Rachmaninov & Chopin: Cello Sonatas

Alisa Weilerstein is an American cellist, the daughter of violinist Donald Weilerstein and pianist Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, and the sister of conductor and violinist Joshua Weilerstein. She began studying her instrument at age 4, and by 13 had mastered it sufficiently to appear before the Cleveland Orchestra in a performance of Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme. Since that debut, she has played with major orchestras around the world, appearing with conductors Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoph Eschenbach, Manfred Honeck, Marek Janowski, Paavo Järvi, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Matthias Pintscher, Yuri Temirkanov, Osmo Vänskä, Simone Young, and David Zinman, among many others. Weilerstein also performs chamber music with her parents in the Weilerstein Trio, which is based at the New England Conservatory, and has participated in the young artists' program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In 2011, Weilerstein was the recipient of a genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation. A committed promoter of contemporary music, Weilerstein has performed music by Lera Auerbach, Osvaldo Golijov, and Joseph Hallman. In September 2012 gave a powerful interpretation of Elliott Carter's Cello Concerto on her first recording on Decca.