"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 my really longtime colleague and friend Kathy Stott and I said, 'Well, you know, can we do something that's more than just zooming? Can you pick songs that are meaningful to various people around the world?' "When we need comfort, you know, we look for the touch points in our life, maybe it's baking, the smell of that pie is something you remember from your grandmother. The memories flood back and we look for things like that in the music." WATCH THE SEGMENT & READ THE TRANSCRIPT

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 spoke to cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Here are some excerpts from their conversation.

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 time (25 July, 02:00 CEST), the Grammy Award winner dedicates a 60-minute concert to the music of the late Ennio Morricone. The concert is accessible to viewers all over the world and will be streamed LIVE and made available to watch at any time in the 24 hours following the initial stream. Tickets are now available at the Global Concert Hall. Ticket buyers will also have the opportunity to meet Yo-Yo Ma after the concert in the Virtual Green Room, where he will be online to answer questions from the audience. READ THE FULL BroadwayWorld ARTICLE

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 especially for adults - he calls them "beluga grads" - who remember the song from their youth. 'Beluga grads' bringing their kids to his shows, and Raffi couldn't be more pleased "Grown-up beluga, sing a song of peace," he enjoins them. "Sing a song of diversity, child-honouring, social justice, climate action. We need to hear you." WATCH THE VIDEO

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 what he does best: He picked up his cello, pushed record on his phone and played "#SongsOfComfort" for us, inviting the public to participate in his soothing social media project. The response has been a flurry of videos from musicians, both amateur and professional. But if Mr. Ma likens the pandemic's initial phase to a blizzard, he sees a long winter ahead - and more questions. "How do we collaborate with the purpose of having legitimate hope?" he said. "How do we do everything possible to rebuild toward the world that we really want to live in?" On May 24, Mr. Ma performed Bach's cello suites live from WGBH studios in Boston in memory of those lost to the pandemic. He has been busy these past few months. "Not Our First Goat Rodeo," the follow-up to his Grammy-winning 2011 ensemble album, comes out on June 19. And sheltering at home in Cambridge, Mass., has allowed the peripatetic Mr. Ma, 64, more time than ever before with his wife, Jill. "What I realized is that my wife and I have only been living under stress," he said, calling to discuss the 10 things that have helped him through the lockdown, and life in general. "What's amazing is that we're actually able to make it kind of normal. That's an unexpected joy." These are edited excerpts from the conversation.   1. Animal Stories I've become fascinated with some of the earlier animal stories, like "Aesop's Fables" and "Kalila wa-Dimna," which I found out when I was traveling for Silkroad had been the "Panchatantra" stories in India and are thousands of years old. Here are three different places that had essentially the same plotline. And I realized that during times of crisis, we want to go to fundamentals, to certain things that don't change. Stories are one of them, and the value of trust is another. Who do you trust right now? Who tells the truth? And who actually is helping? Those are values that I'm obsessed with. And these stories deal with, essentially, observations of the human condition.
  2. His Phone It's partly my brain, first of all, because I'm so old that it has a far better memory than I do. It's my newspaper that gives me multiple perspectives. In a way it has become my stage because I film stuff like "Songs of Comfort" from it. And it's a place where I can do research. When I was growing up, you used to go to the Britannica if you had a question. Now I go to the iPhone and I find what I need to find. Of course, I'm going to not tell you what my average screen time is.   3. Scotch Tape Scotch tape is like a Band-Aid for music because the scores fall apart, and there are page turns with no time to turn, and they all have to fit on a music stand. Since I'm pretty scattered, I end up cutting up pages and taping them together in not such great ways, but long enough to last through a performance. If you also have to record yourself on the phone, you have to get the right angle. So I found myself using Scotch tape to tape my phone onto something so that it's poised precariously at the right angle for a certain number of minutes. I mean, it's pathetic, right?   4. Benoît Rolland He's an artist-scientist who is an inventor, and I mean that very seriously. For my 60th birthday, my wife surprised me and commissioned a bow from him. You know, I'm not an equipment guy. I never like to think about bows or instruments or even strings and rosin. When I'm on tour, I can't count on anything. If I'm an equipment freak, I'll just be a miserable guy all the time because things are not exactly right. So when my wife first presented it to me, I thought: "It's wonderful. How thoughtful. Whatever." Then I started playing - and then I just never stopped. It did something extraordinary. I never knew that a bow can make such a difference.   5. Fred Rogers Do we need him now or what? What an unbelievable, remarkable human being he was. One of the things he did when I met him was that he started asking me questions with his face about six inches from my face, which, if you imagine, that is very much into my personal space. You feel uncomfortable. And I didn't know why until I realized that he was actually using the space that a child has before they become socialized. He taught me that the space between the television screen and the child's face is sacred. [The] greatest lesson in trust.   6. Pablo Casals We owe the Bach suites to him because he's the one who played each suite in its entirety. He was the first cellist who gave it that meaning that today a lot of people ascribe to as music that gives you solace, consolation. But beyond that, I loved Casals when I was 9 years old because I read that he said that he was a human being first, a musician second and a cellist third. At that time, I was being groomed: "Oh, you're going to be a wonderful cellist." And I thought: "Yuck. No, I'm not just that." So I was so pleased that my greatest musical hero said those words. And to this day I still think he's absolutely right.   7. Science What science does is to expand the limits of our perception of our five senses. So we have tools to actually look into and probe the macro world, and we have instruments that can deeply examine the micro world beyond what we can see, hear, touch, feel. The sciences are extensions of ourselves in an anthropomorphic sense - ways that we invent so that we can better live and thrive and survive. Not to pay attention to that is like saying: "We don't want to see what's beyond the cliff. Or that there is a cliff."   8. Emanuel Ax He's one of the nicest human beings on earth. Here's this formidable person with such a gentle soul and a steel-trap mind who is like my older brother. But I call him bossy because he actually is. He always is teaching me things. I've known him for 49 years, and he'll tell me the truth. [Laughs] He used to say: "Don't let playing concerts be an interruption of your life. Make sure that on the day of [the] concert you spend at least as much time thinking about being in the space of the music you will be playing in the evening." And that's incredibly good advice. It's a form of mental advocacy so that you are, in fact, in that place when you need to be. I tend to have wonderful friendships with pianists. Kathy Stott, whom I've played with for over 40 years, is also the boss. It's very easy. She'd say, "If you don't listen to me, I'm just going to drown you out at the concert."   9. Swimming I had a back operation when I was younger, and playing the cello is not great for scoliosis. Swimming is something that I enjoy doing because it's a moment of meditation. It uses all my muscles and it counters what I do during the day. Because of my operation, I can't really turn my neck that well so I use a snorkel. It's a very good friend and allows me to get the exercise I need, and the quietude.   10. Sustainable Development Goals Pin The pin is something that I've taken to wearing whenever I perform and I'm wearing a jacket. Why? So that people can ask me, "What is that?" And I proceed to say, "These are the goals of the United Nations for 2030 that will allow us to have a healthy planet and healthy population, no poverty, zero hunger, quality education, gender equality, et cetera, et cetera." So many of us, myself included, are looking for purpose and meaning, and we feel helpless. "The problems that are facing us are too big. I can't do anything about it." Baloney. But we can only do something if everybody participates. It takes the will of all. During this pandemic, suddenly the skies are clearer. Suddenly people can breathe. And I think if everybody finds their specific place where they can make a contribution toward getting there, we can one day really impact the goals that the younger generations certainly feel deeply.

"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 Alexandre Dumas, the first volume of which I am struggling through in French. "Spirit Rising," by the unparalleled Angelique Kidjo, who recommended the first three titles. She and I are working on a new project that explores some of the less-known intersections between what we think of as Western classical and African music. Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time? E .M. Forster's "Howards End." Twenty-three years ago, when I was first thinking about the Silkroad Ensemble, I had many intense talks with Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said, who were in the process of creating the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Said would always quote Forster: "Only connect!" But it took me two decades to connect with the book. Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how). In transit. I always try to get on a plane with a book that will give me new perspective on the destination. Late in February, just before the pandemic really changed how we live, I visited West Africa for the first time, to play Bach's cello suites in Dakar. I boarded with Dionne Searcey's "In Pursuit of Disobedient Women," which recounts her years as The Times's West Africa bureau chief. I landed with the magic of her experience. Like cheating! Lately, my wife and I have discovered audiobooks in the car, most recently Ron Chernow's "Washington." What book should everybody read before the age of 21? "The Little Prince." Looking at the universe through a child's gaze, full of wonder, wisdom and innocence, is a perspective we never want to lose as adults. Have any books influenced your artistic development as a musician? Too many to count, but Joseph Horowitz on Toscanini helped give a social and historical context to the world of classical music world that I encountered when I moved to New York as a child. The book gave me a way to see how deeply everything changed after World War II, how the immigration of European musicians to the United States helped shape the evolution of classical music for a good half-century and gave me my own musical foundation. Who are your favorite musician-writers? Your favorite memoir by a musician? "Joys and Sorrows," by Pablo Casals. Casals was one of the greatest cellists of the last century. He rediscovered Bach's cello suites for generations of musicians and listeners, he stood always for liberty and against despotism, and he lived by a simple philosophy that has become my own: He thought of himself as a human being first, a musician second and, only third, a cellist. I met him when I was 7 and asked him for his autograph, and he gave me some advice: "Always make time for baseball." It took me decades to realize he was telling me to be a human first. What are the best books about music you've read? The books that set me on new musical journeys. Here's one. In the '90s, I discovered the work of an ethnomusicologist named Ted Levin. I think the first of his books that I read was "The Hundred Thousand Fools of God." This was in the years after the Soviet Union breakup gave birth to more than a dozen countries that we knew as the "‘stans." Ted's book introduced me to the people who live there; I could hear them, understand their interpretation of nature and of the universe. A few years later, Ted became one of my partners in creating the Silkroad Ensemble, which changed forever how I think about connection and collaboration, innovation and tradition, foreign and local, and what it means to live in an interconnected world. What's the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently? The history of Haiti, through the memoirs of Alexandre Dumas, whose father was a French general born in Haiti (then the French colony of Saint-Domingue) to a white French nobleman and a black slave. We hear so much about the modern-day struggles of Haiti, but I had only a vague notion of its history, that Haiti was among the first colonies in the Americas to declare independence and the first nation to abolish slavery for good. I don't. I am so disorganized. Thank goodness my wife has the ability to put them in order, because then I am surprised anew by what wonderful books we have. Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine? Your favorite antihero or villain? Odysseus. I identify with how much time he spent on the road! You're organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite? Ann Patchett: I've read all of her books; her humanistic imagination knows no limits. Freeman Dyson, the theoretical physicist who died earlier this year at age 96. He never stopped learning and in one of his final essays wrote, "Cultural evolution will be the main force driving our future." Socrates: For once, I'd like to ask the questions. What do you plan to read next? When my son was in sixth grade, his teacher gave him an assignment on "Kalila wa Dimna," fables that originated in India and moved to Persia, shared as a way to educate future rulers. But it turns out that they are beloved stories that children know all over the world, stories that we recognize in the fables of Fontaine and Aesop. I've wanted to read them ever since. Imagine, a world of leaders bound together with common values. We could use that today.      Illustration: Jillian Tamaki

