Tommy Mesa and Yoon Lee
Cello and Piano
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 fouroccasions 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.
The Special Prize winner of the Anton G. Rubinstein International Piano Competition, Dr. Yoon Lee, is a concert pianist, educator, and director active in the New York metropolitan area.
Yoon’s performance of Beethoven has been described as “equal to Beethoven’s virtuosic demands” by the New York Concert Review. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Greene Space, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Château de Fontainebleau, the Schumann-Haus Museum in Leipzig, Hamarikyu Asahi Hall, and Seoul Arts Center in addition to many other stages in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her live performances have been featured on WQXR, New York’s leading classical radio station, and KBS, the national television station of South Korea. Yoon has appeared as a soloist with the Carl Maria von Weber Orchestra of Dresden, Germany, the Camerata Forum Internacional in Spain, the Prime Philharmonic of South Korea, and the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra of New York City.
A champion of the repertoire for strings and piano, Yoon Lee collaborates with many international artists, including Shmuel Ashkenasi, Astrid Schween, Timothy Eddy, Colin Carr, Catherine Cho, Laurie Smukler, Zlatomir Fung, Stella Chen, and Timothy Choi, as well as members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Borromeo String Quartet, and Orion String Quartet. She has also been the pianist for master classes by Hilary Hahn, Leonidas Kavakos, Steven Isserlis, and Frans Helmerson, among many others.
Yoon has taught chamber music at The Juilliard School’s Precollege, Manhattan School of Music’s Precollege, Heifetz International Music Institute, and Kneisel Hall’s ACMI, and has served as a jury member at the Manhattan School of Music’s Precollege Piano Concerto Competition, the Chamber Music Competition, the YMF Festival by Schubert Club, and the NFMC Junior Music Festival. In sharing her passion and love for chamber music, she serves as the Board of Trustee of the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School and Festival, as well as a co-Artistic Director of Noree Chamber Soloists, an ensemble she co-founded in 2017. Yoon received her Doctor of Musical Arts from the Manhattan School of Music and a Graduate Diploma from The Juilliard School. She is currently on the faculty of SUNY Purchase College’s Conservatory of Music and the Heifetz International Music Festival, as well as a staff pianist at The Juilliard School.
Outside of her musical pursuits, Yoon enjoys spending time in her pottery studio, running in Central Park, and cherishing moments with her pup, Cookie.
