BIOGRAPHY
The brilliant young Cuban-American cellist Thomas Mesa is quickly establishing himself as one of the most charismatic and engaging performers of his generation. Thomas won the $50,000 First Prize in the 2016 Sphinx Competition. He has appeared as soloist with major orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Cleveland Orchestra, Santa Barbara Symphony, and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.
His performances of Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Los Angeles Philharmonic were seen by an audience of over 30,000, and his performance of the Dvorák Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra received this rave review from the Cleveland Plain Dealer: "A listener with closed eyes would have been hard pressed to distinguish [Mesa's] shapely, expressive performance from that of another gifted artist two or three times his age."
As a driving force in the Sphinx Virtuosi orchestra, Thomas has been featured as soloist on tour in the concerto Dance for a New Day by jazz trumpeter-composer Terence Blanchard.
Highlights of Thomas's 2021-22 season include the world premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s "Divided" solo cello and orchestra (on tour) at major venues across the U.S., a concerto premiere by Andrea Casarrubios with Indianapolis Symphony, premieres in recital by Carlos Simon and Stephanie Ann Boyd, and multiple recording projects. He tours extensively with Russian piano virtuoso Ilya Yakushev (www.ilyayakushev.com).
As a recording artist, Mr. Mesa was featured on the GRAMMY-nominated album, “Bonhoeffer” with the multiple GRAMMY-winning ensemble, The Crossing Choir. He has appeared with them as soloist at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, Longwood Gardens, The Winter Garden (broadcast on WNYC) and the Theological Seminary in New York City. Mr. Mesa and The Crossing also collaborated on the American premiere of Astralis for choir and solo cello by Wolfgang Rihm, with more collaborations and premieres scheduled for future seasons.
Other recordings in progress include the piano and cello music of Brahms and Beethoven; an album dedicated to the music of Debussy; and a special project in collaboration with PARMA Recordings in a “Call for Scores” that will bring together and record new works for solo cello and cello/piano. This project will include an album release concert at The DiMenna Center in New York City and the album will be available on all commercial streaming platforms.
Mr. Mesa tours with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and is the cellist of the renowned St. Petersburg Piano Quartet. He has toured with Itzhak Perlman and Protegés both nationally and internationally. Other appearances have included the Mainly Mozart Festival (San Diego), Bargemusic (NYC), Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series (Chicago), Columbia University, Carnegie Hall, the U.S. Supreme Court, The Heifetz Institute, Meadowmount School of Music, Strad for Lunch Series (NYC), and the International Beethoven Project.
Thomas Mesa received his BM from The Juilliard School and his MM from Northwestern University, and he is a doctoral candidate at the Manhattan School of Music. His principal teachers were Timothy Eddy, Julia Lichten, Hans Jorgen Jensen, Mark Churchill, Ross Harbaugh, and Wells Cunningham.
Strings Magazine featured Thomas as its cover story in the Fall 2020 issue. Starting in the Fall of 2021, Thomas will be the cello professor at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College (SUNY).
He plays a gorgeous cello made by Richard Tobin in 1820, an instrument that was used in soundtracks for the first movies ever made.
His website is www.thomasmesacello.com.