Music for cello and bandoneon
Full program to be announced
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.
Born in San Juan, Argentina, Juan Pablo Jofre Romarion, aka JP Jofre, is a 2022 GRAMMY-nominated composer and bandoneon player. Having written several double concertos with chamber and symphony orchestras, and more than 40 chamber music works, Mr. Jofre has been repeatedly highlighted by the New York Times and praised as one of today’s leading artists by Great Performers at Lincoln Center. His music has been recorded by the legendary London Symphony Orchestra, multi-Grammy award winner Paquito D’ Rivera, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra among others. He has performed and given lectures at Google Talks, TED Talks, The Juilliard School of Music, The New School, and other venues. A recipient of the National Prize of the Arts grant in Argentina, Mr. Jofre has been part of many prestigious festivals, including the Celebrity Series of Boston, Umbria Jazz Festival, Great Performers at Lincoln Center, Seattle Town Hall, Hatfield and Sheffield Chamber Music Festival (U.K) and Kasposfest (Hungary) to name a few. For the world premiere of his Bandoneon Concerto, the Mercury News wrote: “…he is an electrifying composer-bandoneon player.” In 2012, Jofre was invited by the Free University of Bolzano and SudTirol Festival (Italy) to perform for the homage to Argentinean Nobel Peace Prize winner, Adolfo Perez Esquivel. For the release of his Double Concerto for Violin and Bandoneon with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Michale Guttman, the BBC Magazine wrote: "His concerto is arresting and -through the gorgeous Adagio-rather beguiling"
He currently leads the JP Jofre Quintet, the ensemble has been touring internationally since the release of their last album "Manifiesto" among others. Mr. Jofre's music has been performed at the most prestigious concert halls around the world such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Los Angeles Music Center, Morlacchi Theater (Italy) Mariinsky Theater, Mikhailovsky Theater, Stanislavsky Theater (Russia), Beijing National Concert Hall, Seoul Art Center, and Taiwan National Theater. Mr. Jofre started making music for pleasure at the early age of 5, and academically studying at age 15, double bass with Nestor Castillo, harmony with Horacio Lavaise, composition, and orchestration with Ezequiel Viñao and Adrian Rusovich. He took masterclasses given by Ingrid Zur and George Heyer (Germany) and studied bandoneon with Julio Pane, former bandoneonist of the legendary Astor Piazzolla Sextet. Mr. Jofre has received numerous commissions for composing music from producer Ted Viviani, violin virtuosos Francisco Fullana, Kyung Sun Lee, Rachel Lee, Eric Silberger, Lucia Lin, Michael Guttman, Yih Shuin Huang, MUPA Budapest, pianists David Fung, Min Kwon, clarinetist Seunghee Lee and cellist István Várdai, Metropolis Ensemble, Belares Symphony Orchestra, and San Antonio Music Institute.
We thank the following foundations, businesses and individuals who have supported us in the past.