Chamber Music San Francisco Will Present Alisa Weilerstein with Inon Barnatan

In celebration of Beethoven's 250th anniversary, Chamber Music San Francisco presents world-acclaimed cellist Alisa Weilerstein, along with Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan, performing all five of Beethoven's imaginative Cello Sonatas. Weilerstein is applauded for her impassioned performance style, breathtaking technique, and commitment to new music, while Barnatan is known for balancing expressiveness with astonishing technical abilities. Together, these two brilliant musicians (and frequent collaborators) will offer an alluring program of sonatas in three Bay Area locations. Alisa Weilerstein and Inon Barnatan will perform 2:30pm, Saturday, April 4 in Walnut Creek; 3:00pm, Sunday, April 5 in San Francisco; and 7:30pm, Monday, April 6 in Palo Alto (venues/addresses listed below). For tickets, visit www.chambermusicSF.org. Walnut Creek tickets are available by calling (925) 943-7469, while Palo Alto and San Francisco tickets are available by calling (415) 392-4400.

Committed to expanding the cello repertoire, Alisa Weilerstein is an ardent champion of new music. When the MacArthur Foundation awarded her with a 2011 MacArthur "Genius Grant," The New York Times responded saying, "Any fellowship that recognizes the vibrancy of an idealistic musician like Ms. Weilerstein...deserves a salute from everyone in classical music." Her growing and celebrated discography includes a recording of the Elgar and Elliott Carter cello concertos with Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin that was named "Recording of the Year 2013" by BBC Music. Weilerstein has appeared with all the foremost orchestras of the United States and Europe, collaborating with conductors including Marin Alsop, Jiří Bělohlávek, Michael Tilson Thomas, Osmo Vänskä, Simone Young, and David Zinman, among others. In 2009, Weilerstein 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 before an invited audience that included President Obama and the First Family. Her major career milestones include an emotionally tumultuous account of Elgar's concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic and Daniel Barenboim in Oxford, England, for the orchestra's 2010 European Concert, which was televised live to an audience of millions worldwide and subsequently released on DVD by EuroArts.

Described by The New York Times as "one of the most admired pianists of his generation," Inon Barnatan is celebrated for his poetic sensibility, musical intelligence, and consummate artistry. A regular performer with many of the world's most foremost orchestras and conductors, Barnatan served from 2014-17 as the inaugural Artist-in-Association of the New York Philharmonic. In summer 2017, he made his BBC Proms debut with the BBC Symphony at London's Royal Albert Hall and gave the Aspen world premiere of a new piano concerto by Alan Fletcher, which he went on to reprise with the Atlanta Symphony and in a season-opening concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Barnatan is the recipient of both a prestigious 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Lincoln Center's 2015 Martin E. Segal Award, which recognizes "young artists of exceptional accomplishment."

Chamber Music San Francisco, which debuted in Spring 2004, was founded by Daniel Levenstein and has since established itself as one of the premier purveyors of classical music in Northern California, earning critical acclaim and enthusiastic audience response every year. With its lineup of concerts that feature chamber music (small ensembles) and recitals by superb soloists, Chamber Music San Francisco offers performances that embody the most personal and heartfelt utterances of the great composers.

To post a comment, you must register and login.