws the Kodály sonata and other selections, juxtaposed with unaccompanied Bach, for solo recitals in London, San Francisco, and Aspen. The cellist – a nominee for Gramophone’s 2014 Artist of the Year award – also launches the seasons of both the Milwaukee Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra, besides undertaking collaborations with such world-class ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Tokyo’s NHK Symphony, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Czech Philharmonic, at venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to London’s BBC Proms. All told, the 2014-15 season serves to consolidate Weilerstein’s reputation as an artist of substance in her prime, who remains “too big a talent to be pigeon-holed” (New York magazine).
Weilerstein goes Solo on new Decca album and in recital
An exclusive recording artist for Decca Classics since 2010, Weilerstein is the first cellist to be signed by the prestigious label in more than 30 years. Her new album, Solo, which is due for U.S. release on October 28, represents a highly personal artistic statement. Reflecting her commitment to contemporary composition, its program has been carefully chosen by the cellist to embrace a century of unaccompanied music for her instrument through works spanning four countries and three continents, all of which are nonetheless linked by the folk elements, gypsy inflections, and colloquial musical idioms they share.
The centerpiece of the recording is Zoltán Kodály’s Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8 (1915), in which the Hungarian composer gives “full rein to his tormented and craggy vision, qualities fully conveyed in the tireless Ms. Weilerstein’s staggering performance” (New York Times). The sonata is a signature work for the cellist, who offers live renditions this season in solo recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall (Jan 5) and the Aspen Festival’s Winter Music Series (Feb 12). Her account of the Kodály is also captured in the summer movie If I Stay, and on the accompanying soundtrack album; based on the best-selling novel by Gayle Forman, the August 22 release marks Weilerstein’s feature film debut in a cameo appearance as herself, alongside the movie’s star Chloë Grace Moretz.
Solo is completed by Bright Sheng’s Seven Tunes Heard in China (1995), the Suite for Solo Cello (1926) by Spain’s Gaspar Cassadó, and Omaramor (1991) for solo cello by Osvaldo Golijov, with whom Weilerstein has worked extensively; indeed, the Argentinean composer rewrote his Azul for cello and orchestra especially for her season-opening appearance at the Mostly Mozart Festival. Both Omaramor and Cassadó’s suite feature in her upcoming solo recital at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco (Feb 14), where, as in London and Aspen, she balances her program with unaccompanied suites by J.S. Bach. As New York magazine observes:
“Golijov and Kodály both send the cellist out on her own, without the comfort of a piano by her side, and Weilerstein thrived in that exposed solitude. … Over a half-hour, she traversed a Shakespearean soliloquy, careering from orchestral blasts of rage to quiet wit and the hushed ecstasy of stroked harmonics. Whatever she plays sounds custom-composed for her, as if she has a natural affinity with everything.”
International concerto engagements with award-winning Elgar, chart-topping Dvorák, and more
The vehicle for many of the cellist’s orchestral engagements this season is Elgar’s Cello Concerto, which has already figured prominently in her career. It was her recording of the work with Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Staatskapelle – her Decca Classics debut – that won Weilerstein BBC Music magazine’s coveted “2013 Recording of the Year” award, while her live rendition with the same conductor at the Berlin Philharmonic impressed the New York Times as “incandescent” and The Guardian as “technically complete and emotionally devastating”; the concert was televised to an audience of millions worldwide, and subsequently issued on DVD. After launching the Milwaukee Symphony’s season with accounts of the great British concerto led by music director Edo de Waart (Sep 19–23), the cellist reprises Elgar’s masterpiece with the Cleveland Orchestra (Nov 6–9), Dallas Symphony (Nov 14–16), NHK Symphony (Feb 7–8), Stuttgart Philharmoniker (Oct 4), Netherlands Philharmonic (March 14–16), and the Philharmonia Orchestra, first in Canterbury (Oct 11) and then at London’s Royal Festival Hall (Oct 12) and the Bruges Concertgebouw (Oct 14).
Weilerstein has scored similar triumphs with Dvorák’s Cello Concerto, of which her recent Decca recording with the Czech Philharmonic and Jirí Belohlávek – distinguished by a “take-no-prisoners emotional investment that is evident in every bar” (New York Times) – succeeded in topping the U.S. classical chart last month. After reuniting with Belohlávek and the orchestra to tour the concerto to London’s BBC Proms (Aug 24), Germany’s Rheingau Music Festival (Aug 26), and Switzerland’s Montreux Festival (Aug 28), Weilerstein looks forward to revisiting the Dvorák with the New York Philharmonic, to which she returns under the leadership of Christoph von Dohnányi this winter (Dec 2).
At the Minnesota Orchestra, where she not only opens the recently revived ensemble’s season but joins music director Osmo Vänskä in helping to celebrate its “Grand New Beginning” (Sep 26–28), Weilerstein reprises her “exemplary” take on Barber’s Cello Concerto, in which she has proved herself “a passionate player of intense musicality” (New York Times). Noted for her interpretations of Russian repertoire, the cellist’s other orchestral engagements include performances of Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall (April 23) and Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra (March 19), Tchaikovsky’s “Rococo” Variations with Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra (Dec 31), and Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante with the Konzerthaus Berlin (July 4).
