× Upcoming Events Salute to our Partners Thank you to our Donors Campus Maps Ticket Information Support Us Education Mann Music Room Rentals Board and Council Staff Volunteer Past Events
Home Salute to our Partners Thank you to our Donors Campus Maps Ticket Information Support Us Education Mann Music Room Rentals Board and Council Staff Volunteer
Thomas Mesa
Cello

Cuban-American cellist Thomas Mesa was the winner of the First Prize in the 2016 Sphinx Competition and the Astral Artists 2017 National Auditions. He has appeared as soloist at the Supreme Court of the United States and with major orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Indianapolis, Santa Barbara, and New Jersey symphonies. Tonight’s concert marks his Philadelphia Orchestra debut. Highlights of the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons include a US tour as a soloist with Sphinx Virtuosi and a 30-venue recital tour with duo partner and pianist Ilya Yakushev including at Carnegie Hall, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Colburn School of Music, and the Kohler Foundation. As a recitalist he has also been featured at the Academy of Arts and Letters, Bargemusic, the University of Miami’s Signature Series, Columbia University, the Flagler Museum, the Heifetz Institute, the California Center for the Arts, the Meadowmount School of Music, the Strad for Lunch Series, the International Beethoven Project, and at major universities across the US.

As a recording artist, Mr. Mesa was featured on the GRAMMY-nominated album Bonhoeffer with the GRAMMY-winning group the Crossing. He has appeared with the choir as soloist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Longwood Gardens, the Winter Garden, and the Theological Seminary in New York City. They have also collaborated on the American premiere of Rihm’s Astralis for choir and solo cello. Other recording projects include the piano/cello works of Brahms, an album dedicated to the music of Debussy, and a special project in collaboration with PARMA Recordings that will bring together and record new works for solo cello and cello/piano with pianist Michelle Cann. 

Appointed to the cello faculty at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College (SUNY) in fall 2021, Mr. Mesa has given master classes at institutions across the United States. He received his BM from the Juilliard School and his MM from Northwestern University, and he is currently a doctoral candidate at the Manhattan School of Music. He plays a cello made by Richard Tobin in 1820, which was used to record soundtracks for the first movies ever created.

Thomas Mesa
Cello

Cuban-American cellist Thomas Mesa was the winner of the First Prize in the 2016 Sphinx Competition and the Astral Artists 2017 National Auditions. He has appeared as soloist at the Supreme Court of the United States and with major orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Indianapolis, Santa Barbara, and New Jersey symphonies. Tonight’s concert marks his Philadelphia Orchestra debut. Highlights of the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons include a US tour as a soloist with Sphinx Virtuosi and a 30-venue recital tour with duo partner and pianist Ilya Yakushev including at Carnegie Hall, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Colburn School of Music, and the Kohler Foundation. As a recitalist he has also been featured at the Academy of Arts and Letters, Bargemusic, the University of Miami’s Signature Series, Columbia University, the Flagler Museum, the Heifetz Institute, the California Center for the Arts, the Meadowmount School of Music, the Strad for Lunch Series, the International Beethoven Project, and at major universities across the US.

As a recording artist, Mr. Mesa was featured on the GRAMMY-nominated album Bonhoeffer with the GRAMMY-winning group the Crossing. He has appeared with the choir as soloist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Longwood Gardens, the Winter Garden, and the Theological Seminary in New York City. They have also collaborated on the American premiere of Rihm’s Astralis for choir and solo cello. Other recording projects include the piano/cello works of Brahms, an album dedicated to the music of Debussy, and a special project in collaboration with PARMA Recordings that will bring together and record new works for solo cello and cello/piano with pianist Michelle Cann. 

Appointed to the cello faculty at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College (SUNY) in fall 2021, Mr. Mesa has given master classes at institutions across the United States. He received his BM from the Juilliard School and his MM from Northwestern University, and he is currently a doctoral candidate at the Manhattan School of Music. He plays a cello made by Richard Tobin in 1820, which was used to record soundtracks for the first movies ever created.