Cellist Tommy Mesa Announces 2024-2025 Season Highlights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Katy Salomon | Primo Artists | VP, Public Relations 
katy@primoartists.com | 646.801.9406 

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Cellist Tommy Mesa Announces 2024-2025 Season Highlights

2024-2025 Artist-in-Residence with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra 

Debuts with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Glacier Symphony Orchestra, 
Rogue Valley Symphony, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia
and Windsor Symphony Orchestra

Performance with American Composers Orchestra at BAM Next Wave Festival

Opening the Seasons of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and
Lansing Symphony Orchestra (Debut)

Nationwide Premiere Tour with Pianist Michelle Cann to the 
University of Vermont Lane Series, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Linton Chamber Music 
in Cincinnati and the Schubert Club in St. Paul, MN

Recitals Presented by The Phillips Collection, Bargemusic, Key West Impromptu
Classical Concerts and The University of Southern Mississippi School of Music

Recitals with Bandoneonist JP Jofre at New Mexico’s
Music in Corrales and California’s THE 222

“Mesa made it clear that both marvelous technique and captivating interpretation
are a part of his musical storytelling ability.” – Arts Knoxville

www.tommymesa.com 
 

New York, NY (September 18, 2024) – Praised for his “musical intensity that was commanding in every detail” (New York Concert Review), Cuban-American cellist Dr. Tommy Mesa announces an exciting 2024-2025 season.

In addition to serving as Artist-in-Residence with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in the 2024-25 season, Mesa takes on orchestral highlights including debuts with the Delaware, Glacier and Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestras, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, where he performs in the rarely-heard Lucid Dreams by Canadian composer Jocelyn Morlock. He appears with American Composers Orchestra a unique interactive performance staged as part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave festival. He also returns to the Madison Symphony Orchestra for Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. Last season Mesa made celebrated appearances with the Calgary and Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestras and the Ann Arbor, Columbus, Greenwich, Knoxville, Quad City and Reading Symphony Orchestras, among others.

Mesa looks ahead to an active season of recital performances on leading stages, including the launch of a national tour with pianist Michelle Cann. Following the duo’s successful release of Our Stories, an album of world premiere recordings by Black and Latino composers released on Navona Records in November 2023, Mesa and Cann perform at venues including the University of Vermont Lane Series, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Linton Chamber Music in Cincinnati and the Schubert Club in St. Paul. Mesa also performs recitals this season at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, and Bargemusic in New York; with bandoneonist JP Jofre at Music in Corrales (New Mexico) and THE 222 (Healdsburg, CA); with organist Greg Zelek at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Sun City West, AZ; and at Key West Impromptu Classical Concerts in Key West, FL.

On Friday, September 13, 2024, BargeMusic presents Mesa and pianist Ilya Yakushev as part of its Eclectic Series at the Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn, NY. The duo’s program includes Beethoven's Cello Sonata No. 3, Schumann's Fantasiestucke, Kapustin’s Elegy and Shostakovich’s Sonata for cello and piano. They reunite to perform the program again on Sunday, January 5, 2025 for a recital at the Tri-County Concerts Emerging Artists Series at Main Line Unitarian Church in Devon, PA. 

From Friday, September 20, 2024 to Sunday, September 22, 2024 at Overture Hall, Mesa kicks off the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s 99th season with a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, conducted by John DeMain. The program also includes Jongen’s Symphonie Concertante with Principal Organist Greg Zelek, with whom Mesa performed in April 2023; the world premiere of Valerie Coleman’s Umoja: Anthem of Unity; and de Falla’s The Three Cornered Hat.

On Thursday, October 3, 2024 at the Wharton Center for the Performing Arts, Mesa makes his Lansing Symphony Orchestra debut in the opening concert of the orchestra’s 95th season, performing Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, conducted by Timothy Muffitt. The concert pays stylistic homage to Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations through a program of works including Gala Flagello’s Bravado and Mozart’s Symphony No. 31 “Paris.”

