Accessibility links
Alisa Weilerstein Alisa Weilerstein artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music

Alisa Weilerstein

Alisa Weilerstein Plays Elgar: Exploring Music With An Intense Past

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein Jamie Jung/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Jamie Jung/Courtesy of the artist

Deceptive Cadence

Alisa Weilerstein Plays Elgar: Exploring Music With An Intense Past

The celebrated young American cellist walks us through her recording of this "devastating" concerto written just after the end of World War I. She collaborated with conductor Daniel Barenboim, whose late wife, Jacqueline du Pre, was the standard-bearer for this work.

Alisa Weilerstein Plays Elgar: Exploring Music With An Intense Past

Listen · 10:49
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/166492578/166519617" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Young Cellist With An Old Soul Plays Elgar, Elliott Carter

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein. Gerardo Antonio Sanchez Torres/courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Gerardo Antonio Sanchez Torres/courtesy of the artist

Review

Deceptive Cadence

Young Cellist With An Old Soul Plays Elgar, Elliott Carter

Hear an excerpt of MacArthur "genius" cellist Alisa Weilerstein's excellent pairing of the Elgar Cello Concerto — recorded with Daniel Barenboim, whose late wife Jacqueline Du Pre's name was synonymous with this piece— and the cello concerto by Elliott Carter, who died yesterday at 103.

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein Among MacArthur Grant Winners

Alisa Weilerstein has won the MacArthur Foundation "genius grant." Jamie Jung hide caption

toggle caption
Jamie Jung

Deceptive Cadence

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein Among MacArthur Grant Winners

Hear the young cellist discuss her new award and watch her play at the NPR offices.

Hear Weilerstein Discuss Her Award

Listen · 4:52
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/140627759/140612004" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
A Cellist Is Chosen, And Challenged

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein. Jamie Jung hide caption

toggle caption
Jamie Jung

Music Interviews

A Cellist Is Chosen, And Challenged

A consummate artist even before she was out of her teens, 29-year-old Alisa Weilerstein has already been granted extraordinary opportunities, from playing for President Obama to taking on an iconic musical assignment.

A Cellist Is Chosen, And Challenged

Listen · 7:59
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136717840/136742710" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Alisa Weilerstein: Tiny Desk Concert
Mito Habe-Evans/NPR

Tiny Desk

Alisa Weilerstein: Tiny Desk Concert

The young cellist plays Bach with elegance, and takes listeners through the back streets of Buenos Aires with a gripping performance of Omaramor.

Audio Only: Alisa Weilerstein's Tiny Desk Concert

Listen · 14:29
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/129702424/129781278" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Band Of Gypsies: Haydn And Brahms At Spoleto Festival

Violinist Livia Sohn, pianist Inon Barnatan, cellist Alisa Weilerstein and violist Barry Shiffman (not pictured) dig into the the Gypsy-influenced Piano Quartet, Op. 25 by Brahms on June 11 at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charlestown, S.C. William Struhs hide caption

toggle caption
William Struhs

Classics in Concert

Band Of Gypsies: Haydn And Brahms At Spoleto Festival

Musicians at the 2010 Spoleto Festival U.S.A. bring out the "Gypsy" in Haydn and Brahms. The newly renovated Dock Street Theater in Charleston, S.C., plays host to Gypsy-inspired sounds.

Band Of Gypsies: Haydn And Brahms At Spoleto Festival

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/127879942/127882225" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Favorite Sessions

Alisa Weilerstein: The Art Of Chopin's Cello

WGBH Radio

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein was born into a musical family with a love for chamber music. Her passionate performance of Chopin's Cello Sonata at WGBH is the sign of a young musician well on her way to a major career.

Hear Weilerstein Play Chopin At The WGBH Studio

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/94239540/94241160" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Browse archive or search npr.org