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SUMMARY:An Evening with Alex Weiser and Andrzej Ciepliński: A Celebration of "Tfiles" and its Carnegie Hall Premiere
UID:https://instytutpolski.pl/newyork/2026/08/25/an-evening-with-alex-weiser-and-andrzej-cieplinski-a-celebration-of-tfiles-and-its-carnegie-hall-premiere/
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DTSTAMP:20261022
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Warsaw:20261022
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Warsaw:20261022
DESCRIPTION:Thursday, October 22 at 7:00 PMYIVO Institute for Jewish Research15 W 16th
St, New York, NY 10011
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.
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