WRTI Your Classical and Jazz Source | By Susan Lewis
Growing up in Miami, Florida, Tommy Mesa dreamed of playing the drums, then unexpectedly fell in love with the (nearly human) sound of the cello. As part of our video series, WRTI Presents Astral, this Cuban-American Astral Artist recently visited the WRTI Performance Studio and played three works that use the cello’s unique voice to respond to the pandemic and social turmoil.
You can hear in the music the range of emotions arising from the isolation of the lockdown: the frustration, loneliness, and yet, a sense of hope. “I wanted to have composers have an outlet to express what they were going through,” says Thomas, who commissioned each of these works during the first months of the pandemic.