Our Stories: Contemporary Works by Black and Latinx Composers Michelle Cann & Thomas Mesa

• Andrea Casarrubios (b. 1988): Silbo for Cello and Piano:
• 1Casarrubios: Silbo for Cello and Piano05:32
• Sebastian Quesada (b. 1981): Nerv! Toccata for Cello and Piano:
• 2Quesada: Nerv! Toccata for Cello and Piano08:18
• Kevin Day (b. 1996): Cello Sonata:
• 3Day: Cello Sonata: I. Allegro Agitato05:57
• 4Day: Cello Sonata: II. Lento05:58
• 5Day: Cello Sonata: III. Giocoso04:32
• Mario Oyanadel: Tres Campanas de Rere (Three Bells from Rere):
• 6Oyanadel: Tres Campanas de Rere (Three Bells from Rere)07:30
• Carlos Carrillo: Will the Quiet Times Come:
• 7Carrillo: Will the Quiet Times Come07:48
• Total Runtime45:35

Info for Our Stories: Contemporary Works by Black and Latinx Composers

Featuring cellist Thomas Mesa and pianist Michelle Cann, OUR STORIES from Navona Records aims to raise the voices of composers and performers from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in classical music. Made possible by PARMA Recordings and a Sphinx MPower Grant, this release musically conveys a diverse mixture of themes and topics, from the intricacies and curiosities of human communication to fear-inducing information prevalent in the media, reflections on the acceptance of life’s inevitable changes and losses, and more. Dive in and explore the masterful contemporary works of Andrea Casarrubios, Carlos Carrillo, Kevin Day, Sebastian Quesada, and Mario Oyanadel.

Michelle Cann, piano
Thomas Mesa, cello

Michelle Cann
Lauded as “technically fearless with…an enormous, rich sound” (La Scena Musicale), pianist Michelle Cann made her orchestral debut at age fourteen and has since performed as a soloist with prominent orchestras such as the Atlanta and Cincinnati symphony orchestras, The Cleveland Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, and The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Cann’s 2022-2023 season includes an appearance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, return engagements with the Cincinnati and New Jersey symphonies, and debut performances with the Baltimore, National, New World, Seattle, and Utah symphonies. She makes her debut at Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony and performs recitals in New Orleans, Little Rock, Sarasota, Toronto, and Washington DC.

A champion of the music of Florence Price, Cann performed the New York City premiere of the composer’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with The Dream Unfinished Orchestra in July 2016 and the Philadelphia premiere with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin in February 2021, which the Philadelphia Inquirer called “exquisite.” She has also performed Price’s works for solo piano and chamber ensemble for prestigious presenters such as Caramoor, Chamber Music Detroit, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, San Francisco Performances, and Washington Performing Arts.

Cann is the recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization, and the 2022 Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award. Embracing a dual role as performer and pedagogue, Cann frequently teaches master classes and leads residencies. She has served on the juries of the Cleveland International Piano Competition and at the Music Academy of the West. She has also appeared as co-host and collaborative pianist with NPR’s From The Top.

Cann studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music, where she holds the inaugural Eleanor Sokoloff Chair in Piano Studies.

Thomas Mesa
Cuban-American cellist Thomas Mesa has established himself as one of the most charismatic, innovative, and engaging performers of his generation. Mesa was the winner of the $50,000 First Prize in the 2016 Sphinx Competition; the Thaviu Competition for String Performance (Chicago, 2013); The Astral Artists 2017 National Auditions; and the Alhambra Orchestra Concerto Competition. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras in the United States and Mexico, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Santa Barbara Symphony, Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra, which 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.”

As a recitalist, appearances include the Mainly Mozart Festival, The Academy of Arts and Letters in NYC, Bargemusic, University of Miami’s Signature Series, Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, Columbia University, Flagler Museum, Carnegie Hall, The U.S. Supreme Court, 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 universities nationwide.

As a recording artist, Mesa was featured on the Grammy-nominated album Bonhoeffer with the multiple Grammy-winning choir The Crossing. He has appeared with them as soloist at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Longwood Gardens, The Winter Garden (broadcast on WNYC), and the Theological Seminary in New York City. Mesa and The Crossing also collaborated on the American premiere of Astralis for choir and solo cello by renowned composer Wolfgang Rihm and have more collaborations and premieres scheduled for future seasons. Other recording projects include the piano and cello works of Brahms, Beethoven, a whole album dedicated to the music of Debussy, and a special project in collaboration with PARMA Recordings 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 an ensemble musician, Mesa is touring with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and is the principal cellist of Sphinx Virtuosi, who have played at almost every major venue across the United States. As a driving force in Sphinx Virtuosi, Mesa has been featured on tour in double concerti for the last couple years and in conjunction with the Sphinx Organization, Carnegie hall, and New World Symphony, and has commissioned a solo concerto by Jessie Montgomery to be toured in 2020. He has toured with Itzhak Perlman both nationally and internationally and is the cellist of the St. Petersburg Piano Quartet, which is in high demand, having played sold-out concerts at Barge Music, Bard Festival, Doheny Mansion, Kohl Mansion, Music Mountain and numerous other venues across the United States.

He is a sought-after educator for his ability to connect with students and teach them to teach themselves. He has given masterclasses at institutions such as U.C Berkeley, Boston Conservatory, Northwestern University, DePaul University, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of Miami, Meadowmount School of Music, Walnut Hill School, and has held faculty positions at 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 received his B.M. from The Juilliard School, M.M. from Northwestern University, and is a doctoral candidate at Manhattan School of Music. His principal teachers were Timothy Eddy, Julia Lichten, Hans Jorgen Jensen, Mark Churchill, Ross Harbaugh, and Wells Cunningham. He has played a gorgeous cello for ten years made by Richard Tobin that was made in 1820. This cello was used to record soundtracks for the first movies ever created. Thomas Mesa appears courtesy of Astral Artists.

This album contains no booklet.