ARTIST NEWS

Alisa Weilerstein's parents didn't teach her the cello to complete their string trio. But it did work out that way

Alisa Weilerstein strides through the door in high heels and a gauzy dress, and heaves her cello off her shoulder with the air of someone who would rather be wearing a sweatshirt. She's in New York for the afternoon for a benefit performance and a quick visit to the old neighborhood, which she's barely had to time to grow nostalgic about. Weilerstein graduated from Columbia four years ago and immediately hit the road. At 26, she's arguably Yo-Yo Ma's heiress apparent as sovereign of the American cello. For now, though, she is a pre-star, building her career with due deliberation. She gives her first Zankel Hall recital on December 9.

In “Silent City,” a hypnotic work commemorating Halabjah, a Kurdish village annihilated by Saddam Hussein, the kamancheh, an upright four-stringed Persian fiddle, breaks out in a lamenting wail based on a traditional Turkish melody.

“Silent City” is included on a new disc of the same name on the World Village label, which Kayhan Kalhor, a virtuoso kamancheh player, recorded with the young string quartet Brooklyn Rider.

As evidenced by monologist Mike Daisey's 2003 book-length adaptation of his breakout solo performance, the Amazon-cubicle-drone epic 21 Dog Years, the man in print is eloquent, insightful, funny, and scathing. And it is a testament to his ability as a performer that, having seen the monologue before reading the book, I found this well-written tale completely lukewarm compared to its live counterpart.