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Yo-Yo Ma

Notes for the Future

Sony Classical

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2021 In Memoriam: A Tribute to Those We've Lost
Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile And Stuart Duncan: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
Extraordinary Minds: Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma plays Place des Arts metro
Salesforce - Fireside Chat with Trailblazer Yo-Yo Ma
Meryl Streep & Yo-Yo Ma - 2011 US-China Forum - A Musical Dialogue
Yo-Yo Ma joins Afghan music students for performance in Lisbon
Yo-Yo Ma plays private concert for kids and staff at Boston Children's
Our Common Nature performance at Lakeshore Park
CBS Mornings
Yo-Yo Ma and Alexis Ffrench on the false boundaries in music
1 Lamentations, "Black/Folk Song Suite": III. Calvary Ostinato (by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)  
2 Honor Song (with Jeremy Dutcher)  
3 Doorway (with Tunde Olaniran)  
4 Blewu (with Angelique Kidjo)  
5 Ha'oud (I Will Return) (with Mashrou' Leila feat. Narcy)  
6 El Cant dels Ocells (Song of the Birds) (with Andrea Motis)  
7 La Sandunga (with Lila Downs)  
8 Thank You (with ABAO)  
9 Te Whakaroha Nui (with Marlon Williams)  
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Cellist Yo-Yo Ma releases his new album, Notes for the Future available now on Sony Classical.   Notes for the Future brings together extraordinary artists from five continents: across nine tracks, Ma joins Angélique Kidjo, Mashrou' Leila, Tunde Olaniran, Jeremy Dutcher, Andrea Motis, ABAO, Lila Downs, and Marlon Williams to explore our fears and hopes, reminding us that the future is ours to shape, together. The album captures the full range of human emotion, from the lament of the album's lead offering, a collaborative version of "Blewu" with Angélique Kidjo (named "Africa's premier diva" by TIME), to the energetic prayer for home in "Ha'oud (I Will Return)" from Ma and Beirut-based rock band Mashrou' Leila (dubbed "the Arab world's most influential independent band" by Financial Times). 