Mesa debuts with the Glacier Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Saint-Saens’s Cello Concerto No. 1 on Saturday, October 12 and Sunday, October 13, 2024 at the Wachholz College Center in Kalispell, MT, where the program also features Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique and Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. 

As part of his 2024-2025 Artist-in-Residence program at the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Mesa presents a program of cello-centric music on Saturday, November 2, 2024 and Sunday, November 3, 2024 as part of TSO’s Up Close series. Alongside violinists Joseph Rousos-Hammond and Emily Chao, violists Ann Weaver and Candice Amato and cellist Anne Gratz, Mesa will open the program with Seven, a solo piece he commissioned from Andrea Casarrubios as a tribute to essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, before performing Caroline Shaw’s Limestone and Felt and closing with Schubert’s Cello Quintet.

On Friday, November 15, 2024 at Copeland Hall at The Grand Opera House in Wilmington, DE, Mesa makes his Delaware Symphony Orchestra debut in Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with Filippo Ciabatti, a finalist in the orchestra’s ongoing search for a new music director. The program includes Carlos Simon’s Fate Now Conquers and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. They reprise the program on Sunday, November 17, 2024 at Cape Henlopen High School in Lewes, DE.

Mesa and Zelek return to Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Sun City West, AZ  for a duo performance on Sunday, November 24, 2024 for their annual concert series. This free concert will showcase various instruments alongside the organ, which is a symbolic part of the parish’s history.

On Friday, December 6, 2024 and Saturday, December 7, 2024 at the Howard Gilman Opera House, Mesa performs with the American Composers Orchestra in Journey LIVE, presented as part of BAM's (Brooklyn Academy of Music) Next Wave festival.  In a unique interactive live performance of the GRAMMY®-nominated score of the film Journey, live musicians will craft their performance by responding to the actions of video game players—in real-time—on stage.

Mesa makes his debut with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in two concertos on Friday, December 13, 2024 and Sunday, December 15, 2024 at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall with conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong. As TSO’s Artist in Residence, Mesa will perform a program juxtaposing Haydn’s classical Cello Concerto No. 1 with the recent Divided by Jessie Montgomery, which the composer describes as a response to the social and political unrest of the recent past, the sense of helplessness people feel in a world that seems in constant crisis. The works are paired with Mozart’s Overture to La clemenza di Tito and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2.

To begin 2025, Key West Impromptu Classical Concerts presents Mesa and organist Greg Zelek in a special duo performance at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Key West, FL on Sunday, January 12, 2025, showcasing the church’s historic pipe organ.

On Saturday, January 19, 2025, The Phillips Collection presents Mesa in recital with pianist Yoon Lee, special-prize winner of the 2012 International Anton Rubinstein Piano Competition. Together, the duo performs a program crafted around Joel Friedman’s Pas de Deux, a piece initially commissioned to celebrate a joyful relationship and revised after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to reflect the dark shadows that had been cast over even the happy times in life. The program also includes Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata. They reprise the program in a recital at The University of Southern Mississippi School of Music’s Marsh Auditorium on Thursday, January 23, 2025.

On Sunday, January 20, 2025 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, Chamber Music Pittsburgh presents Mesa and pianist Michelle Cann in a recital that reimagines the chamber music canon for the 21st century. Both recipients of the Sphinx Organization’s prestigious Medal of Excellence, Mesa and Cann share a passion for celebrating composers and performers from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in classical music. Their program includes Nadia Boulanger’s 3 Pieces for Cello and Piano, Andrea Casarrubios’ Mensajes del agua, Debussy’s Sonata in D minor, Kevin Day’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, Nikolai Kapustin’s Elegy and Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata. 

Cann and Mesa tour the program to Saint Anthony Park United Church of Christ in St. Paul, MN, presented by the Schubert Club on Sunday, January 26, 2025, and to the University of Vermont Lane Series on Friday, January 31, 2025 before ending the season with a performance with violinist Stefani Matsuo at the Linton Music Hall in Cincinnati, OH on Sunday, May 11, 2025. The trio will perform an array of musical styles, including music by Claude Debussy, Winton Marsalis, Jessie Montgomery, Clara Schumann and Paul Schoenfield. 