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 party celebrates the universal hopes, dreams and joy animating seasonal festivals the world over – Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid al-Adha, Kwanzaa, Yule and New Year's Day.  "It started with the idea of a party, a party built around the concept of joy and the infinite varieties of joy to be found in the world," Ma recalls.  "But joy can't exist in our world without the comfort of peace.  As we all draw closer and closer together in this world, nothing is more important.  So as much as the music in this album is about joy, it is also about peace, about the two operating in tandem.  I am really excited to know that I have all these fabulous colleagues who think the same way." LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST

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; approaching composition as an exercise in thought and ideology is the wrong way forward. His Cello Concerto, co-commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Barbican Centre, and the Elbphilharmonie, is an example of this philosophy. This is Salonen's third concerto, the first two being for piano and violin respectively, and is dedicated to Yo-Yo Ma, who is the soloist in this release and has performed the premiere performances of the piece. This immaculate world premiere recording was made in 2018 at the Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, with Ma and the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Salonen himself. Without relying on novelty and parlour tricks, the concerto places formidable demands upon the soloist, and Ma is in top form here. Salonen writes that "virtuosity doesn't limit itself to the mechanics of playing an instrument. A true virtuoso can also capture the beauty and expression in the quietest moments, to fill near-stasis with life through a musician's imagination and ability to communicate." The composer has been given a gift in Ma, who is one of the great musical communicators of our time. READ THE FULL LIMELIGHT REVIEW

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 audience packing the open-air theatre to the gills. He often addressed himself to the public about the Bach Project, performance in 36 unique sites of the planet that promotes the role of art in uniting people. The multiple winner of Grammy awards and nearly 90 recordings had stood at Gate 8 at the port of Piraeus on Friday, the day of his arrival, to play Bach like a street musician for the travelers getting on and off the ferries SEE THE Tornos News PAGE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d}

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 doing the rounds again online (we love the Internet). It was part of the US-China Forum on the Arts and Culture that took 16 American stars to China to participate in four days of cultural exchange. Streep mesmerised the audience with her dulcet tones and two moving readings, which included Martha Graham's poem, A Letter to Agnes De Mille. The other reading was of Luzhai, written by Chinese poet, musician, painter and politician Wang Wei, who lived during the Tang dynasty and was one of the most influential men of his time. Directed by Damian Woetzel, the performance was arranged by the Asia Society's Centre on US-China Relations and The Aspen Institute. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} WATCH THE VIDEO via CLASSIC fM

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 about the word ‘cultivation' that means everything to me," Ma said, after the tree was successfully in the ground. "That's the word that's formed from ‘culture.' It's what we invent, what we build in order to live and to have hope." Ma seeks to cultivate art and discussion in communities around the world through the Bach Project, his tour of 36 cities and six different continents that seeks to explore how culture can better society. At each destination, Ma works with community leaders to organize a "Day of Action" that examines an prevailing issue. In Chicago, Ma asked, "How can we use culture to confront gun violence in the city?" Before he got his hands dirty, Ma was joined by Alexandria Hoffman, a fellow at the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, for a performance of Bach. Hoffman played a flute created by Reyes in a similar fashion to the shovels from shotgun barrels. "If we're ever to unite the U.S., it's going to be through what happens in Chicago," Ma said. "We deserve to do everything we can to stop the violence and to make everybody thrive."     PHOTO:  (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune) p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Chicago Tribune ARTICLE

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 Day of Action geared towards opening a conversation about gun violence in Chicago. The series is called the Bach Project and will take Ma to three locations in the city. The day will begin at 9 a.m. in Unity Park with a tree planting project in collaboration with the Greening Committee of the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council and SAIC Homan Square. READ THE FULL Block Club Chicago ARTICLE

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! Watch the attached conversation. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d}

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 an oud, an Arab instrument like a lute. "I am also excited to have a new musical experience and the chance to meet other musicians." Basma, 35, was born into a musical family in Kuwait but due to war left in 1990 for Syria, where she trained and worked as an architect. Conflict in Syria made Basma a refugee a second time. Her husband, Aysar Aisamee, made the difficult journey to Europe alone. When he got refugee status, Basma and their two young children joined him. They arrived in Austria in 2014. Since then, Dr. Aisamee, a cardiologist, has got back into medicine and is working at a hospital in Vienna, and Basma's new career as a professional singer is starting to take off. The couple are a perfect example of how refugees can integrate successfully and contribute to society when they are welcomed. Basma now sings in clubs and theatres across Vienna and has performed in other European countries but she says things were hard at first. She knew little German but music helped make connections. READ THE FULL UNHCR ARTICLE AND WATCH THE VIDEO

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 and humanitarian work. Ma told the graduates they will soon be leading lives that involve the use of power, whether that is in medicine, business or within a family, and that the decisions they make will have a deep impact on those around them. "Power isn't something we're born with knowing how to use," he said. "There's no guide for using power with restraint." More than 1,900 degrees were awarded Sunday to the graduating students at Dartmouth College, who gathered on the campus commons in the June sunshine. The college estimates that more than 11,000 people were in attendance for the commencement. The senior class includes students from 46 states as well as the District of Columbia, and students from China, the United Kingdom, Korea and Canada. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL NEW HAMPSHIRE Union Leader ARTICLE

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, which showed a surge in support away from political parties in the centre ground, towards those espousing more nationalist and anti-immigrant policy platforms.  Secretary-General António Guterres told those gathered for the Day of Action that it was particularly important "in the present debate in Europe" to adopt "a universal perspective for peace, for human dignity, for human rights" and the values enshrined in the UN Charter. "Societies today are multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-cultural. And that is a richness, not a threat". Like an orchestra featuring musicians from around the world, they need to practice to play harmoniously: "It is the same with society" he added.  PHOTO: Nikoleta Haffar READ THE FULL UN News ARTICLE

Athens is but one of 36 cities in Yo-Yo Ma's Bach Project world tour. The internationally acclaimed cellist will perform The 6 Unaccompanied Cello Suites at the Odeon for a single spellbinding evening on 30 June, in his first ever appearance in Greece. Why is this concert one of the unmissable music events of the summer? Read here everything you should know about Yo-Yo Ma, and his rich body of work as an artist and an activist.  "Bach's cello suites have been my constant musical companions," says Yo-Yo. "For almost six decades, they have given me sustenance, comfort, and joy during times of stress, celebration, and loss. What power does this music possess that even today, after three hundred years, it continues to help us navigate through troubled times?" The Athens Festival audiences will have the chance to answer this question in a single, spellbinding, unforgettable evening. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} SEE THE 10 REASONS via tornosNews

After a Piano Concerto and a Violin Concerto, it was only natural Esa Pekka-Salonen will write a full Cello Concerto, and one may dare say this is the most successful of the three. Like the other two concertos, Salonen enjoys a first-class soloist – the immaculate Yo-Yo Ma, together with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on top form. This recording comes from the debut performance of the piece at Los Angeles' Walt Disney Hall, on February of last year (2018). The audience must have been stunned by the music, as there is barely a hint this is a live recording, save for the dynamism of the performance. All parties are fully committed to the piece, and the sound quality is spectacular. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL CLASSIC REVIEW

Perhaps this is a stroke of marketing genius or maybe some luck is involved but this recording has success written all over it. Yo-Yo Ma is without a doubt one of the finest musicians of our time. The LA Philharmonic is a world class orchestra with a world class conductor at the helm. And though this is but the first encounter by this reviewer with Salonen's music this work suggests that his compositional skills are at a similar level.  There is but one work on this disc, a large and very listenable cello concerto which dates from 2016. While the work is clearly modern in its style overall it leans toward romantic and impressionistic textures. Using his conductor's mastery of the orchestra Salonen traverses territory that embraces the sound of composers such as Ives, Messiaen, Debussy, Barber, etc.  READ THE FULL New Music Buff REVIEW

<img src="/interface/ytcircle.png" /></a>Yo-Yo Ma Plays Bach In Shadow Of Border Crossing</div>">World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma brought his Bach Project to the sister cities of Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, on Saturday. Laredo's "Day of Action" featured performances in both cities to celebrate the relationship between the two communities. Ma played the opening notes of J.S. Bach's "Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello" in a park next to the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge, one of the crossings that connect the U.S. and Mexican cities. It was part of his Bach Project, which uses the 300-year-old music to explore connections between cultures. The project has taken him all over the world. On Friday it brought him to Laurie Auditorium at Trinity University in San Antonio, and on Saturday it brought him to Laredo, within a few feet of the Rio Grande. "As you all know, as you did and do and will do, in culture, we build bridges, not walls," he said. After his performance, he gestured to the bridge. "I've lived my life at the borders. Between cultures. Between disciplines. Between musics. Between generations." READ THE FULL Texas Public Radio ARTICLE & WATCH THE VIDEO

Yo-Yo Ma is expected next weekend to head to the border between Texas and Mexico to soothe reported tensions between those who live on either side of the Rio Grande. With the media coverage of immigration and how to handle it at an all-time high, the famed cellist is hoping that a performance at Laredo's Gateway to the Americas International Bridge will highlight what unifies American and Mexican cultures rather than what divides them, according to the Texas Monthly. For the past two years, Ma has been performing all six cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach in 36 cities across the world. The "Bach Project" includes a "Day of Action" where the cellist meets with community leaders and artists, hosting public conversations and creative experiences. On April 13, Ma is expected to perform on the bridge before going to Nuevo Laredo where he will meet with music students. Then he plans to cross the bridge back to Laredo and have a conversation at the Laredo Center for the Arts, according to Texas Monthly. The day is scheduled to wrap with a pachanga at Tres Laredos Park, where a blend of American and Mexican cultures will include students, environmental groups, musicians and dancers. READ THE FULL CelebrityAccess ENCORE ARTICLE

Just under 3,000 people wil pack Trinity University's Laurie Auditorium on Friday for internationally renowned musician Yo-Yo Ma's sold out performance of Bach solo cello suites, but many, many more will get to experience the performance. That's because it will be simulcast at both the Mission Marquee Plaza, the community space on the former site of Mission Drive-In, and at Texas A&M International University in Laredo. The concert is part of the Bach Project series that Ma launched in August: 36 concerts of the cello suites performed across the globe over the course of two years. Each performance will be coupled with a Day of Action devoted to cultural engagement and exploring the impact of the arts on communities. The plan for the evening is for the Mission Marquee show to kick off an hour before Ma is slated to take the stage at Trinity. Urban-15's Carnaval de Santo will perform, as will the winners of the music portion of KPAC's annual Sounds Like KPAC teen talent competition: violinist Nicholas Garcia-Hettinger, who is a student at Brandeis High School; and the Saxalorian Quartet, a saxophone ensemble based at Churchill High School that includes Ian Weidman on soprano sax; Craig Jaffe on alto sax; Ricky Dixon on tenor sax; and Abbi Stewart on baritone sax. Nathan Cone, vice president of cultural and community engagement for Texas Public Radio, will be master of ceremonies. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL San Antonio Express - News ARTICLE

The world-renown cellist Yo-Yo Ma has taken on one of the most ambitious musical endeavors in years. The multi-layered Bach Project includes performing the composer's six Cello Suites in one sitting, in 36 cities and six continents, and participating in cultural activities with local communities in each of those locales. The Frame contributor Betto Arcos got a chance to visit Yo-Yo Ma's recent stop in Mexico City and has this report.  PHOTO: Larry French/Getty for SiriusXM LISTEN TO SoCal's 89.3KPCC   p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d}