  • Yo-Yo Ma to headline Sun Valley Music Festival Gala / Eye On Sun Valley
    Posted At: February 14, 2024 12:00 AM
    Eye On Sun Valley's KAREN BOSSICK writes…..Yo-Yo Ma, considered one of the most acclaimed artists of our time, will perform with the Sun Valley Music Festival’s 2024 Gala Concert.“An Evening with Yo-Yo Ma” will take place at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 5, at the Sun Valley Pavilion.The world-renowned cellist will perform Antonin Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in B Minor with the Sun Valley Music Festival Orchestra unde...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma's masterful journey through Shostakovich: An unforgettable BSO concert / The Harvard Crimson
    Posted At: October 19, 2023 12:00 AM
    The Harvard Crimson's Dailan Xu writes….On Oct. 14, under the majestic golden light of Symphony Hall, classical music enthusiasts were taken on a nostalgic journey by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Andris Nelsons, and the internationally renowned cellist and Harvard alum Yo-Yo Ma ’76. The evening featured the music of Dmitri Shostakovich, including “Cello Concerto No. 1” and “Cello Concerto...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma, set to perform next year in Montana's Wachholz College Center in Kalispell / Daily Inter Lake
    Posted At: August 31, 2023 12:00 AM
    Yo-Yo Ma's multi-faceted career is testament to his enduring belief in culture's power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, collaborating with communities and institutions to explore culture's role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Yo-Yo strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity....
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  • 'Smithsonian Great Americans' medal awarded to Yo-Yo Ma / COIN WORLD
    Posted At: May 18, 2023 12:00 AM
    COIN WORLD's Paul Gilkes writes….Great Americans medal recipient Yo-Yo Ma is endowed with his medal while receiving congratulatory remarks from Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III.World-renowned professional cellist Yo-Yo Ma received the Smithsonian Institution’s Great Americans medal during special ceremonies held May 9 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.Ma was recog...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma on his latest profect: 'Our Common Nature' / PBS: Amanpour & Co.
    Posted At: May 2, 2023 12:00 AM
    Yo-Yo Ma's multi-faceted career is testament to his enduring belief in culture's power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, collaborating with communities and institutions to explore culture's role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Yo-Yo strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity....
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  • Yo-Yo Ma plays private concert for kids and staff at Boston Children's Hospital / WBZ - CBS NEWS BOSTON
    Posted At: April 25, 2023 12:00 AM
    Yo-Yo Ma's multi-faceted career is testament to his enduring belief in culture's power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, collaborating with communities and institutions to explore culture's role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Yo-Yo strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity....
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  • TOWN & COUNTRY is in conversation with Yo-Yo Ma
    Posted At: April 18, 2023 12:00 AM
    Are the Keys to All of Life's Questions in Bach? Talking life, music, and art with the legendary cellist. TOWN & COUNTRY's Leena Kim writes….Yo-Yo Ma is one of those figures whose fame has far transcended the limits of classical music. A name recognized by all. Like Leonard Bernstein. Or Gustavo Dudamel. Naturally, much of that has to do with his extraordinary talent—and longevity. Ma has been an a...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma to launch Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's 105th season / stir
    Posted At: March 30, 2023 12:00 AM
    Also part of VSO’s 2023-24 programming: guest solosists Steven Isserlis and Sarah Chang; B.C. premiere of John Adams’s Harmonielehre; new commissions; and morestir's GAIL JOHNSON writes….THE THEME FOR Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s 2023-24 season is Escape to Extraordinary, and it’s getting things off to a fitting start with a performance by Yo-Yo Ma. The globally acclaimed cellist appears for one night onl...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma to perform with Louisville Orchestra in Mammoth Cave / WHAS11
    Posted At: January 18, 2023 12:00 AM
    The orchestra's two-year, statewide tour includes performances at schools, libraries and even inside the world's longest known cave system.WHAS11 - Sarah Magin writes….The Louisville Orchestra is hitting the road!. The group announced its two-year tour around Kentucky which includes a performance with famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma inside one of the Commonwealth's most unique landmarks.Before the tour officially ki...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma in great form for TSO Gala in a full Roy Thomson Hall house / ludwigvanTORONTO
    Posted At: November 17, 2022 12:00 AM
    Yo-Yo Ma's multi-faceted career is testament to his enduring belief in culture's power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, collaborating with communities and institutions to explore culture's role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Yo-Yo strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity....
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  • Yo-Yo Ma lights up Tanglewood's Koussevitzky shed with the Elgar Cello Concerto / The Berkshire Eagle
    Posted At: August 15, 2022 12:00 AM
    The Berkshire Eagle's Jeremy Yudkin writes……In our historic times, when political power in America is being wrenched from its democratic base; norms and conventions of civilization, such as decency, empathy and honesty, are being ground into the dirt; and a slow-motion coup, begun 25 years ago, has almost completely succeeded in taking over our government and our courts; when the European world order is und...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma returns to play with the Pittsburgh Symphony in 2023 / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Posted At: August 10, 2022 12:00 AM
    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's JEREMY REYNOLDS writes…..How often does the Pittsburgh Symphony sell out Heinz Hall?It’s not terribly often, maybe a couple or few times a year. Lately, it’s been the live-with-film concerts like “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter” that have packed people into seats.Still, in the classical world, there’s at least one name that listeners far and wide will shell out to see: cellist Yo-Yo ...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma performs in the woods, accompanied by birdsong chorus / aeon
    Posted At: July 31, 2022 12:00 AM
    aeon writes…..The Birdsong Project is an endeavour organised by the Audubon Society as a ‘celebration of the joy and mysteries of birdsong’ via visual art, music and poetry. In this music video from the album For the Birds: The Birdsong Project, Vol II (2022), the celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma is seen and heard performing ‘In the Gale’, which he created in collaboration with the composer Anna Clyne. Perhaps t...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma's 'Doorway' feat. Tunde Olaniran may have slipped through the cracks, but remains in NPR's headphones
    Posted At: December 30, 2021 12:00 AM
    As we near the year's end, NPR's #NowPlaying recommends songs that slipped through the cracks, but remain in our headphones. STEPHEN THOMPSON writes….Yo-Yo Ma and Tunde Olaniran are both omnivorous, multi-hyphenate musicians, but you wouldn't necessarily think to place them in the same song. Still, pairing the classical cellist with the Michigan iconoclast makes a fair bit of sense: Neither cares much for g...
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  • It's a difficult task to pick a favorite Yo-Yo Ma recording, but to celebrate his 66th birthday, CPR Classical takes a shot at it
    Posted At: October 4, 2021 12:00 AM