Mesa returns to THE 222 in Healdsburg, CA with bandoneon player and composer JP Jofre on Friday, February 7, 2025 for a special program of tango music by Astor Piazzolla and transcriptions by Jofre himself. The duo takes the program to New Mexico’s Music in Corrales on Sunday, February 9, 2025.

Mesa makes his Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia debut with two concerts on Friday, February 14, 2025 and Sunday, February 16, 2025 at the Perelman Theater, conducted by David Hayes. In this program, he performs the world premiere of a new piece by Composer-in-Residence Evan Williams, along with Jessie Montgomery’s Divided and two pieces by Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 and Symphony No. 64.

Mesa appears next at The Capitol Theatre in Windsor, Ontario for a debut performance of Canadian composer Jocelyn Morlock’s Lucid Dreams on Saturday, March 22, 2025 and Sunday, March 23, 2025. Featured in its first performance since Morlock’s untimely passing in 2023, the work conjures up poignant associations to the images she experienced in her struggle with mental illness – the “lucid dreams” referenced in the title – which ultimately led to her death. Conducted by Robert Franz, this program – featuring the world premiere of Syrian-American composer Malek Jandali’s Symphony No. 5 – integrates ancient Arabic melodies into Western orchestral forms in a unique fusion reflecting Syria’s rich heritage.

For three dates from Friday, April 25, 2025 to Sunday, April 27, 2025, Rogue Valley Symphony presents Mesa in Masterworks 6: Visit the Grand Canyon at the Craterian Theater at the Collier Center for Performing Arts in Ashland, OR. This innovative program presents Grofé’s Grand Canyon Suite in a new light, incorporating hundreds of panoramic photographs taken by Westwater Arts Media in seldom-seen parts of the Grand Canyon, inviting audiences to experience the awe-inspiring site through both sound and visuals. Joan Tower’s Made in America and Dvorák's Cello Concerto complete the program.

Mesa goes on to perform Dvorák's Cello Concerto in the closing concert of Alhambra Orchestra’s 35th season on Saturday, May 3, 2025 at Wertheim Center for the Arts. 

Tommy Mesa 2024-25 Season Calendar

Friday, September 13, 2024 at 6:00pm
Barge Music Presents Thomas Mesa and Ilya Yakushev
Fulton Ferry Landing | Brooklyn, NY
Link: www.bargemusic.org/concert/eclectic-series-boulanger-rhapsodie-shostakovich-thomas-mesa-and-ilya-rhapsodie/ 

Friday, September 20, 2024 at 7:30pm
Saturday, September 21, 2024 at 7:30pm
Sunday, September 22, 2024 at 2:30pm
Madison Symphony Orchestra
Overture Hall | Madison, WI
Link: www.madisonsymphony.org/event/reunion/ 

Thursday, October 3, 2024 at 7:30pm
Lansing Symphony Orchestra 
Wharton Center for the Performing Arts | Lansing, MI
Link: www.lansingsymphony.org/events/enigma-variations 

Saturday, October 12, 2024 at 7:30pm
Sunday, October 13, 2024 at 3:00pm
Glacier Symphony Orchestra
Wacholz College Center | Kalispell, Montana
Link: www.glaciersymphony.org/concerts 

Saturday, November 2, 2024 at 7:30pm
Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 2:00pm
Tucson Symphony Orchestra
Tucson Symphony Center | Tucson, Arizona
Link: www.tucsonsymphony.org/event/up-close-nov-2024/2024-11-02/ 

Friday, November 15, 2024 at 7:30pm
Delaware Symphony Orchestra
Copeland Hall at The Grand Opera House | Wilmington, DE
Link: www.delawaresymphony.org/dso_events/ciabatti-conducts-beethoven-wilmington/ 

Sunday November 17, 2024 at 7:30pm
Delaware Symphony Orchestra
Cape Henlopen High School | Lewes, DE
Link: www.delawaresymphony.org/dso_events/ciabatti-conducts-beethoven-lewes/ 

