September Cellist of the Month
Alisa Weilerstein is our September Cellist of the Month!
Alisa Weilerstein is one of the great American cellists of our time and regularly performs as a soloist with famous orchestras around the world. Her style of playing is deeply romantic, and she is known for her soulful, rich tone. She is known as a concert cellist, meaning she performs as a soloist with symphony orchestras, but she has also received many accolades for her chamber music and solo performances.
Fast Facts about Alisa:
She was born in 1982 in Rochester, New York.
She was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2011.
In 2010 she was the first cellist to be signed to the major classical music label Decca in over 30 years.
She started cello at 2.5 years old after her grandmother made an instrument out of cereal boxes when she was sick with the chicken pox.
Her father is Donald Weilerstein, a famous violinist and founding member of the Cleveland Quartet, and her mother is renowned pianist Vivian Hornik Weilerstein. They play professionally in a trio together!
She has a degree in Russian history from Columbia University
She was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 9.
Ways the cello is featured
in classical music
As an orchestra Soloist: The cello can be featured as a soloist in an orchestra. For these concerts, the cellist is seated between the conductor and the concertmaster on a podium. For compositions with large instrumentations, that can mean that one cellist would have up to 75 musicians accompanying them! The conductor communicates the soloist’s tempos with the orchestra and is the go-between to ensure that everyone is playing in the same style and tempo.
As a chamber musician: this kind of performance is based in small, conductorless ensembles, typically with 3-8 musicians on stage. The cellist functions as a team player, alternating between having the melody and holding down supportive counterpoint and bass lines.
In recitals with a partner: Oftentimes, cellists will appear in recital with a pianist to play together. There is some repertoire that is written that features the piano as an equal duet partner, and some where the piano is relegated to a more supportive, accompanying role.
In recitals as a soloist: this type of performance features the cellist alone. Classic examples of solo cello repertoire (music works) are the 6 Bach Cello Suites and the 3 Britten Cello Suites. In this type of playing the cellist takes on all the compositional roles: melody, bass, countermelody, rhythm section- it’s quite the tour de force!
Listening!
Alisa Weilerstein performing as a soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic in the iconic Elgar cello concerto (fourth movement). This is not the full concerto- just a taste!
Here, Alisa is performing in a chamber ensemble with Joshua Bell on violin, and Awadagin Pratt on piano. Note- there is no conductor! They’re playing Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 1.
In this clip, you can hear Alisa perform Gigue of Bach’s Third Cello Suite. The gigue is a stylized English sailor’s dance, and you can hear that the beats divide into three. This piece is fast paced and executed flawlessly!
Questions!
Which of the three clips was your favorite, and why?
Do you prefer hearing the cello with an orchestra, as a soloist by itself, or in a chamber setting in a trio?
Classical Lingo
Classical Vocabulary explained
Repertoire- a fancy French word meaning ‘list of works’. This is used to describe the types of pieces that musicians perform.