Esa-Pekka Salonen's Cello Concerto is a substantial work, in three movements it runs to around 35 minutes on this new recording from Sony Classical with Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra with soloist Yo-Yo Ma. A co-commission by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Barbican Centre and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, it was Salonen's third large scale concerto and premiered in 2017 with Yo-Yo Ma as soloist, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Though the material for the piece was mainly developed by the composer in 2015, some of the ideas date back 30 years and some phrases come from a 2010 work for solo cello, knock, breathe, shine. In his introductory essay in the CD booklet Esa-Pekka Salonen talks about a concerto being an orchestral work where one or more instruments play a pivotal role. Whilst the concept does not, to Salonen, suggest any particular formal design. He does like the idea of a soloist operating at the limits of what is physically and mentally possible. The writing for solo cello is positively vertiginous, and Yo-Yo Ma is stunning, brilliantly and subtly accompanied by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the composer. For all the taxing cello part and huge orchestra (including triple woodwind, and three percussionists), this work comes over as a wonderfully subtle, thoughtful and rather magical work. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Planet Hugill REVIEW

In the packed Hill Auditorium of about 3,500 students, staff and local Ann Arbor residents, Yo-Yo Ma walked out dressed in a black suit matched with a light pink tie. He looked to the crowd, glasses perched on the tip of his nose, standing adjacent to a $2.5 million dollar cello named "Petunia." At least he didn't leave it in a taxi this time, he joked. The world renowned cellist was not in Ann Arbor to play a Bach concert suit or to perform with the Silk Road Ensemble - he came to talk about culture, understanding and survival. READ THE FULL Michigan Daily ARTICLE

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma will be holding a day of action and plans to play a concert in the middle of the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge in Laredo next month, in celebration of how culture unites communities across the border, Mr. Ma is currently traveling the world as part of his Bach Project, where he plans to perform all six cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach in one sitting, in 36 cities. With each concert he is including a "day of action." A representative of the Laredo Philharmonic told Laredo City Council on Monday that Ma would only play in San Antonio if he could hold his day of action in Laredo. READ THE FULL Laredo Morning Times ARTICLE

Creating and performing music can seem far removed from efforts to promote social justice, but two prominent speakers urged an audience at Harvard Business School Wednesday to see them as intimately related pursuits. Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma '76 and Deborah Borda, president and CEO of the New York Philharmonic, in a conversation moderated by Harvard Business School Professors Rohit Deshpandé and Henry McGee, discussed the ways in which "citizen musicians" can help build a more just and free society as an extension of their work as artists. "What the New York Philharmonic is doing, and what I'm devoting the rest of my life to doing, is really thinking about social impact," Ma said and dismissed the idea of "art for art's sake." Borda spoke of the New York Philharmonic's efforts to engage with social issues, including gender equality. Recognizing that "all the music we play was written by men," the organization is launching an initiative next year - the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote - to have 19 women write major world premieres for the orchestra. "We are thinking about how we can partner in other ways to broaden this conversation … because our world has been changed now by #MeToo," she said. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Harvard Crimson ARTICLE

Grammy Award-winning cellist and activist Yo-Yo Ma is planning a Day of Action in Flint on Feb. 28 - hosting a local exhibit of the arts, meeting with residents and hosting a conversation with community leaders. The event - called "Flint Voices: Culture, Community, and Resilience" - includes more than 30 Flint-based organizations and partners exploring the power of culture to create lasting change in a community. Ma will participate alongside community partners, local artists, and activists to discuss how to build a connected, thriving community. A free, public celebration is being hosted by Ma from 4-6 p.m. at Berston Field House, featuring performances and presentations that show off Flint's cultural attributes, diversity, and story. Notable Flint artists, including musician Tunde Olaniran, artist Natasha Thomas-Jackson, and Kevin Collins' African Drum and Dance, are among the participants. "Culture matters because it helps us connect and understand one another," Ma said, "And it's only through connection and understanding that we can create strong, inclusive, and resilient communities and build a better future. I have watched with the nation as Flint has done just that." The visit is part of Ma's Bach Project, launched in 2018. The Bach project uses Johann Sebastian Bach's 300-year musical legacy as an example of how culture spans generations and connects people of all backgrounds. His Days of Action are public events and creative experiences that aim to mobilize communities to build new relationships and create change using culture as the impetus.  READ THE FULL Flint Side ARTICLE

Mumbai's Marine Drive, a blissful sunset, soothing sea waves, and a delightful company account for a perfect evening. To add to the bliss, soulful music matching up with the rhythm of the waves sounds to be beyond perfect! Accordingly, to treat Mumbaikar with some melodious treat, Grammy-winning cellist, Yo-Yo Ma performed an impromptu gig for them at the Marine Drive, recently. The renowned Chinese-American cellist sat down on the promenade with his cello and played Bach's Cello Suite No 1, reported Mumbai Mirror. Some passers-by could not even recognize the famous cellist. They, however, took out their phones to record the cellist playing, melodious tunes on his cello. Several videos of the 63-year-old cellist playing euphonious tunes on his cello went viral within no time. People were bowled over with his talent and tunes. The cellist is in the city as a part of The Bach Project, performed at the National Center for Performing Arts in Mumbai. What a delight it was for the Mumbaikars! Were you among the lucky ones who got to witness his epic performance at the Marine Drive? WATCH THE Storypick VIDEO p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}

Yo-Yo Ma brings his phenomenal global project featuring the composer's cello suites to India along with spoken word, music recitals and theatre. The celebrated international cellist, is in Mumbai this week for yet another stop over of The Bach Project, a concert series in which he performs Johann Sebastian Bach's unaccompanied cello suites in a single sitting, in what will ultimately be 36 locations around the world. It is a journey that began, rather auspiciously in August last year, at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, Colorado, where nearly 9,000 people gathered to share the musical experience. The solos seemed to coalesce into a stunning musical narrative (performed as a marathon, without intermission) and Ma has spoken of how the concert reflects a shared humanity and the communion between nature and humankind. READ The Hindu ARTICLE

When he was all of four, renowned Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma discovered the classical music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The German composer has remained a constant inspiration in his career spanning nearly six decades, over 100 albums, and 19 Grammy award wins (he's also performed for eight US Presidents). Next week, Ma, 63, comes to India for the first time, to share the power of Bach's music. "It has been a friend to me; it has offered solace in difficult times, joy in moments of celebration, guidance in the face of confusion," the artiste writes ahead of his performance at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) Nariman Point, on January 21. He will perform the Bach's six suites for solo cello in a single sitting, at a concert in Mumbai. READ THE FULL hindustantimes ARTICLE

In Yo-Yo Ma's new video, the cellist is seen on top of a city building playing the Prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1, coupled with the message: "Culture – the way we express ourselves and understand each other – can bind us together as one world." Then a dramatic cityscape, to a ballet studio, an ice rink, and from a potter's studio to a tailor's workshop, the video answers the question "Show the world how you express yourself and what brings your community together." Ma's two-year-long project has him perform Bach's music in 36 locations around the world and partner with community organisations for 'Days of Action'. READ / WATCH CLASSIC fM

Released yesterday, Yo-Yo Ma's new music video featuring a performance of Bach's "Prélude" from Cello Suite No. 1 merges Ma's performance with footage contributed by fans across the world. The video clips where responses to the prompt, "Show the world how you express yourself and what brings your community together." The video included a clip from Canadia Daniel Mosionier. Besides being stunningly beautiful, the video also marks the start of the next chapter in Ma's Bach Project, which brings his performance of Bach's suites for solo cello to 36 places around the world. As part of the Bach Project, Ma surprised onlookers in Montreal this past December with a free concert at Place des Arts métro station. WATCH VIDEO VIA ludwigvanTORONTO  

World-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma gave Montrealers a special treat on Saturday afternoon December 8 at Place des Arts Metro station. The 63-year-old cellist's concert is part of what his website calls a "day of action" that will explore the topic of culture and its role in humanizing technology. During the performance, Ma spoke to the crowd in French and performed a cello cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, inviting the crowd to sing along. "I'm sure you all know this song that, for me, it signifies Montreal," said Ma. STM Chairman Philippe Schnobb told CBC after the concert that he and his team jumped at the chance to bring the world renowned cellist to the underground audience. "We want to have that kind of spontaneous event in the Metro, bringing people together to hear music," he said. Schnobb said he picked Ma up from his hotel and the two took the Metro together. Ma said he remembered visiting Montreal as a child, coming to Expo 67 with his father. SEE THE CBC PAGE

The cellist is in the middle of a sprawling tour called the Bach Project, which involves performances of Bach's six solo-cello suites in thirty-six places, on six continents. Most of Ma's concerts are slated for large spaces capable of accommodating thousands. Each is accompanied by a Day of Action, in which Ma meets with local artists, community leaders, students, and activists, exploring how culture can contribute to social progress. In Washington, the venue was the National Cathedral. The Day of Action took place in Anacostia, the historic African-American neighborhood in southeast D.C. READ THE FULL New Yorker ARTICLE

With the subway rumbling underneath and a cold wind penetrating from the outside, Place des Arts métro station on a Saturday afternoon was not quite the black-tie venue and ideal acoustic theatre Yo-Yo Ma was used to. His free concert in the métro was part of his "Bach project," to play Johann Sebastian Bach's six suites for solo cello in 36 places on six continents. But when the renowned musician made his way through the crowd with his $2.5-million cello on his back, the station was immediately transformed into a concert hall, and its patrons into patrons of the arts - if only for a brief time.  "This is fantastic - in the métro, for everyone," Ma said, greeting the crowd in French. "And now I want to play something for you and we'll see what happens." Corralled behind police tape to allow other métro users to bypass the concert, hundreds of fans immediately fell silent as the Chinese-American virtuoso began to play the Bach suites for solo cello, for which he has become famous the world over. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} span.Apple-tab-span {white-space:pre} READ THE FULL Montreal Gazette ARTICLE

As part of his "Bach Project," internationally renowned cellist;  Yo-Yo Ma returns a greeting from Turner Elementary School students by stretching out on the steps at Anacostia High School during a special visit on Nov. 30. Ma spent the day performing live at WeAct Radio, co-hosting an assembly at Anacostia High School and participating in an artist talk at The Anacostia Arts Center - all in conjunction with the Kennedy Center's Arts Across America project. The Bach Project aims to have Ma perform the famed composer's six cello suites in locations around the world, tied to community action events. The daylong series of activities throughout D.C. also featured singer, bassist and composer Esperanza Spalding, who joined Yo-Yo Ma and an entourage of Kennedy Center staffers at the various locations. D.C. was fifth stop so far for the project, which began in August in Denver. Prior to Ma's performance at WeAct Radio, station founder Kymone Freeman asked the cellist what brought him to the Anacostia neighborhood. "What brings me here today is what I hear about Anacostia," Ma said. "I don't know about Anacostia being poor or rich. I feel that there is an energy in this community and voices that need to be heard, that are beautiful voices, energetic voices, [and] talented voices. What's amazing is everywhere I go I find people working in culture, in music, in spirituality, in the dramatic arts, and painting and words. For what purpose? To actually strengthen their communities."    PHOTO: (Shevry Lassiter/The Washington Informer)  p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Washington Informer ARTICLE

