Donald Weilerstein
New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, MA; The Juilliard School, New York, NY
DONALD WEILERSTEIN has concertized extensively as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the world. He studied at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian, Dorothy Delay, and members of the Juilliard String Quartet, and was honored at graduation by the National Foundation of the Arts as an outstanding graduate of the school. He was a member of the Young Concert Artists and a participant in the Marlboro Music Festival, performing on several
Music from Marlboro Tours. Early in his career he won the Munich International Competition for violin and piano duo.
For twenty years (1969-1989) Mr. Weilerstein was the first violinist of the renowned Cleveland Quartet with whom he toured the world. His recordings with the quartet can be heard on the RCA, Telarc, CBS, Phillips, and Pro Arte labels. These recordings have earned seven Grammy nominations and won Best of the Year awards from Time and Stereo Review.
Mr. Weilerstein has taught and performed at such major American and European music festivals as Caramoor, Tanglewood, Aspen, Marlboro, Mostly Mozart, Salzburg, Luzern, Verbier, Ishikawa , Keshet Eilon, and The Mendelssohn Summer School in Hamburg. He has also taught and performed in China and in Venezuela through El Sistema, He regularly teaches and
performs at the Steans Institute in Ravinia ,the Yellow Barn Music Festival, and at the Perlman Music Program.
Critics and audiences alike have welcomed Mr. Weilerstein’s performances as part of the Weilerstein Duo, with pianist Vivian Hornik Weilerstein. Among their many recitals across the country, the duo has performed at Alice Tully Hall and the 92nd Street Y in New York City and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. Their discography includes the complete works of
Ernest Bloch for violin and piano and the sonatas of Janácek, Dohnanyi, and Enescu for Arabesque Records and the complete Schumann sonatas for Azica Records. Fanfare declared the Bloch recordings a “must” on the journal’s annual “Want List,” and American Record Guide lauded both the Bloch and Janácek recordings.
Mr. Weilerstein is very active as a member of the Weilerstein Trio which is in residence at the New England Conservatory of Music. The trio’s highly acclaimed CD, featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered”, features music of Dvorak on the Koch label. They have also recorded trios by Schumann and Janacek for the Koch label.
Recently featured in Strad Magazine, Mr. Weilerstein was formerly a professor of violin and chamber music at the Eastman School and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He is currently on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music and the Juilliard School. His students have been prize winners in major national and international competitions, including first prizes
in the Indianapolis , Naumburg, Washington , and Hanover competitions, and 1st and 2nd prizes in the Queen Elizabeth competition. Many of his students can be heard in today's leading orchestras and chamber ensembles. He was the 2011 recipient of the American String Teachers Association Artist Teacher Award.
