Cellist Alisa Weilerstein Talks Travel and Her Repertoire

Alisa Weilerstein always knew that she wanted to be a cellist. For reasons she can’t explain, she was instantly attracted to the instrument as a small child. Her grandmother made her a series of instruments from cereal boxes when she had chicken pox; she was drawn to the Rice Krispies cello. She graduated to the real thing at the age of four. Music is the family business. Her parents are chamber artists; her father, Donald Weilerstein, was the founding first violinist of the Cleveland Quartet, while her mother, Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, is a pianist who has played with her husband and daughter in the Weilerstein Trio. Both her parents are on the faculties of the New England Conservatory and Juilliard. Her younger brother, Joshua, is a violinist and conductor, and, as of August 2013, Alisa is married to a conductor, too – Rafael Payare from Venezuela. Today, Weilerstein will be performing at Carnegie Hall. She will play Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado. The evening will also include Stravinsky’s “Symphonies of Wind Instruments” and Beethoven’s “Symphony #5.” Her schedule will take her to California, Boston, Spain and Germany in the next few weeks. The cellist

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