Tommy Mesa & Olga Kern

Saturday, October 17, 2026

7:30 p.m.

Dynamic, award-winning duo perform
iconic works for piano and cello

We open our 49th season with a varied evening of American and European works celebrating the classic partnership of the cello and piano. These elegant works are delivered brilliantly in the hands of Tommy Mesa and Olga Kern, both stars in their own right. Dr. Mesa, a 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant winner and frequent major orchestral soloist, joins with the incomparable Ms. Kern, who gained international prominence as a past winner of the renowned Van Cliburn Competition, to form a powerful and charismatic duo. Sonatas by Beethoven, Debussy, and Barber are accompanied by shorter pieces by 20th and 21st-century composers, a nod to both performers’ commitment to new music. Help us kick off our “season of the cello”!

Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 5
Claude Debussy Sonata in D Minor, L. 135
Andrea Casarrubios 24 Mozas
Adolphus Hailstork Elegy
Samuel Barber Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 6
Nadia Boulanger Trois Pièces
Aaron Copland Waltz & Celebration from “Billy the Kid”

$60 live in-person

About the Artists

With a vivid stage presence, dazzling technique, and passionate musicality, pianist Olga Kern captivates audiences around the globe. Born into a family of musicians, she began piano studies at the age of five and, at seventeen, won First Prize at the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition. Her historic 2001 Gold Medal win at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition was a career-defining triumph that launched her international reputation. She is the only woman in more than fifty years to claim the honor.

Her 2025–2026 season features a return to Carnegie Hall with a solo recital. She joins the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra in Honolulu; appears at the Sun Valley Music Festival; and will appear at venues throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. She will perform both Shostakovich piano concertos with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala, and she will also appear with Illes Balears Symphonic Orchestra and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice.

Kern has performed with major orchestras including the St. Louis Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Detroit Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), Czech Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, Tokyo NHK Symphony, and Cape Town Philharmonic, and has toured with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Highlights of recent seasons include performances of all four Rachmaninoff piano concertos and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, a nationwide telecast with the Czech Philharmonic, and engagements with the Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, and Baltimore symphonies; Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria; Ireland’s National Symphony; Prague Symphony; Taipei Symphony; Tokyo Symphony; and a tour of South Africa.

In addition to her performing career, Kern is deeply committed to fostering the next generation of musicians. She is Artistic Director of the Olga Kern International Piano Competition and has served as Jury Chairman for the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition and the Chopin Animato International Piano Competition in Paris. Since 2017, she has been on the piano faculty of the Manhattan School of Music and is Connie & Marc Jacobson Director of Chamber Music at the Virginia Arts Festival. In recognition of her artistic contributions and cultural leadership, she received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2017. She will be on the jury for the Paderewski Competition in Poland in 2025 and president of the jury of the Cleveland International Youth Piano Competition in 2026.

Kern’s acclaimed discography (olgakern.com/recordings/) includes a Grammy-nominated recording of Rachmaninoff’s Corelli Variations and transcriptions, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Rochester Philharmonic (Harmonia Mundi), Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Warsaw Philharmonic, Chopin’s Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3, Rachmaninoff’s Sonata for Cello and Piano with Sol Gabetta (Sony), and Brahms and Shostakovich quintets with the Dalí Quartet (Delos). She is also featured in award-winning documentaries including The Cliburn: Playing on the Edge, They Came to Play, and Olga’s Journey. She is a Steinway Artist and an ambassador for Spirio R Steinway pianos as well as a laureate of numerous international competitions.

In 2012, she founded the Kern Foundation “Aspiration,” dedicated to supporting talented young musicians worldwide. Known for her elegance onstage, she collaborates with designer Alex Teih and jeweler Alex Soldier, whose creations complement the artistry and charisma she brings to every performance.

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, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Indianapolis, Madison, New Jersey, San Antonio, and Santa Barbara, among others. Mesa gave the world premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s cello concerto Divided in 2022 and has been the exclusive soloist since, 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 addition to serving as Artist in Residence with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in the 2024-25 season, orchestral highlights this season include debuts with the Delaware, Glacier, and Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestras as well as the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, a return to the Madison Symphony, and a performance of the rarely heard Lucid Dreams by Canadian composer Jocelyn Morlock with the Windsor Symphony. Last season Mesa celebrated enthusiastic performances with the Calgary and Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestras and the Ann Arbor, Columbus, Greenwich, Knoxville, Quad City, and Reading Symphony Orchestras, among others.

Mesa has an active season with recital performances on leading stages as well, including the launch of Mesa’s tour with pianist Michelle Cann, Curtis Instute faculty and soloist. Mesa and Cann will perform at series including University of Vermont’s Lane Series, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Linton Chamber Music in Cincinnati, and The Schubert Club in St. Paul. Mesa also performs recitals with piano and organ this season at the Phillips Collection, Bargemusic, and Key West Impromptu Classical Concerts, among others. 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, 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 multiple GRAMMY-award winning vocal ensemble, 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.

Mesa 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.