Alisa Weilerstein

Alisa Weilerstein was recognized with a MacArthur “genius grant” Fellowship in 2011. Today, her career is truly global in scope. In 2025–26, she continues her multi-season solo cello project, “FRAGMENTS,” at Carnegie Hall and San Diego’s Jacobs Music Hall, as well as giving the European, Czech, German, and UK premieres, the latter at London’s Southbank Centre. Weilerstein has also premiered new concertos written for her by leading contemporary composers. In the 2025–26 season, she plays the UK premiere of Gabriela Ortiz’s Dzonot with Marin Alsop and the Philharmonia Orchestra, before reprising the same work with the San Diego Symphony and performing Joan Tower’s concerto with the commissioning Detroit Symphony. Other 2025–26 highlights include performances with the Atlanta Symphony and Nathalie Stutzmann; the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by the cellist’s husband, Rafael Payare; Hamburg’s NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Berlin, both conducted by Alan Gilbert; and many more. Weilerstein’s bestselling Pentatone recording of Bach’s six suites for unaccompanied cello was nominated for a 2021 Gramophone Award. In 2022 she released the complete Beethoven Sonatas for Cello and Piano with frequent collaborator Inon Barnatan. She is married to conductor Rafael Payare, with whom she has two young children.