So when you buy Yo-Yo Ma's new release of the Cello Suites from Sony Classical (which you must), it shouldn't be used as background music. It is your opportunity to get involved by participating with your senses, not just your ears. While the 36-year-old Weilerstein did a remarkable job yesterday (the memorization of two and one half hours of music alone boggles the mind), Yo-Yo Ma's new rendition is less practical and more emotional and precise, more worldly and magical, more solid and wise. This isn't to dish Weilerstein, as her interpretation was truly valid and improved as the night wore on, but this - Ma's third go-around recording the Suites - is also, shall we say, more mature and insightful than his own previous releases. Very little is spelled out by Bach as far as tempo and mood, so there is great room for interpretation. READ THE FULL STAGEANDCINEMA REVIEW p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060}

French officials say famed musician Yo-Yo Ma will perform at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in a World War I anniversary event. The war ended 100 years ago on November 11, 1918. More than 16 million people were killed, 9 million of them soldiers. The fighting lasted almost four years, four months. At the time of the fighting, World War I was often spoken of as "the war to end all wars." Now, it is often called "The Great War." Joseph Zimet is director of France's First World War Centenary Mission. He says Ma will lead a field of "great international artists" during the November 11 ceremony close to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. READ THE FULL Voice of America ARTICLE

Yo-Yo Ma leans in to the first of Bach's six suites for solo cello, alone on a vast, otherwise empty stage. It's a muggy September evening at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California, a 10,000-seat outdoor amphitheater carved into the middle of a busy, urban college campus, normally host to touring rock bands. It's sold out, of course-Yo-Yo Ma, the living embodiment of quality in classical music, will sell out any venue he plays. Throughout the performance, which lasts 2½ hours without an intermission, people stomp up and down the aisles spilling their cups of beer, spectators gripe about the hard stone seats, kids fuss and shriek, airplanes roar overhead, and cars honk on the nearby road. Cellphones, banned in the program that nobody bothers to look at, beep out text alerts. It is, in other words, not the quietest venue. A few bars into the prelude of the first suite, I notice that Ma is bowing the notes staccato, one note at a time, whereas my demanding childhood cello teacher insisted they should be bowed legato, slurred together in a long, sliding stroke. When I developed arthritis in my bowing hand my cello career ended, but my husband, seated next to me, is a professional musician and composer. So I lean over and say, in a very quiet whisper, "That bowing … " Before the third word is out, the woman in front of me whips her head around, glares, and shushes me. The gesture is more disruptive than anything I'd done, but she does it again when someone accidentally kicks a plastic bottle. She does it again when someone coughs. She does it again when a kid yawns loudly. By this point, I've lost any ability to focus on the music because I'm so distracted by her trying to get 10,000 people to shut up.  Photo illustration by Slate. READ THE FULL SLATE ARTICLE

Yo-Yo Ma began learning Bach's famous cello suites when he was 4. Now in his 60s, Ma has released his third recording of the pieces. Critic Lloyd Schwartz says this latest iteration may be his favorite. This is FRESH AIR. For most cellists, the holy grail of the cello repertoire is the set of six suites Bach composed for solo cello. The most beloved cellist of our time, Yo-Yo Ma, has just released his third recording of these pieces as he begins a 36-city world tour of marathon concerts in which he plays all six suites. Our classical music critic, Lloyd Schwartz, says that while each of Yo-Yo Ma's Bach recordings is worthy, Lloyd's favorite version may very well be this latest.  p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} LISTEN TO Lloyd Schwartz review for npr - Fresh Air

Yo-Yo Ma is one of the greatest cellists of all time. His relationship with the music of Bach is widely known, but he paid tribute to another artist during his set: Pablo Casals. The Spanish cellist discovered the Bach suites in a music store in 1890 and brought them to modern attention. Yo-Yo covered Pablo's "Song of the Birds" during his live set and it was something special. Enjoy the performance. Six Evolutions – Bach: Cello Suites, recently released on Sony Classical marks Ma's third and final recording of the works and celebrates his nearly six-decade-long relationship with the music.   WATCH THE KCRW: Los Angeles / npr: favorite sessions SEGMENT p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

What can violinists do that violists cannot? Play the viola! That cruel joke, told to me by a violinist recently, had me pondering why there are so few jokes like that about cellists. Indeed, cellists, pound for pound, are over-represented among the great humanitarians, from Pablo Casals​ to Mstislav Rostropovich and the superb American cellist Yo-Yo Ma. And few works are more humanitarian – or, if one is so inclined, divine – than the six suites Bach wrote for unaccompanied cello. Ma, 63 on October 7, learned them at four, and has been playing them for nearly six decades. This is his third recording (his first won a Grammy) and, he says, his last, on two albums titled Six Evolutions. They are well-named, for his interpretation has indeed developed over the decades, and is now much freer in rhythm, rubato and tone-colour, but with no loss in intimacy or highly individual texture. Ma explores the near-infinite variety and subtlety of these wondrous suites with impeccable command and delicate imagination. Purists may object to his interpretive freedom – an account built on three centuries of musical evolution as well as his own developing understanding. BARNEY ZWARTZ​ SEE ALL Sydney Morning Herald REVIEWS p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060}

In a welcome pause after a dreadful week of national fracture, strategic distraction, and traumatic amnesia, Yo-Yo Ma brought his exceptional gift of integrity, focus, and memory in a marathon performance of the six Bach suites for solo cello. At the University of California's Hearst Greek Theatre, before a sold-out audience of thousands, the 63-year-old Ma played for two-and-a-half hours straight, breaking only to acknowledge the crowd's enthusiasm between suites with a rapturous smile and arms outstretched, seemingly half in pride and half in gratitude. READ THE FULL San Francisco Classical Voice REVIEW p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060}

Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma is performing in Berkeley on Sunday. But before taking the stage at the Greek Theater, he took to the streets, playing at an Oakland block party on Saturday. The artist is performing Johann Sebastian Bach's six suites for solo cello in one sitting, in 36 locations around the world. The day before each concert, he's collaborating with a local group to put on community pre-shows, like Saturday's show in downtown Oakland, where he jammed with a group of high school-aged siblings, known as JAX. Ma said the community shows are all about reinforcing connections, imagination and humanity. "We do live in a more and more fractured world," Ma said. "I want to make sure that all the things we invented in culture - including sciences, music, languages - is there to serve us." READ THE FULL KQED ARTICLE & LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT

For Yo-Yo Ma, music has always been at the center of his life, with a musical family and heading toward a high profile career from an early age, as he puts it, he "couldn't escape it." But while others might have been wearing out albums of music by the Beatles, he was listening over and over again to a particular LP of music by Schubert. Love is always hard when it first hits you – especially at 12. "Music becomes a big thing for adolescents, and pre-teens," he says. "Somehow, as you develop a separate identity as you grow up, as your hormones are raging, I fell in love with the Schubert E-flat trio when I was about 12. That was probably one of the first pieces of music that I listened incessantly. For a whole year I wore out the grooves of an old LP with Alexander Schneider from the Budapest Quartet, and Pablo Casals on the cello, and Mieczyslaw Horszowski as pianist. And I loved this piece, and I continue to love this piece." Decades later, the repeated listenings still left their mark when revisiting the piece. "I just played it this summer, after not playing it for many years, with Emanuel Ax, and our mutual good friend Pamela Frank, who is a wonderful violinist. And what was amazing about it is that Pam knew Sasha Schneider and knew that whole crowd. And playing with her, even though we've never played it together, it felt totally connected with tiny little inflections, timing things, that completely reminded me of that recording.  It was the kind of music making from a different… from a pre-World War 2 era. Because everything changed after World War 2. There was a different way of making music, and Pam was doing some of that, and I think some of that transferred from the Alexander Schneider/Casals/Horszowski days to a much younger musician, and she's a carrier of that culture." p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} LISTEN TO THE KDFC: San Francisco SEGMENT

Yo-Yo Ma is widely regarded as one of the greatest cellists of all time and joins KCRW: Los Angeles - Morning Becomes Eclectic for a solo live performance at 10am to play the music of Bach. Ma who has recently released Six Evolutions – Bach: Cello Suites on Sony Classical marks his third and final recording of the works and celebrates his nearly six-decade-long relationship with the music. As Ma's "constant musical companions" for almost 60 years, Bach's Cello Suites first entered the cellist's life at the age of four, when he learned the first measure of the Prélude to Suite No. 1 under his father's instruction.  His Grammy Award-winning first complete recording of the suites was made in his late twenties. His second, Inspired by Bach, was released in his early forties and recorded alongside a multi-genre, collaborative exploration of the works. Both previous recordings of the Cello Suites, also on Sony Classical, became landmarks in classical discography, as well as milestones in Ma's musical life.  Since then these works have been a through line in his life, guiding him through times of happiness as well as hardship, prompting Ma to ask, "What power does this music possess that even today, after three hundred years, it continues to help us navigate through troubled times'" LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060}

Ever since Leonard Bernstein introduced him to televeision audiences as a 7-year-old prodigy, cellist Yo-Yo Ma has captured the public's imagination over a 50-plus year career. From concert stage appearances, to Sesame Street, to American Presidential inaugurations, Yo-Yo Ma is a shining presence everywhere. Our WRTI: Philadelphia album of the week showcases why. The Essential Yo-Yo Ma, a double-CD set compiled and released in 2005 by Sony Classical, highlights some of the widely disparate musical explorations that Yo-Yo Ma has brought to the world.   Ma's cello playing sings and dances in the haunting sound world of American Appalachian music, with fiddler and mandolinist Mark O'Connor, and bass-player Edgar Meyer. Vocalist Allison Krauss's pure soprano is complemented by Ma's spare, lyrical style in Meyer's arrangement of the Shaker tune "Simple Gifts." Ma's performances with the Silk Road Ensemble brings us the intersection of East and West: a popular Italian Renaissance song, which would have traveled East along the Silk Road, and traditional Chinese and Indian music, which would have travelled West, bring us an understanding of how cultures sonically collide. Ma's musical message of global ambassadorship, in playing that is soulful yet never heavy-handed, is beautifully displayed in our Album of the Week. It reminds us why Yo-Yo Ma will always remain essential. 

