Cuban-American friends to perform in Davenport

Musical friends and professional partners Greg Zelek and Tommy Mesa embody many things the classical music world is working to do more of.

Both Cuban-American natives of Miami, Florida, organist Zelek is 31 and cellist Mesa is 33 and they will perform their first duo concert Saturday, Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 1702 Iowa St., Davenport.

Part of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra series of Up Close chamber concerts, the varied program opens with Jules Massenet’s Meditation from Thaïs, which captures the essence of spiritual transformation, followed by J.S. Bach’s iconic Prelude from the unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, a piece that has captivated audiences for generations with its intricate harmonies and timeless beauty, according to a QCSO release.

The concert continues immediately with another Bach, an organ Fugue in D Major, BWV 532; Nadia Boulanger’s Trois Pièces, showcasing the lyrical beauty of the cello, and Alfred Lefébure-Wély’s dance-inspired Boléro de Concert, Op. 166.

Adding a modern touch, the concert will close with Daniel Ficarri’s contemporary masterpiece Sonata for Cello and Organ, which the pair premiered this past April in Madison.

Zelek (principal organist with the Madison Symphony Orchestra) and Mesa (who will be featured soloist for the QCSO Masterworks I in October) met while students at the famed Juilliard School in New York City and are both passionate about new music.

Cello and organ is definitely a fairly unusual concert pairing, Zelek said in a recent interview. He curates a Madison Symphony chamber music series featuring organ and they closed last year’s series with a concert featuring Ficarri’s work —  commissioned from a composer (and organist) they knew at Juilliard, written for them specifically.

“It’s been very successful,” Zelek said. “I think he did a fantastic job.”

They also played it twice over the summer in Arizona.

“We could continue to arrange other works, but it would be nice if he and I could play equal roles within a composition,” Zelek said. “This piece satisfies that tremendously.”

“I think as Tommy and I have gone through the years, we have figured out what works,” he said. The Saturday program showcases what each does individually, plus their strengths as a duo.

Ficarri is associate director of music and organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. He also maintains an active career as a soloist, performing with several of them nation’s leading orchestras and in concert halls and churches throughout the country. Ficarri provided the following note on the 2021 sonata for cello and organ:

“The first ideas came after listening to a friend’s performance of Strauss’s Violin Sonata. I was struck by the feeling of conversation between the violin and piano and felt I had something of my own to say. I had long wanted to write chamber music involving the modern organ, and this sonata is my first substantial work of that type. Being an organist myself, and having grown up as a violinist, I found a great deal of self-expression in the combination of organ and strings.

“The sonata is in three movements. The first, Allegro moderato, is a brooding sonata form movement that introduces the key themes or characters The Adagio cantabile offers moments of prayerful tranquility, with a playful and whimsical middle section, Andante scherzando.

“The final movement, Vivace, returns to the dark minor key landscape, but with a triumphant conclusion. One of my favorite elements of the sonata – the final movement begins and ends with a thrilling dialogue between the cellist and the organist’s feet on the pedalboard!”

Zelek, who is Cuban-American and a native Spanish speaker, became music director and organist of Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Miami at age 15, and has served as the summer organist for San Pedro Apostol Church in Ramales de la Victoria, Spain.

In Madison, violinist Naha Greenholtz (QCSO concertmaster) is also concertmaster for the Madison orchestra and organizes the QCSO Up Close series. Zelek hasn’t played in the QC before.

Audience Prize winner of the 2016 Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition, Zelek earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, as well as an Artist Diploma, from the Juilliard School.

Mesa is recipient of the 2023 Sphinx Medal of Excellence Award, First Prize in the 2016 Sphinx Competition, and Winner of the Astral Artists 2017 National Auditions. He has appeared as soloist with major orchestras such as The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, The Cleveland Orchestra, and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

Mesa earned his bachelor’s from Juilliard, master’s from Northwestern University, and his doctor of musical arts from the Manhattan School of Music.

Tickets for Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. concert are $25 for adults, $10 for students, available HERE.