Palm Beach Symphony to Welcome Cellist Alisa Weilerstein

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein will join Palm Beach Symphony for the Masterworks Series Concert on Tuesday, January 13, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. at Dreyfoos Hall at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. Renowned for her passionate and precise interpretations, Weilerstein will perform Dmitry Shostakovich's gripping Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 107. Prior to Weilerstein taking the stage, Palm Beach Symphony begins the evening with Daniel Asia's thought-provoking Gateways and culminates in the awe-inspiring sweep of Richard Strauss' An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64.

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. 

“Alisa is a passionate, sensational cellist,” said Palm Beach Symphony Music Director Gerard Schwarz, who was close friends with her father, Donald Weilerstein, the first violin of the Cleveland Quartet. “Shostakovich's multifaceted first cello concerto is unusual in that the horn player can be considered a second soloist. It is in four movements, with an extended cadenza as the third, introducing the concerto's inexorable, unforgettable finale.”

Ahead of the concert, Weilerstein will be hosting a cello masterclass on Monday, January 12 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at The Conservatory School @ North Palm Beach (401 Anchorage Dr.). During the masterclass, Weilerstein will provide an individual coaching session in front of an audience. Student musicians will perform a prepared piece for expert feedback on areas for improvement, including musical technique, style, interpretive qualities, presentation and overall musicality. Those interested in attending are asked to RSVP with the number of people in their party by Monday, January 5 via email to Bryce Seliger, Education & Programming Associate, at bseliger@palmbeachsymphony.org. 

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.

Continuing the season's theme of featuring great American composers, Palm Beach Symphony will also recite Gateways by Daniel Asia, who will be attendance at the concert to hear his composition performed live. Born in 1953 in Seattle, Asia has retired from his teaching position at the University of Arizona in Tempe. “He's a great composer and wrote lots of great pieces and big symphonies. He's also a scholar and a very thoughtful blogger about American culture,” Maestro Schwarz said of his dear friend. “Gateways is short and sounds like a combination of Leonard Bernstein and Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. It's a great piece full of energy and excitement that I know everyone's going to really love.”

Following intermission, Maestro Schwarz encourages the audience to bring their imagination as they listen to An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64. Strauss' final tone poem from 1915 tells the story of a 24-hour trek up a mountain from dawn to dusk. Along the way, the character encounters a thunderstorm and glacier. “You can hear all of that if you choose to, but you don't need to. It can increase your enjoyment on an emotional and musical level, but it's not necessary to appreciate the piece,” he said. “An Alpine Symphony is evocative of the Austrian countryside and mountain climbing. It utilizes a huge orchestra, off-stage brass, organ and even a wind machine to create this extraordinary journey. Conducting it is a great thrill, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.”

The Masterworks concerts continue at the Kravis Center with Vadim Repin, violin (March 2), Simon Trpčeski, piano (April 19) and Emanuel Ax, piano (May 17). The complete 2025-2026 Season schedule is available at palmbeachsymphony.org. Individual tickets and season subscriptions for the concerts are on sale now. Concert tickets range in price from $27.50 to $104.50. Tickets may be purchased online at PalmBeachSymphony.org, by phone at (561) 281-0145 and at the Palm Beach Symphony Box Office weekdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at 700 South Dixie Highway, Suite 100, West Palm Beach.

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