Sunday, November 24, 2024 at 3:00pm
Annual Concert Series
Our Lady of Lourdes Parish | Sun City West, AZ
Link: www.ololscw.org/organ 

Friday, December 6, 2024 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 7, 2024 at 2:00pm
Brooklyn Academy of Music Presents Journey LIVE with American Composers Orchestra
Howard Gilman Opera House | Brooklyn, NY
Link: www.bam.org/installation/2024/journey 

Friday, December 13, 2024 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 15, 2024 at 2:00pm
Tucson Symphony Orchestra Presents Haydn and Brahms
Linda Ronstadt Music Hall | Tucson, AZ
Link: www.tucsonsymphony.org/event/haydn-and-brahms/2024-12-13/# 

Sunday, January 5, 2025 at 3:00pm
Tri-Country Concerts Emerging Artists Series with Ilya Yakushev
Main Line Unitarian Church | Devon, PA
Link: www.tricountyconcerts.org/tickets.php 

Sunday, January 12, 2025 at 4:00pm
Key West Impromptu Classical Concerts Presents Thomas Mesa and Greg Zelek
St. Paul Episcopal Church, Key West, FL
Link: www.keywestimpromptu.org/concerts/season/2025-season/#thomas-mesa-and-greg-zelek-2025 

Saturday, January 19, 2025 at 4:00pm
The Phillips Collection Recital with Yoon Lee
The Phillips Collection | Washington, DC
Link: www.phillipscollection.org/music 

Sunday, January 20, 2025 at 7:30pm
Chamber Music Pittsburgh Recital with Michelle Cann
PNC Theatre | Pittsburgh, PA
Link: www.chambermusicpittsburgh.org/tommymesa-michellecann/ 

Thursday, January 23, 2025 at 7:30pm
The University of Southern Mississippi School of Music Recital with Yoon Lee
Marsh Auditorium | Hattiesburg, MS
Link: www.calendar.usm.edu/event/connoisseurs-series-presents-tommy-mesa-cello-and-yoon-lee-piano 

Sunday, January 26, 2025 at 4:00pm
Schubert Club Presents Music in the Park Series with Tommy Mesa and Michelle Cann
Saint Anthony Park United Church of Christ | St Paul, MN
Link: www.schubert.org/event/tommy-mesa-cello-and-michelle-cann-piano/ 

Friday January 31, 2025 at 7:30pm
University of Vermont Lane Series, Recital with Michelle Cann
UVM Recital Hall | Burlington, VT
Link: www.uvm.edu/laneseries 

Friday February 7, 2025 at 7:30pm
THE 222 Presents Art of the Tango
THE 222 | Healdsburg, CA
Link: www.the222.org/product/art-of-the-tango/ 

Sunday, February 9, 2024 at 3:00pm
Music in Corrales Recital with JP Jofre
Old San Ysidro Church | Corrales, NM
Link: www.musicincorrales.org/current-season 

Friday February 14, 2025 at 7:30pm
Sunday, February 16, 2025 at 2:30pm
Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia
Perelman Theater | Philadelphia, PA
Link: www.chamberorchestra.org/project/the-best-of-haydn/ 

Saturday, March 22, 2025 at 7:30pm  
Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 2:30pm
Windsor Symphony Orchestra 
The Capitol Theatre | Windsor, Ontario
Link: www.windsorsymphony.com/event/syrian-world-premiere/2025-03-22/ 

Friday, April 25, 2025 at 7:30pm
Saturday, April 26, 2025 at 3:00pm
Sunday, April 27, 2025 at 3:00pm
Rogue Valley Symphony Presents Masterworks 6: Visit the Grand Canyon
Craterian Theater, Collier Center for the Performing Arts | Ashland, OR
Link: www.rvsymphony.org/MW6/ 

Saturday, May 3, 2025 at 7:30pm
Alhambra Orchestra’s 35th Season Finale
Wertheim Center for the Arts | Miami, FL
Link: www.alhambraorchestra.org/join-us-for-free-classical-music-concerts-presented-by-the-alhambra-orchestra/ 

