Cellist Alisa Weilerstein Performs Elgar And Carter Concertos On Her Debut Recording For Decca Classics To Be Released On October 30, 2012 In North America

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On October 30 in North America Decca will release the debut album of American cellist Alisa Weilerstein. The album features the Edward Elgar and Elliott Carter Cello Concertos, and Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei performed with conductor Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Staatskapelle. Ms. Weilerstein signed an exclusive recording contract with Decca in October 2010 and is the first cellist to sign with the record label in over thirty years.

Ms. Weilerstein said, “It has been a thrill to work with Decca Classics. Performing and recording the Elgar Concerto with Maestro Barenboim has immeasurably deepened my relationship with the work, and it has been an honor to record Elliott Carter's Concerto. The Staatskapelle Berlin has been an outstanding musical partner, and I can't say enough about my producers Andrew Keener and Friedemann Engelbrecht. I am so excited to finally share with the world what has been, for me, an unforgettable experience in every way.”

Ms. Weilerstein gave a special performance with Mr. Barenboim and the Berliner Philharmoniker in May 2010 during an internationally televised concert of the Elgar cello concerto in Oxford, England. The concert holds special significance for both Ms. Weilerstein and Mr. Barenboim since this was the first time Mr. Barenboim performed the work in England with a female cellist since the untimely passing of his wife, cellist Jacqueline du Pré. This concert was released on DVD by EuroArts.

Following this 2010 performance The Guardian said, “Alisa Weilerstein gave the most technically complete and emotionally devastating performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto that I have ever heard live…”

Ms. Weilerstein’s 2012-13 season includes engagements throughout North America and Europe. On November 1 Ms. Weilerstein will perform Haydn’s D major Cello Concerto with conductor Nicholas McGegan and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. She will then perform at Alice Tully Hall with pianist Inon Barnatan and violinist Arnaud Sussmann for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on November 2 and 4. Ms. Weilerstein will also perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Atlanta and National Symphonies. She will take part in a European tour to Germany, Spain and the Netherlands with Mr. Barnatan, and make her debut with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields during a 16-city United States tour with Mr. Barnatan.
Ms. Weilerstein was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in September 2011. Previous awards include Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal prize for exceptional achievement in 2008, the 2006 Leonard Bernstein Award, and the 2000 Avery Fisher Career Grant.

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