Palm Beach Symphony Masterworks Series Concert Featuring Guest Cellist Alisa Weilerstein

Alisa Weilerstein, cello, and conducted by Gerard Schwarz. Daniel Asia: Gateways Dmitry Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 107 Richard Strauss: An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64 It promises to be unforgettable night of emotional intensity and orchestral majesty when cellist Alisa Weilerstein, renowned for her passionate and precise interpretations, performs Shostakovich’s gripping Cello Concerto No. 1. The evening begins with Daniel Asia’s thought-provoking Gateways and culminates in the awe-inspiring sweep of Strauss’ Alpine Symphony. One of the foremost cellists of our time, Weilerstein 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 preeminent conductors and orchestras worldwide. With her multi-season solo cello project, FRAGMENTS, Weilerstein aims to reimagine the concert experience. Comprising six programs, each an hour long, the series sees her weave together the 36 movements of Bach’s solo cello suites with 27 newly commissioned works. Performed in a multisensory production directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer, featuring responsive lighting and scenic elements, each program offers a fully immersive and visceral listening experience. Weilerstein is committed to expanding the cello repertoire by premiering concertos written for her by three leading contemporary composers: Joan Tower’s A New Day (2021), Matthias Pintscher’s un despertar (2017), and Pascal Dusapin’s Outscape (2016). During the 2024-2025 season, Weilerstein gave the world European premieres of a new concerto by Thomas Larcher with the commissioning New York Philharmonic and Bavarian Radio Symphony; premiered Richard Blackford’s new concerto with the commissioning Czech Philharmonic; and gave the world, Colombian and New York premieres of Gabriela Ortiz’s new concerto, a Los Angeles Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall co-commission, with Gustavo Dudamel and the orchestra at Disney Hall, Bogotá’s Teatro Mayor and Carnegie Hall. Weilerstein has appeared with all the major orchestras of the United States, Europe and Asia. In 2009, she was one of four artists invited by Michelle Obama to participate in a widely celebrated and high-profile classical music event at the White House, featuring student workshops hosted by the First Lady and performances in front of an audience that included President Obama and the First Family. A month later, Weilerstein toured Venezuela as soloist with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra under Dudamel and has since made numerous return visits to teach and perform with the orchestra as part of its famed El Sistemamusic education program. Born into a musical family in 1982, Weilerstein is the daughter of violinist Donald Weilerstein and pianist Vivian Hornik Weilerstein and the sister of conductor Joshua Weilerstein. She discovered her love for the cello at just two and a half when she had chicken pox and her grandmother assembled a makeshift set of instruments from cereal boxes to entertain her. Although immediately drawn to the Rice Krispies box cello, Weilerstein soon grew frustrated that it didn’t produce any sound. After persuading her parents to buy her a real cello at the age of four, she developed a natural affinity for the instrument and gave her first public performance six months later. In 1995, at 13, she made her professional concert debut, playing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Cleveland Orchestra, and in March 1997 she made her first Carnegie Hall appearance with the New York Youth Symphony. A graduate of the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Weilerstein also holds a degree in history from Columbia University. Weilerstein was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D) at nine years old, and is a staunch advocate for the T1D community, serving as a consultant for the biotechnology company eGenesis and as a Celebrity Advocate for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the world leader in T1D research. She is married to Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare, with whom she has two young children.

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Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/3373896-0

Website: https://go.evvnt.com/3373896-2

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