Classical Piano and Violin Concert presented by The Piatigorsky Foundation

Two internationally renowned performers – violinist Alexander “Sasha” Yakub and pianist Kessa Mefford , will perform at 2 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 8, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie.
This event is free of charge and is open to the public. There is no registration.
Sasha Yakub is a recipient of Harvard's Robert Levin Prize in Musical Performance and the Yamaha Young Artists Competition honorable mention. He has been a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow and Lucerne Festival Akademist, and was the first and only student of Leila Josefowicz, completing a performance diploma under her tutelage at the Mannes School of Music in 2024.
Yakub has performed in masterclasses for Irvine Arditti, Vadim Gluzman, Rachel Barton Pine and Jennifer Koh, and also studied under Lynn Chang, Miranda Cuckson and Giovina Sessions. He served as concertmaster for the Myrios recording of In Seven Days by Thomas Adès, the eponymous album going on to win the Contemporary category in the 2021 International Classical Music Awards.
In 2026, he was a quarter-finalist at the Mozarteum's International Mozart Competition in Salzburg, and took third prize at the Lowell Chamber Orchestra International Young Artists Competition. He is a member of Duo 404, a project devoted to the most challenging repertoire "within and without" 20th-/21st-century music.
Kessa Mefford is an award-winning pianist from Peekskill, New York. Described as "powerful, disciplined, and profoundly emotional," (Croton Gazette) Mefford was raised in a family of musicians. She debuted at Carnegie Hall in December 2022 with a historic program; “Ravel: All of It,” his complete art songs from memory with soprano Kristina Cook. Since then, she has performed “Ravel: All of It” in venues all around the United States with Cook. In 2023, they gave their radio debut performing Ravel on New York’s WQXR.
Mefford also lectures and presents around the United States as a solo pianist performing the music of Ravel. She has done residencies as a guest artist at universities such as Brigham Young University, Weber State University, and University of Colorado Boulder. She is also the only pianist to perform an all-Ravel program in Grand Central Terminal as part of HONY’s Dear New York project in October 2025.
Mefford has founded two concert series: “Whimsical Birdsong,” based in New York which presents the complete works of Ravel that include piano, and "Piano at Noon," based in her hometown of Peekskill as an effort to bring more classical music to the community. She has also collaborated with her family on a variety of projects. Her father, Dan Montez, is a composer, and Kessa has premiered several of his pieces. Notable premieres include a piano concerto and four art song cycles, two of which were performed with two siblings, opera singers Ky and Cade Montez.
She has released three albums, two of which are part of an eight-album series featuring the complete works of Ravel alongside other composers.
Evan Drachman established The Piatigorsky Foundation in 1990 in honor of his grandfather, Gregor Piatigorsky, who believed in the healing and inspirational power of classical music. He once said, “Music makes life better. Music is a necessity. It is rich. It is imaginative. It is magnificent. And it is for everyone.” The Piatigorsky Foundation is committed to carrying on Piatigorsky’s mission by evoking cultural curiosity through educational and accessible live performances.