Yo-Yo Ma's new album "Six Evolutions" is his third and final recording of Bach's Cello Suites. These works entered Ma's life when he was four, when he learned the first measure of the Prelude to Suite No. 1 under his father's instruction. Ma has never lost his initial fascination. "Bach's Cello Suites have been my constant musical companions," Ma writes of the music. "For almost six decades, they have given me sustenance, comfort and joy during times of stress, celebration and loss." The release of "Six Evolutions" also signals the beginning of a two-year, six-continent journey in which Ma will devote himself to Bach's music, playing all six suites in a single setting in familiar and unlikely locations. Yo-Yo Ma - Six Evolutions: Bach Cello Suites is WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060}

The six Bach Suites are mainstays of the literature for unaccompanied cello. Yo-Yo Ma recorded them as a young aspiring artist in his twenties, again in his forties, and now -- for what he says is the final time -- as a mature interpreter who is arguably the pre-emminent cellist of our time. We'll listen to what Ma has to say about Bach, and then we'll take a look at some of the other projects that he has delved into of late -- projects that have not been without controversy. Mozart's Attic is a classical music program featuring music from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. Some of it is not frequently heard on air; other pieces are concert favorites from the symphonic repertoire, sometimes in rare or historic performances. There's plenty of vinyl, and sometimes even a bit of shellac. SEE 89.5WFIT: Melbourne FL - Mozart's Attic playlist PAGE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Now at age 62, cellist Yo-Yo Ma says that he is reassessing all that he knows, including Bach's six suites for solo cello. He just made his third and final recording of them – and it's WCRB: Boston - CD of the Week. Many musicians have re-recorded their most deeply loved music at different times in their lives. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is no exception to that, and he has turned to Bach's cello suites for a third and last time. Last December, he called upon all that his life has revealed to him, and in an empty and perfect musical space – Mechanics Hall in Worcester – he let them unfold in the way that he understands them now. This time, something indescribable has entered his playing. He's found an even more natural and poignant way of launching the phrases, still with restraint that brings certain endings to an almost painfully beautiful and intimate hush. He has been playing the first suite since his father taught it to him, measure by measure, when he was just four, and even then he felt a deep pleasure in its energy and its silences. Now, at 62, he seems to see the music's larger meaning, and he lets it take flight as though he is letting go in some way – touched by its wisdom and in love with the comfort it brings.    Watch video of Yo-Yo talking about with conductor Michael Stern

While performing Bach's Prelude from Suite No. 1 for NPR's Tiny Desk concert series, cellist Yo-Yo Ma offered some advice for building habits and becoming more skilled that apply well beyond the realm of music. "Believe it or not this was the very first piece of music I started on the cello at four years old," he says, noting that he learned to play, as anyone learns anything, "one measure at a time. All of you do homework, have done homework, some days it's easier than others, it's actually not painful to learn something, if you do it incrementally." Ma elaborated on how to master certain skills in a 2013 interview with the New York Times: Mastering music is more than learning technical skills. Practicing is about quality, not quantity. Some days I practice for hours; other days it will be just a few minutes. Practicing is not only playing your instrument, either by yourself or rehearsing with others - it also includes imagining yourself practicing. Your brain forms the same neural connections and muscle memory whether you are imagining the task or actually doing it. It's a nice reminder to take small steps forward when building a habit or learning a new skill. You might not become "one of the most brilliant cellists of modern times," as NPR describes Ma, but learning incrementally will allow you to grow exponentially. SEE lifehacker PAGE AND WATCH VIDEO

Although Sheku Kanneh-Mason is back on top with Inspiration, the new Bach Cello Suites album by Yo-Yo Ma has shot to the top of the charts at no.2 this week. Other new releases making it into the chart are the Star Trek: Discovery album by Jeff Russo at no.7 and Khatia Buniatishvili's new release Motherland. Holding the most positions in the chart this week is Ludovico Einaudi with six albums in the top 30, while Max Richter also makes an impression with The Blue Notebooks album, moving up from no.12 to no.6. Film scores are again popular in the chart, holding ten places in the top 30. Yo-Yo Ma's Six Evolutions – Bach: Cello Suites on Sony Classical marks the cellist's third and final recording of these works and celebrates Ma's nearly six-decade-long relationship with the music. In addition to digital, there's a standard CD and a 3-LP 180-gram vinyl set available. SEE THE CLASSIC fM CHART

Yo-Yo Ma's new album is entitled Six Evolutions: Bach Cello Suites. It is his third and, he says, final recording of these works. "Bach's Cello Suites have been my constant musical companions," Ma writes. "For almost six decades, they have given me sustenance, comfort, and joy during times of stress, celebration, and loss." We'll be featuring excerpts from the 6 Cello Suites all this week on KDFC. For the week of Week of August 27th, Yo-Yo Ma - Six Evolutions: Bach Cello Suites is the KDFC: San Francisco 'Album Of the Week.       p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Yo-Yo Ma's new album is entitled Six Evolutions: Bach Cello Suites. It is his third and, he says, final recording of these works. "Bach's Cello Suites have been my constant musical companions," Ma writes. "For almost six decades, they have given me sustenance, comfort, and joy during times of stress, celebration, and loss." We'll be featuring excerpts from the 6 Cello Suites all this week on KDFC. For the week of Week of August 27th, Yo-Yo Ma - Six Evolutions: Bach Cello Suites is the KUSC: Los Angeles 'Album Of the Week.

Celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma is on a crusade to prove that expressing culture is the key to fixing political divisions.The 62-year-old musician believes culture is inseparable from politics, his newest album, Six Evolutions–Bach: Cello Suites, has taken a political tenor. Ma is traveling to 36 cities in six continents and using Johann Sebastian Bach's 18th century masterpiece, he says, as "a force for good." His world tour-hashtag #CultureinAction-is a call to action during a time "when the ties that bind us politically, economically, and socially are fraying," as he put it during a lecture at MIT last April. After each concert, Ma will conduct a "day of action," inviting people in the area to showcase their cultures through food, music, art, science, and conversations. READ interview with Quartz, as Ma elaborates on why culture is such a vital force today p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

New releases: Yo-Yo Ma - Evolution, Daniel Barenboim - Brahms Symphonies 22 August 2018, 12:21   Yo-Yo Ma - Evolution, Daniel Barenboim - Brahms Symphonies Picture: Sony Classical / Deutsche Grammophon By Daniel Ross   Throughout the week Classic FM's presenters bring you the best new recordings, including world exclusives and premiere broadcasts of latest releases.   John Suchet's Album of the Week Picture: Classic FM John Suchet plays a track from his featured Album of the Week at 10.15am every weekday. You can buy your own copy from the Classic FM store here.     ADVERTISING   inRead invented by Teads Yo-Yo Ma - Six Evolutions Sony Classical   Yo-Yo Ma - Six Evolutions Picture: Deutsche Grammophon One of the cello's greatest ever advocates, Yo-Yo Ma has had a long and detailed musical relationship with Bach. So it makes perfect sense that this relationship should evolve over time, as the title of this new collection suggests. Indeed, those familiar with Ma's relationship with the Bach's cello suites in particular will find such a wealth of interest here - indispensable for devotees to performer and composer alike.   John Brunning's Drive Discovery Picture: Classic FM Daniel Barenboim - Brahms Symphonies Deutsche Grammophon   Daniel Barenboim - Brahms Symphonies Picture: Deutsche Grammophon Another returning legend tackling repertoire that defined an entire career: this time, the great conductor, pianist and educator Daniel Barenboim. Comparing his earlier recordings of these same notorious symphonies, it's clear to see Barenboim's maturation as a musical force. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

As part of the campaign for his new album, "Six Evolutions – Bach: Cello Suites," Yo-Yo Ma has created an experience for Amazon Alexa to engage a new audience of listeners with classical music.  In 36 short episodes, Ma will take listeners on a journey through the music of J.S. Bach, sharing snippets from "Six Evolutions" and stories from a lifetime of playing Bach's cello suites. According to the announcement, the conversation will be available as an Alexa Skill and on Sony Classical's Today in Classical Flash Briefing on Amazon Alexa-enabled devices.  p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} span.Apple-tab-span {white-space:pre} READ THE FULL Variety ARTICLE

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma brought his great inspiration, and in turn part of his own life story, to an enthusiastic audience packed around the Tiny Desk on a hot summer day. Ma is returning, yet again, to the Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach, a Mount Everest for any cellist. He has just released Six Evolutions - Bach: Cello Suites, his third studio recording of the complete set and is taking the music on a two-year, six-continent tour. Ma's first recording of the Suites, released in 1983, earned him his first Grammy. SET LIST J.S. Bach: "Prelude (from Suite No. 1 for Solo Cello)" J.S. Bach: "Sarabande (from Suite No. 6 for Solo Cello)" J.S. Bach: "Gigue (from Suite No. 3 for Solo Cello)" Photo: Samantha Clark/NPR. READ AND LISTEN

Yo-Yo Ma, world-renowned classical cellist and 19-time Grammy award winner, graced the Amphitheater stage inside the Chautauqua Institution on Friday. For this evening's concert, which marks the culmination of Silkroad's week at Chautauqua, the Ensemble joined Mr. Ma for his third visit, which also featured the cellist solo. Ma also discussed the importance of culture and warned the audience that civilization was at a crucial moment in time. He spoke about the rise and fall of civilizations, and pondered if the current culture's momentum. Ma didn't have a definitive answer but maintained that culture has an enormous role in figuring it out.    Photo by Jordan W. Patterson  READ THE FULL Observer ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060}

Yo-Yo Ma, internationally renowned cellist, will join members of the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra and the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra for a free concert at the Warren Community Amphitheatre Aug. 13. The 19 time Grammy Award winner, begins a new journey, setting out to perform Johann Sebastian Bach's six suites for solo cello in one sitting in 36 locations around the world. Each concert is an example of culture's power to create moments of shared understanding, as well as an invitation to a larger conversation about culture, society, and the themes that connect us all. The concert will be followed by a panel discussion, "How Can the Arts - and All of Culture - Serve Our Community?" moderated by Deborah F. Rutter, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Panelists will include William Mullane, an educator who is on the board of directors for the Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County, the Rev. Lewis Macklin II, pastor of Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church, and Barb Ewing, CEO of the Youngstown Business Incubator. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} SEE The Business Journal PAGE

On Thursday, August 2, the day after world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma made his Red Rocks debut, he teamed up with a slew of organizations and people across Denver-area neighborhoods to talk about community. While most other musicians come to a city, play and leave, Ma has used his 36-city, two-year tour as a chance to use his star power to help community organizations working to improve their neighborhoods. His day started with a performance at Civic Center Park, with student musicians from Hamilton Middle School and Isaac Slade of the Fray. Governor John Hickenlooper then welcomed Ma and an audience of about 100 people with a speech. After delivering a vivacious solo performance at Civic Center Park, Ma drove across town to the heart of Aurora's Cultural Arts District to briefly attend a series of open conversations about refugees living in Aurora. With a grin on his face, he then journeyed to Westwood to visit Re:Vision, a nonprofit using art and gardening to build economic power in the largely Latino neighborhood, where residents are concerned about the effects of impending gentrification. Then he headed to RedLine, the nonprofit contemporary art center in Five Points. Throughout the day, Ma offered many words of wisdom about transforming art into action. Among them, he said, "Empathy is something that can be taught. It's also a gift. As well as imagination, it's one of the hardest things to do since we're dealing with an artistic environment - to take an idea of something and to actually physicalize it."   PHOTO: Tristan Niskanen p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL WESTWORD ARTICLE

On Wednesday, August 1 world-renowned cellist, Yo-Yo Ma will bring J.S. Bach's unaccompanied solo cello suites to life at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Ma believes that during this time of great change and divisiveness, Bach's suite has the ability to bring people of all generations and backgrounds together through the beauty of song. In addition to bringing people together through song, Ma is collaborating on more local events tomorrow, Thursday, August 2 to bring people together through dialogue and speaker panels as well. Following his Red Rocks Performance, Ma will join some of Denver's many organizations to talk about some of the challenges that face the region. The topics will include refugee integration, food security, homelessness, urban growth and displacement throughout the day. His stop in Denver marks the start of a two-year social impact initiative for the musician and activist in conjunction with his tour. Events begin at 9 a.m. at Civic Center Park with performances and remarks from some notable faces from around Denver. Featured at the kick-off will be Governor Hickenlooper, Yo-Yo Ma, Take Note Colorado with Isaac Slade from The Fray, Cleo Parker Robinson and the University of Colorado horn Quartet.   p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL 303 Magazine ARTICLE

Yo-Yo Ma's accomplishments as a musician and a cultural figure could fill a book. Born in 1955, the superstar cellist turned heads while he was still a child for his brilliant, lyrical playing. His talent would make him an icon. He introduced new audiences to classical through countless TV appearances. He served as a peace ambassador for the United Nations.  And he thrilled listeners across many genres with his remarkable musicianship. "Music, ultimately, is one of the great ways that we as humans have for coding internal life," Ma said in 2015. "It's glue that joins people together." That spirit of connection led him through a legendary career. Ma is about to kick off a two-year tour with a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre that will air live on Colorado PR - Wednesday August 1. SEE FULL CPR PAGE