A committed chamber musician as well, Weilerstein embarks this season on a five-city U.S. duo recital tour with her frequent and longtime collaborator, pianist Inon Barnatan, with whom she is especially “temperamentally well matched” (New York Times). Culminating with an appearance in Boston’s “Celebrity Series” (May 1), the tour features the world premiere performances of a new work by Joseph Hallman, a 2014 Grammy Award nominee who has already written multiple pieces for Weilerstein, including a cello concerto that she premiered with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.
Details of Alisa Weilerstein’s 2014-15 engagements are provided below, and more information is available at the artist’s web site: alisaweilerstein.com.
Alisa Weilerstein: 2014-15 engagements
Aug 24
London, England
BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Jirí Belohlávek
Dvorák: Cello Concertoin B minor, Op. 104, B. 191
Aug 26
Wiesbaden, Germany
Rheingau Music Festival
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Jirí Belohlávek
Dvorák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191
Aug 28
Montreux, Switzerland
Montreux Festival
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Jirí Belohlávek
Dvorák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191
Sep 19, 20 & 23
Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra / Edo de Waart
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Sep 26-28
Minneapolis, MN
Minnesota Orchestra / Osmo Vänskä (season opening)
Barber: Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 22
Oct 4
Stuttgart, Germany
Stuttgarter Philharmoniker/ Dan Ettinger
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Oct 8
Frankfurt, Germany
Alte Oper
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 in C, Hob. VIIb/1
Oct 9
Cologne, Germany
Kölner Philharmonie
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 in C, Hob. VIIb/1
Oct 11
Canterbury, England
Philharmonia Orchestra / Nicholas Collon
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Oct 12
London, England
Royal Festival Hall
Philharmonia Orchestra / Nicholas Collon
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Oct 14
Bruges, Belgium
Concertgebouw
Philharmonia Orchestra / Nicholas Collon
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Oct 20
Aalborg, Denmark
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2, Op. 126
Nov 6, 8 & 9
Cleveland, OH
Cleveland Orchestra / Robin Ticciati
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Nov 14–16
Dallas, TX
Dallas Symphony Orchestra / Jaap van Zweden
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Dec 2
New York, NY
Lincoln Center
New York Philharmonic / Christoph von Dohnányi
Dvorák: Cello Concertoin B minor, Op. 104
Dec 10
Warsaw, Poland
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat, Op. 107
Dec 17
Oviedo, Spain
Orquesta Filarmónica de Oviedo / Rafael Payare
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Dec 31
Zurich, Switzerland
Tonhalle Orchester / Lionel Bringuier
Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33
Jan 5
London, UK
Wigmore Hall
Solo recital
Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011
Kodály: Sonata in B minor for solo cello, Op. 8
Feb 7 & 8
Tokyo, Japan
NHK Hall
NHK Symphony Orchestra / Paavo Järvi
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Feb 12
Aspen, CO
Aspen Music Festival and School
Solo recital
Golijov: Omaramor
Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009
Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G, BWV 1007
Kodály: Sonata in B minor for solo cello, Op. 8
Feb 14
San Francisco
St Mark’s Lutheran Church
Solo recital
Britten: Tema Sacher
Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009
Ligeti: Sonata for Solo Cello
Golijov: Omaramor
Cassadó: Suite for Cello Solo
Feb 26
Valencia, Spain
Orquesta de Valencia
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
March 3
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg
Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33
Strauss: Don Quixote, Op. 35
March 14–16
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
March 19
Manchester, UK
Hallé Orchestra / Sir Mark Elder
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2, Op. 126
April 1 & 2
Montreal, Canada
Montreal Symphony Orchestra / Larry Foster
Bloch: Schelomo: Rhapsodie Hébraïque
April 16
Winston-Salem, NC
Wake Forest University
Recital with Inon Barnatan
Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba No. 2 in D, BWV 1028
Prokofiev: Sonata in C, Op. 119
Joseph Hallman: New work
Schubert: Fantasia in C, D. 934
April 18
San Juan, PR
Recital with Inon Barnatan
Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba No. 2 in D, BWV 1028
Prokofiev: Sonata in C, Op. 119
Joseph Hallman: New work
Schubert: Fantasia in C, D. 934
April 23
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium
Orchestra of St. Luke’s / Pablo Heras-Casado
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2, Op. 126
April 26
Sonoma State University, Green Music Center
Recital with Inon Barnatan
Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba No. 2 in D, BWV 1028
Prokofiev: Sonata in C, Op. 119
Joseph Hallman: New work
Schubert: Fantasia in C, D. 934
April 27
Santa Barbara, CA
Recital with Inon Barnatan
Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba No. 2 in D, BWV 1028
Prokofiev: Sonata in C, Op. 119
Joseph Hallman: New work
Schubert: Fantasia in C, D. 934
May 1
Boston, MA
“Celebrity Series”
Jordan Hall
Recital with Inon Barnatan
Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba No. 2 in D, BWV 1028
Prokofiev: Sonata in C, Op. 119
Joseph Hallman: New work
Schubert: Fantasia in C, D. 934
May 9
Weiden, Germany
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Dvorák: Cello Concertoin B minor, Op. 104
May 10
Friedrichshafen, Germany
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Dvorák: Cello Concertoin B minor, Op. 104
May 13
Paris, France
Orchestre de Paris
Dvorák: Cello Concertoin B minor, Op. 104
July 4
Berlin, Germany
Konzerthaus Berlin / Juraj Valcuha
Prokofiev: Sinfonia concertante
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