Tommy Mesa, cellist +

Michelle Cann, pianist or Olga Kern, pianist

Touring October 2026 (Olga only) or April 2027

Following their successful release of the album Our Stories in November 2023, the duo of cellist Tommy Mesa and Michelle Cann continues their third season of touring together in 2026-27. Mesa and Cann are recipients of The Sphinx Organization’s Medal of Excellence (the Organization’s highest honor) in 2023 and 2022 respectively.

October 2026 marks the launch of Tommy Mesa’s collaboration with Olga Kern, leading up to their new album release in 2027.

Their programs from Tommy Mesa’s 2026-27 American Immigrant program concept include premieres fully funded by Mesa’s 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Project Synopsis from Tommy Mesa: As the son of a Cuban immigrant, I grew up surrounded by the story of my family’s journey to the United States with nothing in their pockets where they built a plumbing business from scratch. That history shaped me not only as a person but as an artist, and it inspired American Immigrant: a CD project commissioning young, acclaimed composers who are all immigrants or first-generation themselves.  They’ve been asked to write works for cello and piano that tell their own immigrant stories or those of their families.  In today’s climate, where immigrants are too often demonized and reduced to headlines, I want to humanize those narratives and give them voice. Each piece in this recording project is an intimate portrait of migration, resilience, and identity.  The aim is to transform deeply personal histories into music that speaks to the shared American experience.  Blending my own heritage with the voices of these remarkable composers, American Immigrant is both a musical statement and a call to empathy: a celebration of the humanity, courage, and hope that define what it truly means to belong.

Program 1:

Andrea Casarrubios: Silbo (6’)
Bloch: Prayer from Jewish Life (12’)
FULLY-FUNDED COMMISSION (Stewart, Skye, Assad, or Blache) (6’)
Astor Piazzolla: Le Grand Tango (10’)
**intermission**
Lera Auerbach: Prelude No. 12 (4’)
Rachmaninoff: Sonata in G minor (30’)

Program 2:

Andrea Casarrubios: Silbo (6’)
Dvorak: Silent Woods OR Rondo in G minor (6’)
Ernesto Lecuona: Malagueña OR La Comparsa (paired) (6’)
FULLY-FUNDED COMMISSION (Stewart, Skye, Assad, or Blache) (6’)
Astor Piazzolla: Le Grand Tango (10’)
**intermission**
Lera Auerbach: Prelude No. 12 (4’)
Rachmaninoff: Sonata in G minor (30’)

Program 3:

Bloch: Prayer from Jewish Life (12’)
Andrea Casarrubios: Silbo (6’)
Dvorak: Silent Woods OR Rondo in G minor (6’)
Bartok: Rhapshody No. 1 
**intermission**
FULLY-FUNDED COMMISSION (Stewart, Skye, Assad, or Blache) (6’)
Lera Auerbach: Prelude No. 12 (4’)
Rachmaninoff: Sonata in G minor (30’)