    Few names in music hold as much weight as Yo-Yo Ma: cellist, international superstar, humanitarian and beloved human. With a performance career of 60 years, he has brought life to scores and scores of music. From centuries-old traditional tunes to brand new concertos, Yo-Yo Ma is featured on 120 albums. It's a heartbreakingly difficult task to pick a favorite recording, but to celebrate Ma's 66th birthda...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma gets Bach to the Cello / LA WEEKLY
    Posted At: September 13, 2021 12:00 AM

    LA WEEKLY BRETT CALLWOOD writes.....Yo-Yo Ma is such a phenomenon that people who have never knowingly listened to a cello recital in their lives know who he is. 90 albums and 18 Grammys only tells a fraction of the story. He was included in Time‘s 2020 list of the 10o most influential people - a cellist! As well as performing classical music, he's worked with American bluegrass, traditional Ch...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma set to perform on floating stage at Prague Sounds festival / Radio Prague
    Posted At: August 6, 2021 12:00 AM

    Internationally acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma will be performing on Prague's Vltava River this September, as part of the Prague Sounds festival which will blend a wide range of musicians and genres into five unique evening concerts. To find out more about what's in store, I spoke to festival programmer Guy Borg. "We are of course delighted to have Yo-Yo come to the festival. We actually have a l...
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  • Tanglewood is back this summer, with Beethoven and Yo-Yo Ma / The New York Times
    Posted At: April 8, 2021 12:00 AM

    The New York Times Zachary Woolfe writes.....Closed last year, the Boston Symphony's warm-weather home in the Berkshires will host an abbreviated six-week season. There won't be the traditional, grand closing-night performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with its stage full of singers. In fact, to reduce the risk of aerosol transmission of the coronavirus, there will be no vocal music at all at Ta...
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  • Relive James Taylor & Yo-Yo Ma covering 'Here Comes The Sun'
    Posted At: March 24, 2021 12:00 AM

    Live For Live Music's Tom Shackleford writes....Fans can now relive Yo-Yo Ma's 2008 cover performance of "Here Comes The Sun" alongside veteran singer-songwriter James Taylor in a new pro-shot video shared by the acclaimed cello player late last week. Video of the performance, which took place way back on March 7th, 2008, was shot on-site at Taylor's TheBarn home studio. The performance would end up ...
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  • Watch Peter Gabriel re-record 'Biko' with artists from around the world / RollingStone
    Posted At: February 12, 2021 12:00 AM

    RollingStone's ANDY GREENE writes......Peter Gabriel has re-recorded his 1980 protest classic "Biko" with help from 25 musicians from around the globe, including Beninese vocalist and activist Angélique Kidjo, Yo-Yo Ma, the Cape Town Ensemble, Sebastian Robertson, and bassist Meshell Ndegeocello. The video was produced by Sebastian Robertson and Mark Johnson as part of Playing fo...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma reflects on the emotions of the pandemic / New Classical Tracks
    Posted At: January 6, 2021 12:00 AM

