25-26 Guest Bios
Daniela Liebman
Twenty-one-year-old Mexican pianist DANIELA LIEBMAN has rapidly established herself as an artist of eloquence, poise, and nuance. Since her debut at age eight with the Aguascalientes Symphony, Daniela has performed with more than thirty orchestras on four continents.
This season, Daniela makes her debut with the Reno Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica del Sodre (OSSODRE), and Orquesta Juvenil Universitaria Eduardo Mata (OJUEM). She will return with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco and recently appeared as soloist with the Orquesta Filarmónica del Desierto, Orquesta Sinfonica de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (OSUANL), Richmond Symphony, Minas Gerais Philharmonic, Wichita Symphony, the Sequoia Symphony, the Adrian Symphony, Flagstaff Symphony, and Hartford Symphony. She has also made return appearances with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México and the Ontario Philharmonic. In past seasons, she has performed with the the Corpus Christi Symphony, the National Symphony of Ecuador, Orlando Philharmonic, the Boca Raton Festival of the Arts Orchestra, San Angelo Symphony, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra of Peru, the National Symphony of Bogotá, and the Guatemala City Orchestra, among others.
In Mexico, Daniela has appeared with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, the Boca del Río Philharmonic, the Mexico City Philharmonic, the Michoacan Symphony, Zapopan Symphony, and the Sinaloa Symphonic Orchestra of the Arts. Daniela made her debut at Mexico’s Palacio de Bellas Artes in 2013, performing Shostakovich and Mozart on two separate occasions with the Cámara Orchestra of Bellas Artes. That same year, Daniela made her Carnegie Hall debut with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony and Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
This season, Daniela makes her recital debuts at The Noorda at Utah Valley University, and with the la Sociedad Filarmònica de Lima (Peru) and Instrumentos de la Esperanza. Her recent return recital appearances include the 2022 Blanco y Negro Festival in Mexico City and the Ravinia Festival--where she gave her third performance in 2021--the Honeywell Arts Academy, and Beaches Fine Arts Series. Daniela has recently performed at La Jolla Music Society; the Kennedy Center; Rockefeller University’s Tri-I Noon Recital Series; Guatemala City; Joinville and Porto Alegre in Brazil; León, Durango, San Cristóbal de las Casas, and Cuernavaca in Mexico; the Brevard Music Center; Valparaíso, Chile; the Salon de Virtuosi in New York; in Cordoba, Argentina; the Cleveland Museum of Modern Art’s Tri-C Series; the Harriman-Jewel Series; the Kravis Center for Performing Arts, and more.
Committed to sharing her love of music with others, Daniela frequently participates in talkbacks with piano students of diverse ages and backgrounds, most recently at the Ravinia Festival and La Jolla Music Society’s Discovery Series. Her dedication to celebrating her heritage through creative programming reflects in her musical and cultural ambassadorship, notably at Harvard University’s Mexico Conference.
Daniela released her eponymous debut 2018 album to critical acclaim, featuring “emotive” and “most memorable” (The Journal of Music) renditions of Schubert’s Op. 90 impromptus, Chopin’s third ballade, and Ponce’s Balada Mexicana. Distributed by Warner Classics, the album reached #5 on Spotify’s “Classical New Releases,” #2 on Amazon Music’s “Fresh Classical,” and #2 on Apple Music’s “New Classical.” Since its release, Daniela’s recording of Ponce’s Balada Mexicana has been streamed over 1.6M times on Spotify. The same track is featured on the Mexican television series, Aquí en la Tierra, starring, among others, Gael García Bernal and Paulina Dávila.
In both 2016 and 2017, Daniela was named one of the “40 Most Creative Mexicans in the World” by Forbes Mexico. In 2018, Daniela was again named one of Forbes Mexico’s “100 Most Creative and Powerful Women,” and was invited to Forbes’ reveal of its 2018 edition of Creativos Mexicanos, celebrating extraordinary Mexican leaders in the arts. She has been interviewed by Amy Poehler’s “Smart Girls,” is featured in GQ Mexico and Vanity Fair, and is the recipient of Mexico’s 2014 Nacional Premio de Juventud.
Daniela received first prizes in the 2017 Piano Texas Concerto Competition, the 2012 Russian International Piano Competition in California, and the 2011 “Night in Madrid” in Spain. In 2013, Daniela was selected to participate in Lang Lang’s Junior Music Camp in Munich.
Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Daniela began her piano studies at age five, studying with Dr. Tamás Ungár from 2014-2021 in Fort Worth, Texas. Now attending The Juilliard School, she currently studies with Julian Martin and previously studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky. Daniela is a Warner Classics artist and an international Yamaha.
Tommy Mesa
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.
Mesa has an active season with recital performances on leading stages as well, including the launch of Mesa’s tour with pianist Michelle Cann, Curtis Instute faculty and soloist. Mesa and Cann will perform at series including University of Vermont’s Lane Series, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Linton Chamber Music in Cincinnati, and The Schubert Club in St. Paul. Mesa also performs recitals with piano and organ this season at the Phillips Collection, Bargemusic, and Key West Impromptu Classical Concerts, among others. Past performance features include recitals at The Academy of Arts and Letters, Bay Chamber Concerts, California Center for the Arts, Columbia University, Flagler Museum, The Heifetz Institute, International Beethoven Project, Kaufman Music Center, Meadowmount School of Music, University of Miami’s Signature Series, Newport Classical, Perlman Music Program Alumni Recital, Strad for Lunch Series, Virginia Arts Festival, and major universities across the United States.
Mesa recently celebrated several releases, including a recording of tango works for cello and bandoneon with performer-composer JP Jofre and an album of world-premiere recordings by Black and Latinx composers with pianist Michelle Cann which was featured in an exclusive showcase on NYC’s classical station WQXR. Upcoming albums include collaborations with the iconic pianist Olga Kern and the multiple GRAMMY-award winning vocal ensemble, The Crossing Choir.
Mesa’s first solo album, Division of Memory on the PARMA Recordings label, received rave reviews such as in PianoMania, “Do not hold your breath for Yo-Yo Ma to record this repertoire, for the just-as-excellent Mesa has the field entirely to himself.” Mesa was featured on the GRAMMY-nominated album, “Bonhoeffer,” with the multiple GRAMMY winning group, The Crossing Choir. He has appeared with them as soloist at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, Longwood Gardens, The Winter Garden, and the Theological Seminary in NYC. Mesa and The Crossing Choir also collaborated on the U.S. premiere of “Astralis” for choir and solo cello by renowned composer Wolfgang Rihm and have more collaborations and premieres scheduled for future seasons.
As an ensemble musician, Mesa has been on tours with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and is the principal cellist of Sphinx Virtuosi who play every year on tour at almost every major venue across the United States. He also collaborates with Jupiter Chamber Players and has toured with Itzhak Perlman both nationally and internationally.
Mesa has given masterclasses at institutions such as U.C Berkeley, Boston Conservatory, the Colburn School, DePaul University, Meadowmount School of Music, University of Miami, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Northwestern University, and Walnut Hill School. Previously, he held faculty positions at SUNY Purchase, 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’s career launched following after becoming the First Prize winner in the 2016 Sphinx Competition and a winner of the 2017 Astral Artists National Auditions. He received his BM from The Juilliard School, MM from Northwestern University, and 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. Mesa performs on a Nicolò Gagliano cello made in 1767 and a bow by Andre Richaume, both generously loaned to him by CANIMEX INC in Drummondville, Canada.
TommyMesa.com