Tommy Mesa

BIO

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 Lincoln Center’s 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant and 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, and The Philadelphia Orchestra, among many others. Mesa gave the world premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s cello concerto Divided in 2022 and was the exclusive soloist for the work for three seasons, 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. In the fall of 2025, Mesa also begins serving on the cello faculty of the esteemed Manhattan School of Music.

Orchestral and ensemble highlights of the 2025-26 season include performances with the Greenville Symphony, Hartford Symphony, and San Antonio Philharmonic, giving the New York premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Canticle of the Sun with Voices of Ascension, and renewed collaborations with the multiple GRAMMY-award winning vocal ensemble, The Crossing Choir. In the recital sphere, Mesa will perform with pianists Olga Kern, Michelle Cann, and Ilya Yakushev, including performance debuts at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Bender JCC of Greater Washington, Cleveland Institute of Music, and New Orleans Friends of Music, among others.

In recent seasons, Mesa served as Artist-in-Residence with the Tucson Symphony and debuted with orchestras including the Calgary Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and the Ann Arbor, Columbus, Delaware, Greenwich, Quad City, and Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestras. Last season he also gave debuts at leading series including University of Vermont’s Lane Series, the Phillips Collection, Key West Impromptu Classical Concerts, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Linton Chamber Music in Cincinnati, and The Schubert Club in St. Paul. Other 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 Series, 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 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 them 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 have more collaborations and premieres scheduled 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.

In September 2025, Mesa joined the performance faculty of The Manhattan School of Music. He has given masterclasses at institutions such as U.C Berkeley, Boston Conservatory, the Colburn School, DePaul University, Meadowmount School of Music, University of Miami, 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 following 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.