    "We hope that for the many different kinds of people with different tastes and whatever that some of the music will just reach inside and just give a gentle caress." It's a simple intention, and one that is really necessary right now, according to cellist Yo-Yo Ma. He and pianist Kathryn Stott recently released a recording, Songs of Comfort and Hope. "In the middle of the summer, I was talking to...
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  • How music can be like touch during these socially distant times / Washington Post Q&A with Yo-Yo Ma
    Posted At: August 14, 2020 12:00 AM

    Since March, national arts reporter Geoff Edgers has been grounded by the novel coronavirus. So every Friday and many Tuesday afternoons, he hosts The Washington Post's first Instagram Live show from his barn in Concord, Mass. So far, he has interviewed, among others, comedian Sarah Cooper, magician Penn Jillette, director Paul Feig, musician Annie Lennox and talk show host Chelsea Handler. Recently, he ...
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  • IDAGIO welcomes Yo-Yo Ma to its global concert hall / BroadwayWorld
    Posted At: July 21, 2020 12:00 AM

    Empty concert halls and a dramatic drop-off in events: the corona crisis has pressed a pause button for the concert and opera business. But thanks to IDAGIO, classical music lovers can still enjoy unique musical experiences. Now, the leading classical music streaming service welcomes Yo-Yo Ma, the most renowned cellist of our time, to perform in its Global Concert Hall. On July 24 at 8:00 pm New York...
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  • Raffi enlists Yo-Yo Ma for new version of the popular children's song - 'Baby Beluga' / CBC
    Posted At: July 9, 2020 12:00 AM

    Canadian songwriter and children's entertainer Raffi is marking the 40th anniversary of his perennially popular "Baby Beluga" with a new version of the bouncy song about a little white whale. He has enlisted cellist Yo-Yo Ma to accompany him in a virtual performance. Pay special attention to the way Ma imitates whale song during the transition to Raffi's newly coined verse, written especiall...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma is trying to leave all the stress behind him / The New York Times
    Posted At: June 9, 2020 12:00 AM

    The renowned cellist, who has soothed us during the pandemic with "Songs of Comfort," also puts Fred Rogers, Pablo Casals and his Benoît Rolland bow on his list of cultural essentials. Yo-Yo Ma has long been the person we turn to when music can express what words cannot. So in March, as the coronavirus plunged the nation into crisis, Mr. Ma asked himself how he could be helpful. Then he did wha...
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  • What books are on Yo-Yo Ma's nightstand? / The New York Times
    Posted At: May 21, 2020 12:00 AM

    "For once, I'd like to ask the questions," says the renowned cellist, whose new ensemble album is "Not Our First Goat Rodeo." What books are on your nightstand? "The World That Made New Orleans," by Ned Sublette. "Barracoon: The Story of the Last ‘Black Cargo,'" the oral history of one of the last known African survivors of the Middle Passage, by Zora Neale Hurston. The memoirs of A...
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  • 'The Wexford Carol' from Yo-Yo Ma and Friends, Songs of Joy & Peace makes WGBH: 'A Very Celtic Christmas' holiday playlist
    Posted At: December 11, 2019 12:00 AM

    Curated by WGBH: Boston 'A Celtic Sojourn's' Brian O'Donovan Explore classic Celtic holiday essentials from including; 'The Wexford Carol' featuring: Alison Krauss, from Yo-Yo Ma and Friends, Songs of Joy & Peace. Yo-Yo Ma brought together a remarkable group of friends to create a musical party inspired by the holiday season: Songs of Joy & Peace on Sony BMG Masterworks. This ...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma is in top form for Salonen Cello Concerto / LIMELIGHT
    Posted At: July 8, 2019 12:00 AM

