Smetana Litomyšl Festival • Tomáš Netopil, Alisa Weilerstein

A box of rice cereal served as Alisa Weilerstein’s very first cello when she was two and a half years old. Little Alisa caught the chickenpox just when her musical parents (her mother is a pianist and her father is a violinist) were on a world tour, so her grandmother was coming up with fun ideas. The biggest hit was a set of musical instruments made with breakfast cereal boxes, but Alice was only interested in the cello. Unfortunately, that cello could not be played. Two years later, little Alisa’s parents finally let her persuade them to get her a real instrument. Six months later, she played it in public for the first time. At age 13 she played with the Cleveland Orchestra, and Carnegie Hall opened its doors to her for the first time when she reached age 15. She did not, however, allow musical institutions to limit her to a one-sided musical orientation, so after graduating from the Youth Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, she went to Columbia University to study Russian history (both of her parents have Russian roots). Nonetheless, her study plan included several hours of daily practice on the cello, and at the same time she had a busy schedule of concerts!

This American cellist’s popularity led to a concert appearance at the White House, where she was received by the president’s family in 2008, and her artistic prestige earned her a fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation (2011) and an award from BBC Music Magazine for the “Recording of the Year 2013” (cello concertos by Edward Elgar and Elliott Carter with Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin). At the time, she was already routinely giving concerts with top orchestras in the USA, Europe, and Asia. She also continues to give solo recitals, earning acclaim especially for her interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Cello. She has also recorded the whole cycle on CD (nominated for a prize from the journal Gramophone), and during the pandemic she made live recordings at home for a project titled 36 Days of Bach (one movement from a suite every day). Because she is also a major proponent of contemporary music, she also created a multimedia project titled Fragments, which combines the aforementioned Bach suite movements with 27 newly composed pieces. All of this was done with the famed theatrical and operatic stage director Elkhanah Pulitzer supervising visual aspects of the project, which sets out to “find new ways to connect the audience and artist”. The project has already been heard at such venues as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

That, however, is not the end of her service to today’s cello literature: contemporary composers are writing more works for her with solo concertos by Joan Tower, Matthias Pintscher, Pascal Dusapin, and Richard Blackford at the forefront. It is the premiere of Blackford’s concerto that awaits us at today’s concert under the baton of Tomáš Netopil. Weilerstein’s long-term collaboration with the Czech Philharmonic dates back to 2013 at the Dvořák Prague Festival, when she played Dvořák’s Cello Concerto. A year later, the concerto’s release on CD received great acclaim from critics. “In Bělohlávek and the Czech Philharmonic, [Weilerstein] has chosen ideal partners”, commented Hugh Cunning in The Sunday Times. Weilerstein also has only the fondest memories of working with the Czech Philharmonic: “I really, really love the sound of the orchestra—there is a kind of lyricism and tenderness, which I don’t often hear in Dvořák playing.” This is perhaps why Weilerstein has come to Prague several more times and even performed with the Czech Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall on tour in 2018. Her younger brother, the conductor Joshua Weilerstein, and her husband, the Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare, have also appeared with the orchestra at the Rudolfinum.

An inspirational force, particularly in Czech music, Tomáš Netopil was Principal Guest Conductor with Czech Philharmonic from 2018-2024 performing regularly on tour and at concerts in the Rudolfinum Hall in Prague where he continues to conduct the orchestra’s New Year concerts which are live televised. In 2023/2024 season, Tomáš Netopil conducted opera productions including Janáček’s Jenůfa at the Hamburg Staatsoper and Dvořák’s Rusalka at the Prague National Theatre as well as symphonies with Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Naples Philharmonic and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

Opera productions in the 2024/2025 season include Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Die Zauberflote with the New National Theatre Foundation, Tokyo and Don Giovanni with Oper Köln. Netopil explores a wide range of symphonic repertoire in engagements with Oslo Philharmonic, Antwerp, Kuopio and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. This season sees a welcome return to L'Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo as well as a debut with Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire. Another return is to Concentus Musicus Wien which builds on his work with period ensembles. As part of the Prague Spring Festival, Netopil will delight audiences with an authentic production of Mozart’s Requiem.

Seven years ago, Tomáš Netopil created the International Summer Music Academy in Kroměříž offering students both exceptional artistic tuition and the opportunity to meet and work with major international musicians. In summer 2021, in association with the Dvořák Prague Festival, the Academy established the Dvořákova Praha Youth Philharmonic with musicians from conservatories and music academies, coached by principal players of the Czech Philharmonic. Tomáš Netopil has held a close relationship with the Dvořák Prague Festival for some time and was Artist-in-Residence in 2017, opening the Festival with Essen Philharmoniker and closing the Festival with Wiener Symphoniker in Dvořák’s Te Deum. 

Tomáš Netopil’s discography for Supraphon includes Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass (the first ever recording of the original 1927 version), Dvořák’s complete cello works, Martinů’s Ariane and Double Concerto, and Smetana’s Má vlast with the Prague Symphony Orchestra with whom he’ll become Chief Conductor and Music Director from 2025/2026 season. During his tenure in Essen, his releases included recordings of Suk Asrael and Mahler Symphony Nos. 2, 3 6 and 9. 

From 2008-2012 Tomáš Netopil held the position of Music Director of the Prague National Theatre. He studied violin and conducting in his native Czech Republic, as well as at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm under the guidance of Professor Jorma Panula. In 2002 he won the 1st Sir Georg Solti Conductors Competition at the Alte Oper Frankfurt.