Leonard Bernstein was there at the beginning of Yo-Yo Ma's career. And in a special way, Yo-Yo Ma was there at the end of Bernstein's life. Classical 101's Jennifer Hambrick shares the story. In 1962, Bernstein emceed a benefit for what's now the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The benefit featured a gala concert that included Danny Kaye conducting the National Symphony Orchestra and performances by pianist Van Cliburn, contralto Marian Anderson and singer Harry Belafonte. At that concert, Bernstein introduced to President and First Lady Kennedy, to the Washington, D.C., audience, and to TV viewers across the U.S. two young musicians recently immigrated from France - 11-year-old pianist Yeou-cheng Ma and her brother, 7-year-old cellist Yo-Yo Ma. In December 1965, when Ma was 10 years old, he wrote Bernstein: "Dear Mr. Bernstein, Do you still remember me? Now I am ten years old." Ma explained that he learned three new concertos that year, under the tutelage of Leonard Rose. "If you have time," Ma continued, "I would be glad to play for you." In 1989, after becoming an international cello sensation, Ma wrote Bernstein to express his excitement about a piano trio that Bernstein had agreed to compose for him, violinist Isaac Stern and pianist Emanuel Ax. Ma goes on to say, "I would just like to add that those of us who have the privilege of coming in contact with you do feel truly blessed." Less than a year later, in October 1990, Bernstein died. But Ma was with Bernstein until the very end. An Oct. 16, 1990 New York Times story reported that two hours before Bernstein died, composer Bright Sheng paid him a visit. "When I walked in," Sheng told the New York Times, "he was watching a Yo-Yo Ma simulcast." LISTEN TO THE Classical101: WOSU - Columbus OH SEGMENT

The pews of St. Sabina Church were overflowing Sunday for the second "Concert for Peace," a joint effort between the Rev. Michael Pfleger and internationally renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma that brings healing to a struggling neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. Since 2010, Ma has served as the Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Nagaunee Music Institute, a role which fosters education and outreach opportunities for young musicians, in order to make classical music accessible for Chicagoans all over the city. During that time, Ma learned about the work of Pfleger, a South Side pastor who has fought against the poverty, drugs and gun violence which have beleaguered the South and West sides for decades. Pfleger, an outspoken community leader and social activist who promotes peace and social equality, joined St. Sabina's as lead pastor in 1981. He was personally affected by gun violence in the neighborhood when his foster son, Jarvis Franklin, was killed by stray gunfire in 1998.    PHOTO: (Courtney Pedroza / Chicago Tribune) p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Chicago Tribune ARTICLE

Yo-Yo Ma is in Pittsburgh this weekend to perform with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. While in town, Mr. Ma, Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter, Braddock PA Mayor John Fetterman, and other community representatives will celebrate, converse and connect around the power of the arts in Braddock, Pennslyvania. Mr. Ma's visit includes a walking tour of Braddock art installations and spaces in the morning followed by a cultural conversation in the afternoon. This event is part of the Arts Across America campaign, a John F. Kennedy Center initiative that explores everyday cities and towns that use the arts to promote community, the economy and cultural citizenship. The event takes place in the Greater Valley Community Services Rec Room in Braddock PA. SEE THE Pittsburgh Post-Gazette PAGE

Internationally known cellist Yo-Yo Ma will visit Braddock next month as part of a Kennedy Center for the Arts program highlighting artistic communities across the country. The "Arts Across America" program highlights everyday cities and towns that use the arts to promote connections and their creative economies, said Kennedy Center spokeswoman Brittany Laeger. It will come to Braddock June 8. "The events are tailored to each community, and local leaders partner with Kennedy Center staff to design a day of activities aligned to the community's cultural landscape and goals," she said. A schedule has not yet been set for the Braddock visit, but will include visits to local arts programs, performances, a community conversation and community-based art activities, she said. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} SEE THE TribLive PAGE

Yo-Yo Ma has become God. Here is how I came to that (admittedly outrageous) conclusion. Last night, we had the pleasure of experiencing Yo-Yo Ma in concert at the Arsht Center in Miami, with the Silk Road ensemble. The music was captivating - an almost dizzying celebration of musical diversity, incorporating many different musical styles from the cultures of the fabled Silk Road, that stretches from the Middle East into Asia. Here was the amazing thing. Yo-Yo Ma said one paragraph as an introduction to the concert. And then, he sat back, and he played the cello. That was it. He allowed the other musicians to play, speak, and teach. READ THE FULL Religion News Service ARTICLE

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} Peers gather at the Palmer House in Chicago for the League of American Orchestras 73rd National Conference, the only National Conference Dedicated to Orchestras and Their Partners. Hosted by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Riccardo Muti, Zell Music Director. Yo-Yo Ma, the CSO Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, will Receive the League's Gold Baton Award and Speak at the Closing Session.   America is brimming with extraordinary musicians and ensembles as unique as the communities they serve. Every year, almost 25 million people across the United States are touched by live orchestral performances. Against today's backdrop of continuous change, orchestras are challenged to ask anew, why they matter, what is their role, and what is their greater purpose? How can the orchestral experience-the artistry, the art form, and the artists-create the greatest impact in today's world?       Don't miss this video from our Conference host, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra: Photo credit: Todd Rosenberg p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Nearly 900 people gathered in Spaulding Auditorium last week to hear celebrated cellist and 16-time Grammy winner Yo-Yo Ma talk about "Culture, Understanding, and Survival." In residence this spring as a Montgomery Fellow, Ma began by thanking Theodore Levin, the Arthur R. Virgin Professor of Music, for helping him form the Silkroad Ensemble, a group of musicians from Central and East Asia and the West who create new music rooted in tradition. Ma's talk was followed the next day by a sold-out performance by the Silkroad ensemble at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. Silkroad members had spent part of the week visiting College classes. The program included the world premiere of a work by Jia Daqun, one of China's leading composers, commissioned by the Hopkins Center, which co-sponsored and produced Ma's Montgomery visit, residency, and performance. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Dartmouth News ARTICLE

One of the world's most admired musicians is about to play a unique concert at Colorado's most famous concert venue. Superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma will play Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Aug. 1. The cellist will perform Johann Sebastian Bach's six unaccompanied Cello Suites -- pieces Ma has returned to throughout his career -- according to the Colorado Symphony, which unveiled details about the concert Friday. The Red Rocks performance is part of a two-year tour that will see Ma play the suites at venues across six continents. With a seating capacity of about 9,500, Red Rocks is an unusually massive setting for a solo recital.  READ THE FULL Colorado Public Radio ARTICLE

World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma made a heartfelt call for ethical action to shape a better society - and played some Bach - while delivering MIT's annual Karl Taylor Compton Lecture before an engrossed campus audience on Monday. Every person, Ma said, has an obligation to "find a way, each, according to your strengths and capacities as citizens, to identify and start chipping away at society's greatest problems." At the same time, he added, we should ask ourselves a separate but related question: "What can we all do together that we can't do alone?" Let us choose the next step in our cultural evolution together," Ma said, eliciting a standing ovation from the MIT crowd. READ THE FULL ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is welcoming a musical master this coming Monday March 19. Celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma will visit the Cambridge campus to give a lecture dubbed "Yo-Yo Ma: Culture, Understanding and Survival." The musician will be sitting down with MIT President L. Rafael Reif and, among the topics he plans to cover, will discuss how music can be instrumental in cross-cultural understanding and social good. The event, which is part of the university's Karl Taylor Compton Lecture Series, will start at 4 p.m. at the Kresge Auditorium, and members of the MIT community are welcome to attend with registration. The Karl Taylor Compton Lecture Series was established in 1957 to honor the late Karl Taylor Compton, who served as president of MIT from 1930 to 1948 and as chair of the MIT Corporation from 1948 to 1954. The lecture series is intended to give the MIT community direct contact with the important ideas of our times and with people who have contributed much to modern thought. Born in Paris in 1955 Yo-Yo Ma studied at the Julliard School and later at Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1976. He is perhaps the most celebrated cellist of his generation. Aprolific performer and teacher, Mr. Ma has recorded more than 100 albums, given thousands of live performances and master classes, and served as artistic advisor or consultant to organizations such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Carnegie Hall. All members of the MIT community are invited to attend Compton lectures.   SEE THE FULL Boston Herald ARTICLE

World-renowned cellist and Harvard College alumnus Yo-Yo Ma will be visiting Harvard Medical School as an artist-in-residence April 9 and 10. Ma is the second of three artists-in-residence whose visit is being sponsored by Stanford University professor of ophthalmology Michael Marmor and radiation oncologist Jane Marmor, both HMS alumni. Ma's visit is part of a three-year pilot program by Arts and Humanities Initiative at HMS, an organization dedicated to incorporating the arts into the lives of HMS medical students. SEE THE FULL Harvard Medical School PAGE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Andrew Grams acknowledged what was obvious to many Wednesday morning: the 8:30 a.m. start time was perhaps too early for orchestra rehearsal. "It's early for me, I like to sleep in," the director of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra told the more than 60 Larkin High School orchestra students on the school stage with him, his cup of coffee only a few feet away. It was the first time Grams has conducted a clinic for high school orchestra students. He helped the students with pieces they are set to perform for an upcoming recital. Indeed, Grams changed up the pace for the two pieces. At one point, he asked the cellists to use more of their bows, to not limit themselves to only a fraction of it. "Give me your best Yo-Yo Ma impression," he joked, referring to the world-famous cellist. "You're a shrieking whale," he shouted at one point, eliciting some laughter. "I want them to go play, make sound, not worry if it's not perfect," Grams said. READ THE FULL Elgin Courier-News - CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Before there was the Disney Channel or Cartoon Network, most of America's children sat down in front of the television every day for sage advice from their friend and neighbor Mister Rogers. From 1968-2001 (with a small break) the quiet, kind host, Fred Rogers, talked and sang directly to children through his show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," telling his audience that he liked them "just the way you are." The filmmakers behind "Won't You Be My Neighbor" premiered the documentary last week as the Salt Lake City opening night film for the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Oscar-winning director Morgan Neville ("Twenty Feet From Stardom", "Music Of Strangers) got the idea for the film from an unlikely source, according to producer Caryn Capotosto. While working on a film with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Neville asked the musician how he handled the celebrity that has come with his talent. Ma answered that he learned how to navigate fame from Mister Rogers. Neville thought Ma might be joking, but the cellist explained that he and Rogers had become friends after his several appearances on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." Rogers, an ordained Presbyterian minister, advised Ma that fame was not necessarily a bad thing and mentored him on how it could be used for good in the world. "Won't You Be My Neighbor" will air on Friday, Jan. 26 at the Ray Theatre in Park City and Saturday, Jan. 27 at the Salt Lake City Public Library. READ THE FULL Deseret News ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Michael Keaton is narrating a 50th anniversary tribute to the late Fred Rogers and his beloved children's program, "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." "Mister Rogers: It's You I Like" will air March 6 on PBS and includes celebrity admirers sharing their memories of the show that debuted Feb. 19, 1968. PBS will also air classic episodes of the show from Feb. 26 to March 2, paired with episodes of the educational cartoon inspired by the original show, "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood."Judd Apatow, Whoopi Goldberg, Sarah Silverman, John Lithgow and Esperanza Spalding are among those discussing how the show inspired them. Yo Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman, who appeared on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," also are featured. Cast members Joe Negri (Handyman Negri) and David Newell (Mr. McFeely) share personal stories about Rogers, as does Joanne Rogers, his widow. WATCH THE VIDEO   p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Hello and welcome to Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast!  This podcast is for anyone who loves classical music, or is just getting ready to dive in for the very first time.  Take a look back at one of the classic episodes of Season 2!  In this full-length interview with Yo-Yo Ma, we talk about how civic engagement and the arts can change the world.  We also talk about his childhood, making decisions with the cello, and so much more.  Thanks so much for listening, and have a great New Year!   Thanks so much, and I hope you enjoy it!  LISTEN p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #263e0f} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #263e0f; min-height: 14.0px}

