We invite you to attend the second concert of the season for the 2023-2024 Concert Series, The Artist Series of Tallahassee, featuring Thomas Mesa, cello and Ilya Yakushev, piano at Opperman Hall, Sunday, October 22 at 4 pm. Also available as livestream and video on our website, www.theartistseries.org!

The Mesa-Yakushev Duo features Cuban-American cellist Thomas Mesa and Russian pianist Ilya Yakushev. The duo's career was launched in part by their extremely successful showcase for presenters at Weill/Carnegie Recital Hall, the result of winning the Association of Performing Arts Professionals' highly competitive 2017 Young Performers Career Advancement audition.

Thomas Mesa has established himself as one of the most charismatic and engaging performers of his generation. Thomas was awarded the Sphinx Medal of Excellence in 2022. He won the $50,000 First Prize in the 2016 Sphinx Competition and was also the winner of the Thaviu Competition for String Performance (Chicago), and the Alhambra Orchestra Concerto Competition. Thomas will perform as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2023. He tours with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and was the cellist of the St. Petersburg Piano Quartet. As a recording artist, Thomas was featured on the GRAMMY-nominated album Bonhoeffer with the ensemble The Crossing Choir. He has toured with Itzhak Perlman and Protegés both nationally and internationally. He received his BM from The Juilliard School, his MM from
Northwestern University, and in 2023, 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.

Pianist Ilya Yakushev continues to astound and mesmerize audiences at major venues across three continents. Winner of the 2005 World Piano Competition, Ilya 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, Ilya became a recipient of the prestigious Gawon International Music Society’s Award in Seoul, Korea. He attended the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music in St. Petersburg, Russia, and subsequently came to New York City to attend Mannes College of Music, where he studied with the legendary pianist Vladimir Feltsman.

To see program selections and more information, go to our Program e-flipbook, available here: https://www.theartistseries.org/current-season/. Scroll down and click on the Season Program link.