Sunday, May 11, 2025 – Monday, May 12, 2025 at 4:00pm
Trios and Duo with Michelle Cann
Linton Music Hall | Cincinnati, OH
Link: www.lintonmusic.org/musical-cafe/ 

About Tommy Mesa
Praised for his “musical intensity that was commanding in every detail” (New York Concert Review), Cuban-American cellist Dr. Tommy Mesa has established himself as one of the most charismatic, innovative, and engaging performers of his generation. The recipient of the Sphinx Organization’s 2023 Medal of Excellence, its highest honor, Mesa has appeared as soloist at the Supreme Court of the United States on four occasions and with major orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Indianapolis, Madison, New Jersey, San Antonio, and Santa Barbara, among others. 

Mesa gave the world premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s cello concerto Divided in 2022 and has been the exclusive soloist since, performing at major halls across the United States and Brazil including Miami’s New World Center, Nashville’s Schermerhorn Center, and Carnegie Hall. His orchestral recording debut of the work was released in July 2023 on Deutsche Grammophon. Past performance features include recitals at The Academy of Arts and Letters, Bay Chamber Concerts, California Center for the Arts, Columbia University, Flagler Museum, The Heifetz Institute, International Beethoven Project, Kaufman Music Center, Meadowmount School of Music, University of Miami’s Signature Series, Newport Classical, Perlman Music Program Alumni Recital, Strad for Lunch Series, Virginia Arts Festival, and major universities across the United States. 

Mesa recently celebrated several releases, including a recording of tango works for cello and bandoneon with performer-composer JP Jofre and an album of world-premiere recordings by Black and Latinx composers with pianist Michelle Cann which was featured in an exclusive showcase on NYC’s classical station WQXR. Upcoming albums include collaborations with the iconic pianist Olga Kern and the multiple GRAMMY®-award winning vocal ensemble, The Crossing Choir. 

Mesa’s first solo album, Division of Memory on the PARMA Recordings label, received rave reviews such as in PianoMania, “Do not hold your breath for Yo-Yo Ma to record this repertoire, for the just-as-excellent Mesa has the field entirely to himself.” Mesa was featured on the GRAMMY-nominated album, “Bonhoeffer,” with the multiple GRAMMY®-winning group, The Crossing Choir. He has appeared with the group as soloist at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, Longwood Gardens, The Winter Garden, and the Theological Seminary in NYC. Mesa and The Crossing Choir also collaborated on the U.S. premiere of Astralis for choir and solo cello by renowned composer Wolfgang Rihm, and are planning more collaborations for future seasons.

As an ensemble musician, Mesa has been on tours with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and is the principal cellist of Sphinx Virtuosi, who play every year on tour at almost every major venue across the United States. He also collaborates with Jupiter Chamber Players and has toured with Itzhak Perlman both nationally and internationally.

Mesa has given masterclasses at institutions such as U.C. Berkeley, Boston Conservatory, the Colburn School, DePaul University, Meadowmount School of Music, the University of Miami, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Northwestern University, and Walnut Hill School. Previously, he held faculty positions at SUNY Purchase, Sphinx Performance Academy, The Heifetz Institute’s PEG Program, Music Mountain Festival and School, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Montecito International Music Festival, St. Petersburg International Music Academy, and The Mozart Academy at John Jay College in New York City.

Mesa’s career launched after becoming the First Prize winner in the 2016 Sphinx Competition and a winner of the 2017 Astral Artists National Auditions. He received his BM from The Juilliard School, MM from Northwestern University, and his DMA from the Manhattan School of Music. His principal teachers were Timothy Eddy, Julia Lichten, Hans Jorgen Jensen, Mark Churchill, Ross Harbaugh, and Wells Cunningham. Mesa performs on a Nicolò Gagliano cello made in 1767 and a bow by Andre Richaume, both generously loaned to him by CANIMEX INC in Drummondville, Canada. Learn more at www.tommymesa.com.

*Photo Credit: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

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