In addition to serving as Artistic Director of Silkroad, an organization he founded to promote cross-cultural performance and collaborations at the edge where education, business, and the arts come together to transform the world, Yo-Yo Ma also serves as the Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Negaunee Music Institute. His work focuses on the transformative power music can have in individuals' lives, and on increasing the number and variety of opportunities audiences have to experience music in their communities.  Watch Chopin Elementary orchestra director Arturs Weible talk about his program after a visit from cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Courtesy Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica}

The loveliest experience of my listening year took place on a balmy September night at the Hollywood Bowl. Yo-Yo Ma came to the great amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills to play the six solo cello suites of Bach. I had doubts about the enterprise going in. Could Ma's instrument be amplified effectively in such a wide open space? Could such intimate music speak to a crowd of thousands? People prize the Bowl for its casual conviviality. Patrons dine, drink, and, sometimes, chatter among themselves. A lighter repertory works best: Holst's "Planets" is a blast. Bach's itineraries of the world spirit are another matter. Ma applied his customary virtuosity and warmth. At times, he seemed to lose the narrative thread as he savored every twist and turn of Bach's endless melody. Several of the sarabandes slowed to a contemplative crawl. Thomas Demenga's new recording of the suites, for the ECM label (see below), has more straight-ahead song and dance in it. But you never doubted the sincerity of Ma's approach: he was following his natural musical rhythms, to the point that it felt less like a performance than like an interior monologue. Little was lost in the amplification: the cello sound remained full, nuanced, and unforced. Since the death of Luciano Pavarotti, Ma has been the most popularly celebrated of classical musicians. Very few other soloists could have sold out the Bowl. If Ma enticed thousands to the space, it was Bach who held them rapt, for nearly three hours. The enthusiasm of large crowds is always a bit unsettling: no matter how innocent the occasion, you can imagine the energy of the collective being channelled to less wholesome ends. The huge, serene company at the Bowl was another matter: it was under the spell of a solitary searcher in the dark. One of the only sounds I heard around me was someone quietly sobbing. SEE The New Yorker's Alex Ross - Notable performances and recordings of 2017 

Only hours before his sold-out performance in Calgary Thursday, world famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma made time to meet with dozens of students at Keeler Elementary School in the heart of Forest Lawn. As part of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra's PhilKids program, designed to promote music education in under-served communities, students in grades 1 to 5 treated Ma to an inspiring rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb at the private event in the school's music room. "It's always wonderful to walk into a room where you see children are engaged and curious," said Ma, a child prodigy who began performing at the age of 4½. "I can see the long-term effects of what the teachers, staff, and musicians have created. They have created a space for these students where their imagination and curiosity for the world is supported and encouraged." READ THE FULL Calgary Herald ARTICLE & WATCH THE VIDEO p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px}

If Tanglewood had two Ozawa Halls with adjoining lawns, it would probably have filled both sets of facilities with the massive crowd that showed up for its Schubert concert Thursday night, spilling over into parking spaces seldom if ever used before for an Ozawa Hall concert. Schubert? Did somebody mention Schubert? The main attraction, of course, wasn't the composer. Think Yo-Yo Ma. Then think Yo-Yo Ma again. He played in the two principal pieces, and two more unlike performances would be hard to imagine. He also ignited a wild ovation merely by his first entrance, and an ever wilder one at the concert's end. With Emanuel Ax, his frequent partner and the organizer of the "Schubert's Summer Journey" series, at the piano, Ma first toyed with the "Arpeggione" Sonata (so named for the obsolete stringed instrument for which it was originally written). The cellist darted this way and that, teased melodies and stretched tempos and rhythms like rubber bands, never settling down in any unified conception. A great show, but it was almost as if he was bored with the piece - which he has a right to be, considering the dozens of times he must have played it. Ax was the firm rock from which the cellist launched his flights. When violinist Pamela Frank joined the two men for the Piano Trio No. 2 at the end, everything changed. Long absent from Tanglewood because of illness, she returned as a wonderful artist in her own right and an utterly natural chamber-music partner. Theirs was a deeply considered performance of a darkly mysterious work.  PHOTO: HILARY SCOTT READ THE FULL Berkshire Eagle REVIEW p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

With Yo-Yo Ma's help, a friend was able to bring his lost puppy home. The cellist on Sunday made an impassioned plea to nearly 14,000 concertgoers after a matinee at Tanglewood in Massachusetts to ask them to help find conductor David Zinman's lost puppy. The 4-month-old Havanese named Carlito had vanished that morning and Zinman was afraid the puppy would get run over by a car or snatched by a coyote. Ma considers Zinman one of his greatest mentors. Grace Ellrodt didn't attend the show but heard about the lost dog from concertgoers and family. She and her boyfriend were driving in Lenox that night when they spotted the lost puppy in the road. She says she knew right way it was Carlito.

Maybe it was the weather. Maybe it was the music on the program. But most likely, it was "The Yo Yo Effect." I wrote about this a few days ago when Yo Yo Ma performed a chamber concert Thursday at Ozawa Hall on the ground of Tanglewood. The crowd was gigantic, bigger than any crowd you normally see for a chamber music concert. I wrote that Yo Yo Ma always attracts a large crowd, no matter what music he performs. But even by Yo Yo Ma standards, today's audience at Tanglewood was astounding. I haven't seen that many people on the lawn for a weekend classical music concert in years.  So maybe today's larger-than-normal crowd could be attributed to today's gorgeous, mild weather or maybe there's something about the composer Robert Schumann that really attracts a big audience. Whatever the reason, there was barely a square spare inch on the lawn or an empty seat in The Shed for today's concert, which featured Ma performing Schumann's Cello Concerto in A with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductor David Zinman. READ THE FULL MassLive REVIEW p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

Cellists of all ages and abilities are invited to play alongside global superstar Yo-Yo Ma in a Philadelphia Orchestra community-outreach program announced by the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Set for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 9, the "PlayIN" will allow local cellists to play works by J.S. Bach, Schubert, Paganini, Vivaldi and others (a PDF of the sheet music will be emailed to all registered participants) in a free one-hour session with Ma and Philadelphia Orchestra cellists. READ THE FULL Albany Times Union ARTICLE p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}

One of the weirder projects in architect Louis Kahn's body of work may be facing an untimely end. The unique Point Counterpoint II, a 195-foot-long floating concert hall commissioned by the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, may dock for the last time in its present form. Without a new buyer, the concert hall may soon be torn off and turned into scrap at the end of the month, with the underlying barge turned into a simple vessel to move goods. Conductor Robert Austin Boudreau asked his friend Kahn to design the unique floating music hall in the ‘60s. The centerpiece of the double-hulled, self-propelled river showboat is the hydraulically-operated 25-foot-tall stage that opens up like a clam shell when the boat is docked and ready for a performance, and lowers after concerts so the vessel can slip under bridges. According to a recent letter in the New York Review of Books written by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, after five decades, Boudreau has decided he can't pay for upkeep anymore. Unless a buyer appears by the end of July, the boat will be broken down for scrap in a Louisiana shipyard. Ma calls the ship, "a powerful, living testament to American creativity and to the elemental role that culture plays in human life." READ THE FULL Curbed ARTICLE READ HYPERALLERGIC ARTICLE READ The Architect's Newspaper ARTICLE READ The Strad p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} Yo-Yo Ma's multi-faceted career is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences, and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, coming together with colleagues for chamber music or exploring cultures and musical forms outside the Western classical tradition, Mr. Ma strives to find connections that stimulate the imagination. CBS/Sony Classical has been accompanying superstar the cellist for decades on his journey through the unsurpassed works written for his instrument by Johann Sebastian Bach. The label has recently released some of the important landmarks from that journey, called Yo-Yo Ma Plays Bach. Ma tells financier and philanthropist David Rubenstein about the first song he learned to play and shows a few tricks of his trade on Bloomberg's - The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations. LISTEN & WATCH

For the Week of June 19th our KDFC: San Francisco selection for Album Of the Week is Yo-Yo Ma Plays Bach. CBS on Sony Classical has been accompanying superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma for decades on his journey through the unsurpassed works written for his instrument by Johann Sebastian Bach. The label is now pleased to announce the release of important landmarks from that journey, Yo-Yo Ma Plays Bach, on a single CD. Ma's first recording of Bach's six Solo Suites, which went on to win the Grammy' for "Best Classical Instrumental Performance" and is represented here by the Sarabande from the Sixth Suite, took place in 1982. In the same year, Yo-Yo Ma recorded Bach's complete sonatas for viola da gamba with harpsichordist Kenneth Cooper which was hailed by Gramophone as "intelligent and expressive." p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} This Yo-Yo Ma Plays Bach spotlight of the week is a retrospective of the great cellist's famous Bach recordings. Includes selections from the Cello Suites, the Cantatas, the Air on the G string, and more.

Where to start? Yo-Yo Ma performing as a member of an orchestra and not as first chair, but last. The son of Isaac Stern conducting in Hyde Park. Local high school students performing side-by-side with a professional orchestra. It was a truly fun and feel-good event at Kenwood Academy Saturday night when the Civic Orchestra of Chicago came to the Patrick R. Allen Memorial Auditorium at Kenwood Academy to give a free concert. The performance hall was full of eager listeners who embraced the night's proceedings with enthusiasm and warmth. The Civic Orchestra of Chicago is one of the country's leading training programs for emerging professional musicians. The guest conductor described them as an "asset and jewel for Chicago." These young players (average age looks to be in the mid-twenties) came to Hyde Park to perform one work each by Beethoven and Sibelius. But sandwiched between these were three shorter pieces where the Civic members expanded their ranks with Kenwood Academy students joining the orchestra. The evening's conductor was Michael Stern, son of the acclaimed violinist Isaac Stern. He currently serves as music director of the Kansas City Symphony. READ THE FULL Hyde Park Herald REVIEW

Tuesday evening's concert at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis provided a sharp reminder, with cellist Yo-Yo Ma making his first Minnesota Orchestra appearance in 15 years. Now in his 60s, Ma retains a fresh, boyish demeanor. He unassumingly wended his way to his soloist seat on the stage, swapping small talk with conductor Osmo Vänskä along the way. The concert's centerpiece was Haydn's Cello Concerto in C, a piece that can quickly turn pedestrian in the hands of an average player. But Ma's performance was mesmerizing. He applied a formidable range of touch and nuance to the solo part, with scarcely a bar of music where he didn't have some subtle point to make. The playing was technically brilliant, though never crudely self-advertising. READ THE FULL Minneapolis Star Tribune ARTICLE p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}

Put famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Chicago priest and civil rights activist the Rev. Michael Pfleger in front of a clamorous throng of music-loving congregants and you are reminded how eloquently musical faith and religious faith can speak to humanity's better angels. It was the power of belief that brought together the classical music superstar and one of Chicago's most outspoken civil rights activists, united in their efforts to improve the lives and make better citizens of young people. Crusaders for community, both. That memorable meeting of passions took place Sunday at St. Sabina Church in the Gresham neighborhood. The church, where Pfleger has been senior priest since 1981 of Chicago's largest African-American Catholic parish, hosted a "Concert for Peace" by Ma, members of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Children's Choir and St. Sabina's Top of the Food Chain band. READ THE FULL Chicago Tribune ARTICLE & WATCH THE VIDEO p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

Yo-Yo Ma will be performing with the Minnesota Orchestra on June 13, and Classical MPR will be broadcasting the concert live. Besides his incredible ability to play the cello, Ma has become known for his amusing escapades. Five of our favorite super-fun things Ma has done are: Performed with the Honkers on Sesame Street Met with Wilbur the Wombat Performed with dancer Lil Buck Performed for President Kennedy - and the world - at the age of seven Performed "Crazy Bus" with Joshua Redman on Arthur p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px} span.Apple-tab-span {white-space:pre} CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEOS AND be entered to win a copy of Yo-Yo Ma's new album, Yo-Yo Ma Plays Bach. 