    The Finnish conductor and composer, Esa-Pekka Salonen, has often been interested in the idea that music is the creative tension between its organic and mechanical elements. He was written that he thinks "musical expression is bodily expression, there is no abstract cerebral expression in my opinion. It all comes out of the body." Music for Salonen, therefore, is deeply and essentially physical; approachi...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma plays impromptu two and a half hour Bach concert under the Acropolis / Tornos News
    Posted At: July 2, 2019 12:00 AM

    World-famous musician Yo-Yo Ma spent three days in Athens, one to present his Bach Project at the Herod Atticus Odeon on Sunday and another two where he performed impromptu for the public in Athens and Piraeus, ANA reports. At the ancient Odeon, the American cellist of Chinese descent performed his beloved six Bach suites for cello for 2.5 hours straight in a relaxed manner under the Acropolis, with the ...
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  • Meryl Streep recites poetry while Yo-Yo Ma plays the cello / CLASSIC fM
    Posted At: July 1, 2019 12:00 AM

    Award-winning actress Meryl Streep recited poetry to an audience in China while Yo-Yo Ma played the cello – and it's everything we need to get us through the week. The Hollywood icon gave the reading in China – and it was accompanied by a stunning sonata performed by the virtuoso cellist. We don't deserve these two. The powerful performance took place back in 2011 and is currently do...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma plants tree and plucks cello in Unity Park / Chicago Tribune
    Posted At: June 21, 2019 12:00 AM

    As beads of sweat dripped down his forehead, Yo-Yo Ma, famed cellist extraordinaire, carefully lowered a magnolia sapling into the ground at Unity Park in North Lawndale. Using a wheelbarrow to pour dirt around the base, he packed down the earth with a shovel created by artist Pedro Reyes, who had forged it using repurposed weapons originally seized by the Chicago Police Department. "There's something ab...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma will perform with kids in unity park to open conversation about gun violence / Block Club Chicago
    Posted At: June 20, 2019 12:00 AM

    In 2018, world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma began a journey around the world to leverage the power of the arts to help tackle some of the issues facing 36 communities. This week, he takes on Chicago. Following a free concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Ma will embark on a Day of Action across the city. On Friday, Ma will perform at Unity Park, as part of a citywide...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma & Soledad O'Brien discuss building a better future through music / Salesforce
    Posted At: June 19, 2019 12:00 AM

    Join world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma as he discusses with Soledad O'Brien, Award-Winning Journalist and Entrepreneur, his enduring belief that culture has the power to create moments of shared understanding and is essential to imagining and building a better future. Through his music, Yo-Yo strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity. A true trailblazer! Wa...
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  • Music brings Yo-Yo Ma together with refugees / UNHCR
    Posted At: June 14, 2019 12:00 AM

    To perform alongside Yo-Yo Ma, the world-famous cellist, would be a unique opportunity for most musicians – but for Syrian refugee Basma Jabr, it is an amazing turn in her life as a refugee in Austria, where she arrived in 2014 and is now building a career as a singer. "Of course I am a bit nervous," she said the morning before, during practice at the home of fellow musician Marwan Abado, who plays...
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  • Yo-Yo Ma urges Dartmouth grads to use power wisely / NEW HAMPSHIRE Union Leader
    Posted At: June 10, 2019 12:00 AM

    Renowned musician Yo-Yo Ma reminded Dartmouth College students of the power they have, and the need to harness that power. "You will always have more power than you know. Never abuse this power; it is a gift," Ma said. "Use it with great care and intention." Ma, the Grammy award-winning cellist, was this year's commencement speaker, and he received an honorary degree from the school for his artistic...
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  • UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres meets Yo-Yo Ma in Vienna during Day of Action / UN News
    Posted At: May 27, 2019 12:00 AM

    Like a well-tuned orchestra, successful modern societies have a balance of diversity and culture, that is a source of "enormous richness, not a threat" said the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, speaking alongside UN Messenger of Peace, acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma in the Austrian capital, Vienna. He was speaking against the backdrop of European Parliamentary elections in recent days, w...
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