Alisa Weilerstein Aims to Rethink Concert Experience & Broaden Tent for Classical Music with FRAGMENTS.

Combining Bach with 27 New Commissions, Cellist’s Multisensory New Solo Project Launches Next Year

“I want people to experience music without borders. My hope is that people will listen with the idea that they’re going to go on a wild adventure,” says Alisa Weilerstein of “FRAGMENTS.”

Perhaps her most ambitious and personal project to date, the new series sees her weave together the 36 movements of Bach’s solo cello suites with 27 new commissions, to make six Fragments, each an hour long, for solo cello. Under her curation, each Fragment embraces a diverse range of compositional voices to trace a powerful and wholly original emotional arc. Performed without the distraction of pauses, applause or program details in a multisensory production by director Elkhanah Pulitzer and artistic producer and advisor Hanako Yamaguchi, with responsive lighting and architectural elements by Seth Reiser and original costumes by Carlos J. Soto, each Fragment offers its audience an unmediated, immersive and visceral listening experience. After premiering the first two Fragments early next year in Toronto(Jan 28), before giving performances in Southern California (March 10–14) and at New York’s Carnegie Hall (April 1), Weilerstein looks forward to performing and touring all six Fragments on both sides of the Atlantic in seasons to come. An initial tour to London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Prague and other major European centers is planned for the 2023-24 season, followed by performances at some of the continent’s most prestigious summer festivals.

Click here to learn more about FRAGMENTS