Performances + Events
Violinist Joshua Brown ’22, ’24 MM, ’26 AD and Cellist Dr. Tommy Mesa Have Strong Ties to NEC
New England Conservatory today applauded two 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipients who have strong ties to NEC. Violinist and NEC Concert Artist Joshua Brown ’22, ’24 MM, ’26 AD and former NEC Prep student Dr. Tommy Mesa, cellist, were announced as grant recipients and will be celebrated tonight at a special ceremony at WQXR’s Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in New York City. Each recipient receives a $25,000 grant for career advancement and is offered unrestricted use of the professional recording of their performance at the ceremony.
“We are thrilled to see one of our own outstanding artists and a Preparatory alumnus awarded this prestigious grant and applaud this incredible achievement,” NEC President Andrea Kalyn said. “At NEC, we are committed to fostering an environment where musicians push boundaries, unlock their full potential, and shape the future of music. Joshua and Tommy exemplify the excellence, artistry, and ambition that define our community, and we are immensely proud of their success.”
2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipients, left to right: Dr. Tommy Mesa, Joshua Brown, and the Viano Quartet
A student of Donald Weilerstein, Brown earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at NEC and joined the Conservatory’s Institute for Concert Artists this past fall. He has won First Prize at both the Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition and the Global Music Education League Violin Competition in Beijing. Last year, he won Second Prize and the Audience Awards at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. Brown will perform in NEC’s Jordan Hall in Boston on Tuesday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Institute for Concert Artists Showcase. Tickets are available for those who wish to attend in person, and the performance will also be streamed live on NEC’s website. The program will be repeated at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on April 11. Seating is limited — contact special.events@necmusic.edu for more information.
Mesa attended NEC Prep and graduated in 2008 from the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. Former NEC Prep students who have received an Avery Fisher Career Grant include pianists George Li ’19 Harvard/NEC, ’22 AD, Evren Ozel ’15 Prep, ’21, ’23 MM, ’25 AD, and Eric Lu ’13 Prep; flutist Emi Ferguson ’05 Prep; and cellist Zlatomir Fung ’13 Prep. NEC Prep will celebrate its 75th anniversary during the 2025-26 academic year.
Since 1976, 179 Avery Fisher Career Grants have been awarded, with 21 percent going to musicians with ties to NEC. Notable recipients include violinists Geneva Lewis ’20, ’22 AD, Stella Chen ’16 Harvard/NEC, and Tessa Lark ’11, ’12 MM, as well as the Calder, Jupiter, and Borromeo string quartets. In 2024, three of the four recipients had NEC affiliations: the Balourdet Quartet, violinist Julian Rhee ’22, ’24 MM, and pianist Clayton Stephenson ’23 Harvard/NEC, ’25 GD.
The Avery Fisher Artist Program was established in 1974 by the late Avery Fisher as part of a major gift to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and serves as a monument to his philanthropy and love of classical music. The Career Grants illustrate his commitment to supporting young artists.
Violinist Joshua Brown has been praised by audiences and critics worldwide for his “richness of sound, elegance of reading … commitment of every moment at the service of the work …” (La Libre). Brown gained international attention after winning Second Prize and both Audience Awards at the 2024 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. He also won First Prize at the inaugural 2023 Global Music Education International Violin Competition in Beijing, China, and First Prize and the Audience Award at the 2019 Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition in Augsburg, Germany.
Of Brown’s debut performance with the Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Classical wrote, “Brilliantly played and expertly paced, Brown’s performance checked into every emotional corner … Brown was spellbinding throughout his entire time on stage.” Brown has gone on to perform regularly with orchestras around the world, including the Munich Radio Orchestra, MDR Sinfonieorchester, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Civic Orchestra, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, and Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liege, among others, continually garnering praise from critics. After his performance of Brahms’s Violin Concerto in Beijing with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, The Strad wrote, “Brown spun out silky, weightless phrases that seemed suspended in time.” In Belgium, Le Soir described him as “a real musician, of great sensitivity … with a real sense of nuance.” And The Indianapolis Star described his sound after a performance of Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto as “addictive and shimmering, with emotions like dynamic colors that shifted beneath a clear, glassy surface.”
A passionate recitalist and chamber musician, Brown has appeared regularly in series such as Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, Festival Musiq3 in Brussels, the Tchaikovsky Festival in Moscow, the ProMusica series in Mexico, the Matinée Musicale series in Cincinnati, the Jupiter Chamber Players series in New York City, and the North Shore Chamber Music Festival in Chicago. Brown received the Kronberg Academy’s 2023 Manfred Grommek Prize and has been named a Pirastro Artist, Yamaha Young Performing Artist, and Luminarts Fellow, among other distinctions. Highlights during the 2024-25 concert season include a recital tour of Taiwan and South Korea and a series of performances of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra in Japan.
Brown is currently pursuing his artist diploma at the New England Conservatory studying under Donald Weilerstein, having earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Conservatory.
Cuban-American cellist Tommy Mesa has established himself as one of the most charismatic, innovative, and engaging performers of his generation. The recipient of the Sphinx Organization’s 2023 Medal of Excellence, the organization’s highest honor, Mesa has appeared as a soloist at the Supreme Court of the United States on four occasions and with such major orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, Cleveland Orchestra, 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 the 2022–23 season and took the work on tour, appearing in performances at major halls across the United States and Brazil, including Miami’s New World Center and Carnegie Hall. His orchestral recording debut of the work was released in July 2023 on Deutsche Grammophon.
To learn more about NEC’s Career Grant winners, please visit: bit.ly/NECAveryFisher.
For more information about the Avery Fisher Artist Program, please visit: www.averyfisherartistprogram.org.
