Alisa Weilerstein Complete Bach Cello Suites Moves to First Baptist Church Due to Demand

Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) will bring world-renowned cellist Alisa Weilerstein to Portland to perform the entire Bach Cello Suites in one evening. This rare mega-concert event is on Saturday, February 4, 2023. Due to the concert exceeding capacity at The Old Church more than a month prior to the event, CMNW has moved the performance to the First Baptist Church to accommodate a larger audience. New seats are available immediately for Alisa Weilerstein's in-demand performance.

The cellist Alisa Weilerstein, named last week as one of the 17 greatest cellists of all time, will perform all six of Bach's powerfully moving Cello Suites in a single concert. Weilerstein is known for her commanding performances of cello repertoire classics, and this intimate solo cello feat of musicianship is of epic proportions.

The music marathon-the "Mount Everest" for cello players-begins early at 6:00 pm, and will have an extended intermission that will include rejuvenating sustenance and libations (hosted by CMNW) before embarking on the second half.

From CMNW Artistic Director Gloria Chien: Experiencing all of Bach's Cello Suites in one evening is a celebration of the human spirit. This will especially be the case when we hear one of the greatest cellists in the world, Alisa Weilerstein, perform them in Portland. Alisa is especially known for the soulfulness of her Bach interpretation. This is a concert we have been looking forward to for years! We can all look forward to being transported on February 4 with this unforgettable performance!

Alisa Weilerstein is one of the foremost cellists of our time. Known for her consummate artistry, emotional investment, and rare interpretive depth, she 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 all the preeminent conductors and orchestras worldwide. "Weilerstein is a throwback to an earlier age of classical performers: not content merely to serve as a vessel for the composer's wishes, she inhabits a piece fully and turns it to her own ends," marvels the New York Times. "Weilerstein's cello is her id. She doesn't give the impression that making music involves will at all. She and the cello seem simply to be one and the same," agrees the Los Angeles Times. As the UK's Telegraph put it, "Weilerstein is truly a phenomenon."

Bach's six suites for unaccompanied cello figure prominently in Weilerstein's current programming. Over the past two seasons, she has given rapturously received live accounts of the complete set on three continents, with recitals in New York, Washington DC, Boston, Los Angeles, Berkeley, and San Diego; at Aspen and Caramoor; in Tokyo, Osaka, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, London, Manchester, Aldeburgh, Paris and Barcelona; and for a full-capacity audience at Hamburg's iconic new Elbphilharmonie. During the global pandemic, she has further cemented her status as one of the suites' leading exponents. Released in April 2020, her Pentatone recording of the complete set became a Billboard bestseller and was named "Album of the Week" by the UK's Sunday Times. As captured in Vox's YouTube series, her insights into Bach's first G-major prelude have been viewed almost 1.5 million times. During the first weeks of the lockdown, she chronicled her developing engagement with the suites on social media, fostering an even closer connection with her online audience by streaming a new movement each day in her innovative #36DaysOfBach project. As the The New York Times observed in a dedicated feature, by presenting these more intimate accounts alongside her new studio recording, Weilerstein gave listeners the rare opportunity to learn whether "the pressures of a pandemic [can] change the very sound a musician makes, or help her see a beloved piece in a new way."

Concert Program

J. S. BACH Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007
J. S. BACH Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008
J. S. BACH Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009
J. S. BACH Cello Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 1010
J. S. BACH Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011
J. S. BACH Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012

CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST | 2022/23 Season

SOLO CELLO

Alisa Weilerstein: The Complete Bach Cello Suites
DATE: Saturday, February 4, 2023
TIME: 6:00 pm
VENUE: First Baptist Church, 909 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR 97205