Join us for an intimate evening celebrating the American premiere of Tfiles, a clarinet concerto by composer Alex Weiser, to be performed at Carnegie Hall on October 27th by clarinetist Andrzej Ciepliński and the American Composers Orchestra led by conductor Kedrick Armstrong. The evening will feature a conversation between Weiser and Ciepliński — moderated by distinguished scholar Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett — exploring the work’s origins in Kadya Molodowsky’s poetic reflections on the idea of Jewish prayer, the partnership behind its realization, and the music’s journey from its world premiere at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw to the stage of Carnegie Hall. The evening will also include a brief solo performance by Ciepliński, followed by a reception with food and the opportunity to meet the artists. Tfiles (Yiddish for “prayers”) recasts the clarinet concerto as a set of musical prayers. Praised after its Warsaw premiere as “full of noble simplicity and warmth” (Polityka), the concerto follows Molodowsky’s lead in reimagining the traditional collective Jewish ritual search for the divine as a personal, individual quest beyond the boundaries of traditional observance.

Andrzej Ciepliński, Clarinet

Andrzej Ciepliński is a Polish clarinetist acclaimed for his original interpretations and exceptional musical sensitivity. As a soloist, he has performed with leading orchestras including Sinfonieorchester Basel, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Cracovia, the M. Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin, and the Polish Radio Orchestra.

An active chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists such as Julian Rachlin, Claudio Bohórquez, Janusz Wawrowski, Sào Soulez Larivière, Tymoteusz Bies, Szymon Nehring, and Anastasia Kobekina. Continuing the legacy of his grandfather, the legendary Polish trombonist Juliusz Pietrachowicz, Ciepliński is committed to expanding the clarinet repertoire through collaborations with composers and new arrangements.

In 2024, he performed the world premiere of Alex Weiser’s clarinet concerto “Tfiles,” written for him and presented at the POLIN Music Festival. His debut album, “Irrberge” (DUX, 2022), featuring his own transcription of Debussy’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, was nominated for a 2023 Fryderyk Award.

A recipient of a Kościuszko Foundation scholarship, Ciepliński completed a residency at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York, where he developed “Disturb the Silence,” a concert project exploring the history of Jewish musicians from Galicia, with mentorship from David Krakauer.

He graduated with honors from the Hochschule für Musik in Basel in the class of François Benda and studied with Arkadiusz Adamski at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, where he was awarded the title Primus Inter Pares.

Learn more: Andrzej Ciepliński

Alex Weiser, Composer

Alex Weiser is a New York–based composer praised for his “knack for crafting music that is at once historically rooted and of its moment” by The New Yorker. His work often reflects on cultural inheritance, Jewish history, Yiddish literature, sanctity, and the transience of life, combining expansive musical gestures with deeply expressive lyricism.

Weiser’s debut album, “and all the days were purple,” sets Yiddish and English poetry to music and was named a 2020 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Music. Released by Cantaloupe Music, the album has been praised for its meditative, spiritual, and emotionally direct musical language.

His second album, “in a dark blue night,” released in 2024, features two song cycles performed by mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen with instrumental ensemble. The works evoke New York City at night and the Jewish immigrant world of Coney Island in the 1930s and 1940s.

Active as an opera composer, Weiser recently premiered “The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language,” written with librettist Ben Kaplan. Set in post-war New York, the chamber opera follows Yiddish linguist Yudel Mark as he works to create the world’s first comprehensive Yiddish dictionary — an act of preservation, memory, and renewal.

Weiser is currently developing “Tevye’s Daughters” with librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, a commission from American Lyric Theater based on Sholem Aleichem’s iconic stories.

Learn more: Alex Weiser

Presented by American Composers Orchestra, American Friends of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Association of the Jewish Historical Institute, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Polish Cultural Institute New York, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and American Society for Jewish Music.