FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK, January 17, 2025 – Renowned international music conservatory Manhattan School of Music (MSM) announced today that beginning in the Fall 2025 semester celebrated cellist Tommy Mesa will join the School’s Strings faculty.
An acclaimed performer, recording artist, and educator, Mesa brings a wealth of experience to the next generation of young artists at MSM. Mesa’s artistic career is marked by groundbreaking collaborations and innovative projects. He has premiered and toured concertos by celebrated composers, including Terence Blanchard (HonDMA ’17), Michael Abels, and Jessie Montgomery’s cello concerto, which he recorded for Deutsche Grammophon in 2023. Most recently, his duo album with fellow MSM Piano Faculty member Michelle Cann was met with critical acclaim. He has made dozens of solo appearances with orchestras across the country including with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. His solo album, Division of Memory, received widespread acclaim for its depth and creativity.
“We are thrilled to welcome Tommy Mesa to the cello department at Manhattan School of Music,” says JT Kane, Dean of Instrumental Studies and Orchestral Performance. “Tommy’s artistry and versatility as a cellist, combined with his innovative spirit and dedication to teaching, will bring tremendous energy and inspiration to MSM. His presence will undoubtedly enrich our students, and his innovative approach to performance and dedication to nurturing the next generation of musicians make him a perfect fit for the MSM Community.”
Beyond the concert stage, Mesa is a passionate educator. He has conducted master classes at leading musical institutions such as U.C. Berkeley, Boston Conservatory, Northwestern University, and Manhattan School of Music itself. Mesa has also held faculty positions at Sphinx Performance Academy, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and St. Petersburg International Music Academy. His teaching philosophy emphasizes artistry, authenticity, and connecting with audiences.
“I’m honored to join the MSM cello faculty and energized by the opportunity to build a studio among colleagues who I’ve admired for decades,” says Mr. Mesa, “There is nothing more gratifying than mentoring the next generation of young artists and giving them the tools they need to succeed as professionals.”
“Tommy’s career is emblematic of MSM’s values and dedication to developing students who crave creating a career that has relevancy and purpose, amplifying underrecognized voices and voices of tradition alike,” says MSM Executive Vice President and Provost Joyce Griggs. “We are excited for Tommy to join the MSM College faculty in fall 2025.”
Tommy Mesa’s bio, as well as further information about Manhattan School of Music, can be found below.
For further information, please contact Jeff Breithaupt, Vice President for Marketing, Communications, and Alumni Affairs, at jbreithaupt@msmnyc.edu or (917) 493-4702.
Cuban-American cellist 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 and subsequent tour of Jessie Montgomery’s cello concerto in the 2022-23 season, with performances at major halls across the United States and Brazil including Miami’s New World Center and Carnegie Hall. His orchestral recording debut of the work was released in July 2023 on Deutsche Grammophon.
Orchestral highlights of the 2023-24 season include an extensive performance tour of Cuba and performance debuts with the Calgary and Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestras; the Ann Arbor, Bay Atlantic, Columbus, Greenwich, Gulf Coast, Knoxville, Quad City, Reading, Waterbury Symphony Orchestras; and Boston’s Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra. Mesa returns to the Indianapolis Symphony as cocurator and featured performer for their chamber music series this season, premieres a new work by composer Andrea Casarrubios to kick off the new season at Bargemusic in New York, and will be featured in solo recitals with pianist Ilya Yakushev throughout the country including Jamestown (Rhode Island), Laguna Woods, and Sarasota. Past performance features include recitals at The Academy of Arts and Letters, Bay Chamber Concerts, University of Miami’s Signature Series, Columbia University, Flagler Museum, The Heifetz Institute, California Center for the Arts, Meadowmount School of Music, Strad for Lunch Series, International Beethoven Project, Perlman Music Program Alumni Recital, and major universities across the United States.
This season celebrates several new recording releases and subsequent tours, including albums with pianist Michelle Cann and with bandoneonist/composer JP Jofre. In the spring of 2023, Mesa was featured in an exclusive artist showcase on NYC’s classical station WQXR that included selections of his upcoming album of world-premiere recordings by Black and Latinx composers with Cann. He also has an album release scheduled with pianist Olga Kern in 2024 and with The Crossing Choir in 2025.
Tommy has been consistently performing around twenty recitals a year at venues such as Mainly Mozart Festival in Miami, The Academy of Arts and Letters, Bargemusic, University of Miami’s Signature Series, the Colburn School, Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, Columbia University, Flagler Museum, Carnegie Hall, three appearances at the U.S. Supreme Court, guest artist at The Heifetz Institute, California Center for the Arts, Art of Piano in Cincinnati, Meadowmount School of Music, Perlman Music Program, and most major universities across the United States. The most frequent collaborators include pianists Ilya Yakushev and Michelle Cann.
As a recording artist, Tommy has recorded his first solo album called Division of Memory on the PARMA Recordings label which 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.” Other projects in the works to be released on the same label include a duo album with Michelle Cann featuring composers who are Black and Latinx, a duo album with bandoneonist JP Jofre, and a duo album with Olga Kern. Tommy was featured on the GRAMMY-nominated album, “Bonhoeffer,” with the multiple GRAMMY winning group, The Crossing Choir. He has appeared with them as soloist at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, Longwood Gardens, The Winter Garden, and the Theological Seminary in NYC. Tommy and The Crossing Choir have also collaborated on the U.S. premiere of “Astralis” for choir and solo cello by renowned composer Wolfgang Rihm and have more collaborations/premieres scheduled for future seasons.
As an ensemble musician, Tommy has been on tours with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, is a frequent collaborator at Jupiter Chamber Players, and is the principal cellist of Sphinx Virtuosi who play every year on tour at almost every major venue across the United States. He has toured with Itzhak Perlman both nationally and internationally.
He has given master classes at institutions such as U.C. Berkeley, Boston Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Northwestern University, DePaul University, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, University of Miami, Meadowmount School of Music, Walnut Hill School and has held faculty positions at Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Sphinx Performance Academy, The Heifetz Institute’s Junior Division and 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.
Tommy is represented by Dinin Arts Management and the Sphinx Organization throughout North America. He received his Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School, Master of Music from Northwestern University, and Doctor of Musical Arts from Manhattan School of Music in 2023. Tommy 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. His clothing sponsor for performance wear is Coregami.
ABOUT MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Founded as a community music school by Janet Daniels Schenck in 1918, today MSM is recognized for its more than 1,000 superbly talented undergraduate and graduate students who come from more than 50 countries and nearly all 50 states; its innovative curricula and world-renowned artist-teacher faculty that includes musicians from the New York Philharmonic, the Met Orchestra, and the top ranks of the jazz and Broadway communities; and a distinguished community of accomplished, award-winning alumni working at the highest levels of the musical, educational, cultural, and professional worlds.
The School is dedicated to the personal, artistic, and intellectual development of aspiring musicians, from its Precollege students through those pursuing doctoral studies. Offering classical, jazz, and musical theatre training, MSM grants a range of undergraduate and graduate degrees. True to MSM’s origins as a music school for children, the Precollege program continues to offer superior music instruction to 475 young musicians between the ages of 5 and 18. The School also serves some 2,000 New York City schoolchildren through its Arts-in-Education Program, and another 2,000 students through its critically acclaimed Distance Learning Program.
MSM LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Manhattan School of Music acknowledges that we gather on the traditional land of the Lenape and Wappinger past and present, and honor with gratitude the land itself and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations. This calls us to commit to continuing to learn how to be better stewards of the land we inhabit as well.
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