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Ilya Yakushev & Thomas Mesa
Classical Piano and Cello Duo

Saturday, April 22, 2023, 7:30 pm
Eastern View High School Auditorium
  

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Thomas Mesa (cello)                                                  Ilya Yakushev (piano)
  

Two world-class soloists combine for a powerhouse duo with international flair. Ilya Yakushev is known for his musical pyrotechnics on the piano and Thomas Mesa is heralded as one of the most charismatic and engaging cellists of his generation.

Thomas Mesa: The brilliant young Cuban-American cellist Thomas Mesa is quickly establishing himself as one of the most charismatic and engaging performers of his generation. Mr. Mesa was the winner of the $50,000 First Prize in the 2016 Sphinx Competition; the Thaviu Competition for String Performance (Chicago); and the Alhambra Orchestra Concerto Competition. He performed Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl for over 30,000 audience members, and his performance with the Cleveland Orchestra received this rave review from the Cleveland Plain Dealer: "A listener with closed eyes would have been hard pressed to distinguish [Mesa's] shapely, expressive performance from that of another gifted artist two or three times his age."

Recordings in progress include the piano and cello music of Brahms and Beethoven; a whole album dedicated to the music of Debussy; and a special project in collaboration with PARMA Recordings in a "Call for Scores" that will bring together and record new works for solo cello and cello/piano. This project will include an album release concert at The DiMenna Center in New York City and the album will be available on all commercial streaming platforms.

As a ensemble musician, Mr. Mesa tours with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and is the principal cellist of Sphinx Virtuosi. As a driving force in the latter orchestra, Thomas has been featured as soloist on tour in Dance for a New Day by jazz trumpeter-composer Terence Blanchard. The Sphinx Organization, In conjunction with Carnegie Hall and the New World Symphony, has also commissioned for Mesa a solo concerto by Jessie Montgomery to be toured in 2020.

Ilya Yakushev: Russian pianist Ilya Yakushev, with many awards and honors to his credit, continues to astound and mesmerize audiences at major venues on three continents. The New York Times raved, "In Familiar Music, a Pianist Shows What He Can Do [HEADLINE]: Mr. Yakushev can do just about anything he wants . . . superb." Another review in the Times called Yakushev "little short of heroic." And the San Francisco Chronicle called his performance of three Prokofiev concertos on a single program with the San Francisco Symphony "one of the Top 10 Classical Music Events of the Year . . . an astounding triple debut."

Winner of the 2005 World Piano Competition which took place in Cincinnati, OH, Mr. Yakushev received his first award at age 12 as a prizewinner of the Young Artists Concerto Competition in his native St. Petersburg. In 1997, he received the Mayor of St. Petersburg's Young Talents award, and in both 1997 and 1998, he won First Prize at the Donostia Hiria International Piano Competition in San Sebastian, Spain. In 1998, he received a national honor, The Award for Excellence in Performance, presented to him by the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation in Moscow. Most recently, Mr. Yakushev became a recipient of the prestigious Gawon International Music Society’s Award in Seoul, Korea.

Mr. Yakushev attended the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music in his native St. Petersburg, Russia, and subsequently came to New York City to attend Mannes College of Music, where he studied with legendary pianist Vladimir Feltsman.


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