MN Beethoven Festival: Alisa Weilerstein, cello & Inon Barnatan, piano

Dates

About

Alisa Weilerstein

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 concertos, in collaboration with preeminent composers, conductors, and orchestras worldwide. Dedicated to expanding the cello literature, she is celebrated not only for her authoritative live and recorded interpretations of the core repertoire, but also for bringing new works to life through a wealth of solo and concerto commissions. “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 puts it, “Weilerstein is truly a phenomenon.”

Learn More About Alisa WeilersteinInon Barnatan

“One of the most admired pianists of his generation” (The New York Times), Inon Barnatan has received universal acclaim for his “uncommon sensitivity” (The New Yorker), “impeccable musicality and phrasing” (Le Figaro), and his stature as “a true poet of the keyboard: refined, searching, unfailingly communicative” (The Evening Standard). A multifaceted musician, Barnatan is equally celebrated as soloist, curator, and collaborator.

Barnatan appears regularly with the world’s foremost orchestras and conductors. He was the inaugural Artist-in-Association of the New York Philharmonic from 2014–17 under then Music Director Alan Gilbert, with whom he maintained a close and extensive collaboration, and has performed with the Boston, Chicago, and Cleveland symphonies, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the BBC Symphony at the Proms, and most major U.S. orchestras. Abroad he has appeared with the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Zurich Tonhalle, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, and the London, Hong Kong, and Royal Stockholm Philharmonics. He has given complete Beethoven concerto cycles with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, played Copland’s Piano Concerto with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony at Carnegie Hall, and toured the U.S. with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, leading from the keyboard. With Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra he performed Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto on New Year’s Eve, followed by a Midwest tour and a return to the BBC Proms.

Barnatan’s 2025-26 season highlights include performances with major orchestras worldwide. He opens the season with a performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Stefan Jackiw, violin, and Hayoung Choi, cello, at the Baltimore Symphony with Music Director Jonathon Heyward. He continues with concerto performances including Rhapsody in Blue with Dallas Symphony and Music Director Fabio Luisi, as well as Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Minnesota Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Charlotte Symphony. Solo recital appearances this season include Tippet Rise Art Center, Noe Music, Tryon Concert Association, and a return to Wigmore Hall. Continuing with Pomegranate Arts’s project of the complete Etudes of Philip Glass, he will appear this season at the Krannert Center and University Musical Society. As a collaborator, he continues his long-term partnerships with cellist Alisa Weilerstein in duo recitals at Ravinia Festival, Spivey Hall, and McCallum Theatre; and with soprano Renée Fleming at Cal Performances, Schubert Club, Philharmonic Society of Orange County and Lyric Opera of Chicago. He will make his debut at the Taipei Music Festival and repeat his Fauré Piano Quartet program with violinist James Ehnes, violist Jonathan Vinocour, and cellist Raphael Bell at the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and Seattle Chamber Music Society.

Learn More About Inon BarnatanProgram

BEETHOVEN: Sonata No. 5, Op. 102, No. 2
SHOSTAKOVICH/AUERBACH: 7 Preludes from Op. 34, Nos. 1, 6, 7, 10, 15, 17, & 24
BRAHMS: Songs, selected from:

Op. 59, No. 3: Regenlied

Op. 95, No. 2: Bei dir sind meine Gedanken

Op. 105, No. 1: Wie Melodien zieht es mir

Op. 72, No. 4: Verzagen

Op. 106, No. 1: Ständchen

Op. 85, No. 6: In Waldeseinsamkeit

SHOSTAKOVICH: Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147 (transcribed by Daniil Shafran)