Alisa Weilerstein, the cellist with the razor-like tone and sense of phrasing, was supposed to play here in February 2016, but then she was advised not to travel in the final months of her pregnancy, so the date went on with a different cellist. Now, the 35-year-old returns to Fort Worth for her makeup engagement and is even playing two concerts for us. A mere two days after she gives the world premiere of Steven Mackey’s Through Your Fingers at Carnegie Hall, she’ll be at the Kimbell Art Museum performing the same work with pianist Inon Barnatan.
In addition, she’ll play Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata, which (as you might expect) gives the pianist more to do than other works in the genre, and Britten’s Cello Sonata, which was written for the great Mstislav Rostropovich and showcases a dry sense of humor. Rounding out the program is Mendelssohn’s charming Second Cello Sonata, a work that contains unmistakable echoes of the composer’s incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which he was working on at the same time. The Mackey piece is a sign of this cellist’s longtime commitment to contemporary music, and you’ll be hearing it fresh.
Alisa Weilerstein plays 7:30pm Thu-Fri at the Kimbell Art Museum, 3333 Camp Bowie Blvd, FW. Tickets are $25-85. Call 817-332-8451.