For decades Sony Classical has been accompanying superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma on his journey with Bach.  This single CD brings together important and highly praised landmarks from that journey, beginning in 1982, the year of Ma's first recording of the Six Solo Suites, which went on to win the Grammy for "Best Classical Instrumental Performance."  Johann Sebastian Bach: Suite for Solo Cello No. 3 in C, BWV 1009 (III. Courante)
Yo-Yo Ma, cello Johann Sebastian Bach: Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D, BWV 1068
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Bobby McFerrin, vocals John Corigliano: Fancy on a Bach Air
Yo-Yo Ma, cello LISTEN TO THESE 3 TRACKS ON IdeaStation 89.3 WCVE: Richmond VA

CBS/Sony Classical has been accompanying superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma for decades on his journey through the unsurpassed works written for his instrument by Johann Sebastian Bach. The label is now pleased to announce the release of important landmarks from that journey, Yo-Yo Ma Plays Bach, on a single CD. Ma's first recording of Bach's six Solo Suites, which went on to win the Grammy® for "Best Classical Instrumental Performance" and is represented here by the Sarabande from the Sixth Suite, took place in 1982. In the same year, Yo-Yo Ma recorded Bach's complete sonatas for viola da gamba with harpsichordist Kenneth Cooper which was hailed by Gramophone as "intelligent and expressive." WGUC: Cincinnati is offering the disc during the upcoming fund drive. Listen to the attached spot

CBS/Sony Classical has been accompanying cellist Yo-Yo Ma for decades on his journey through the unsurpassed works written for his instrument by J.S. Bach. Ma's explorations have also taken him beyond the cello's core repertoire to enterprising collaborations with Baroque specialist Ton Koopman. This compilation presents important landmarks taken from Ma's journey. The WFMT: Chicago - Featured New Release for MAY 14, 2017 is Yo-Yo Ma Plays Bach on Sony Classical. Featured tracks are 

Bach/Gounod: Ave Maria (2:41) - Kathryn Stott, piano Bach: Cello Suite No 6 in D major, BWV 1012: Sarabande (4:29)
Bach: Wachet auf (3:48)
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra / Ton Koopman p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association today announced a Concert for Peace to be presented Sunday, June 11, at 4:00 pm at St. Sabina Catholic Church on Chicago's South Side. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the Chicago Symphony's Creative Consultant, will join players from the Civic Orchestra, the CSOA's training program for emerging professional musicians, and singers from the Chicago Children's Choir. Performers will present chamber and vocal music including works by Scott Joplin, Antonin Dvorak, Aaron Copland, and Duke Ellington. The concert has been developed along with St. Sabina's Father Michael Pfleger, who will offer comments during the event. The Faith Community of St. Sabina, of which St. Sabina Church is part, will offer over 300 free tickets to members of the community. READ THE FULL WFMT: Chicago ARTICLE READ THE FULL NBC - Chicago 5 News   p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px} p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

A mandolinist, a cellist and a double bassist walk into a barn. No, this isn't the beginning of some terribly bad joke, but it is how Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer and Yo-Yo Ma came together to record music of J.S. Bach. Their new album Bach Trios was released earlier this month. On April 26th, the Thile/Ma/Meyer trio will perform together at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center for the first time. Tickets for the event sold out before they became available to the general public. The last time they recorded together, the result was the 2011 chart-topping and Grammy-winning album The Goat Rodeo Sessions (in which they were also joined by Nashvillian fiddle player Stuart Duncan). READ THE FULL Nashville Public Radio ARTICLE p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}

It was perhaps inevitable that Esa-Pekka Salonen and Yo-Yo Ma would one day collaborate on a new work. The artists share a questing spirit that carries them far beyond the sphere ordinary musicians inhabit, Salonen as one of our most thoughtful composers and probing conductors, Ma as one of our most eloquent virtuosos and committed citizens of the musical world at large. The world premiere of Salonen's Cello Concerto, the new work they introduced at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's concert Thursday night March 9, 2017, at Symphony Center was like twin forces of nature coming together. PHOTO: Ting Shen Chicago Tribune READ THE FULL Chicago Tribune REVIEW p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px} span.Apple-tab-span {white-space:pre}

It's not every day that an amateur guitar picker gets to play a duet with an internationally renowned classical cellist. But that was my thrill this week as I joined Yo-Yo Ma in a creative interpretation of the traditional song, "How Can I Keep from Singing?" Our short jam session capped off Mr. Ma's appearance as this year's J. Edward Rall Cultural Lecture. The event, which counts The Dalai Lama, Maya Angelou, and Atul Gawande among its distinguished alumni, this year took the form of a conversation on the intersection of music and science-and earned a standing ovation from a packed house of researchers, patients, and staff here on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus in Bethesda, MD. The far-ranging discussion between Ma and myself began with a brief look at his extraordinary career. When I asked what qualities lead to musical greatness, he replied: "It's very, very simple. Learn what you need to learn by heart before you are 20." It gets harder after that. - Dr. Francis Collins SEE THE NIH PAGE & WATCH THE VIDEO span.s1 {text-decoration: underline}

The Montreal Bach Festival, marking its 10th year began on Nov. 18 and runs through Dec. 4. Yo-Yo Ma will play Bach's Cello Suites No. 4, 5 and 6 in the Maison symphonique on Dec. 2. The 10th anniversary roster has many distinguished performers including; Viktoria Mullova with Accademia Bizantina, the young French ensemble Café Zimmermann, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Kent Nagano performing the St. Matthew Passion, Julian Wachner and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street with the B-minor Mass, and the peerless cellist Yo-Yo Ma who will be featured in our 10th anniversary gala concert in the Maison symphonique.  READ THE FULL Montreal Gazette ARTICLE SEE ARTICLE FOR 11.24.2016 p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}

Imagine the world's best-known cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, sitting in his car fiddling with the radio controls. "I would go through many, many stations just because I'm curious to see what people are listening to. My guilty pleasure is to just let people roll," he says in a phone call from the United States. Ma, who turned 61 last month, is interested in all kinds of music. Jazz, bluegrass, rock or Western classical compositions - all are part of a continuum he expresses with colleagues in the 16-year-old Silk Road Ensemble. The result has been well-received and eclectic programmes such as this week's concerts at the Esplanade Concert Hall with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. I've always asked myself, 'I love music, but what is it for?' We're not doing it because it pleases me, though that's part of it. Music heals people and it brings people to a biological state of equilibrium that allows people to function. READ THE FULL Straits Times ARTICLE   p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}

Yo-Yo Ma's multi-faceted career is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences, and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, coming together with colleagues for chamber music or exploring cultures and musical forms outside the Western classical tradition, Mr. Ma strives to find connections that stimulate the imagination. In this guardian Q&A, The cellist on growing up with Schubert and Schumann, and the fascination of the theremin

To put it simply, Yo-Yo Ma is a national treasure. Arguably the world's greatest cellist, he's also a humanitarian and one of America's best ambassadors for classical music. So it was no surprise that Ma's special concert with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on Friday night sold out months ago. The cellist took the Taft Theatre's stage to deafening applause, holding up his cello and beaming a big smile. His first notes in the Dvorak Cello Concerto were impassioned, driven. And from there, the piece – one of the chestnuts of the cello repertoire – unfolded like something we've never heard before. He took it to another level. READ THE FULL Cincinnati.com REVIEW p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}

Charles Dutoit lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra and cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Elgar's Cello Concerto in Boston's Symphony Hall on Thursday - Oct. 17. When you hear it, you can barely breathe, barely move as the notes transfix you like a snake charmer's hypnotic tune. Elgar's Cello Concerto has that effect, especially in the hands of gifted musicians. When you hear the concerto's first, few haunting notes, it's nearly impossible to not be instantly captivated by this unforgettable music. Like many great works of art, Elgar's Cello Concerto sounds fresh and alive nearly a century later (it was first performed on Oct. 27, 1919) because of the music's elegant simplicity.     PHOTO - Robert Torres READ THE FULL MassLive REVIEW

Tickets for "An Evening with Yo-Yo Ma" and the Louisville Orchestra went on sale to the public this morning at 10 a.m. Two hours later, they were all gone. The concert is slated for Oct. 30 at the Kentucky Center. According to a release, Louisville Orchestra subscribers have been "gobbling up the majority of Yo-Yo Ma tickets which have been on sale exclusively to them for months." Earlier this week, there were limited pre-sales to Fund for the Arts members, Kentucky Center for the Arts patrons, and WUOL members. Carla Givan Motes, the orchestra's director of patron services and ticket operations, says two weeks ago the concert was already at 60 percent capacity. By Wednesday evening, there were only about 230 seats left. "We knew today was going to go quickly," she says. One of the greatest cellists of our time, Ma has produced more than 90 albums and won 18 Grammy Awards. READ THE FULL WFPL Radio ARTICLE

Yo-Yo Ma is a bit like a US president after his final term – he has done it all, has nothing left to prove, and can now devote himself to whatever he likes. The cellist has been stitching the globe together with music – founding the Silk Road Ensemble and collaborating with the likes of Bobby McFerrin, American bluegrass musicians and tango musicians. It was rewarding to hear him come full circle to Chinese-inspired music, as he did in the lovely concerto for cello and sheng, Duo, by Zhao Lin. The programme for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra's opening concert of the 2016-17 season was not about showing off Ma's virtuosity, but about producing musical magic in slow, contemplative pieces. READ THE FULL South China Morning Post REVIEW

The acclaimed Chinese-American cellist - Yo-Yo Ma returns to Hong Kong next month to perform Silent Woods and Zhao Lin's Duo with the city's top orchestra. Those attending Ma's performance of Antonin Dvorak's Silent Woods should prepare to be transported somewhere arboreal. "It's a case of ‘once upon a time'. You try to take the audience to that place – you want them to imagine that they are there," says Ma. "You want to be there yourself, you want to be absolutely present in the act of recreating the narrative. Dvorak's work is atmospheric, and in that atmosphere lies a true potential for magic." Composed in 1883 and transcribed for cello and orchestra in 1893, Ma will perform with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra on September 9 and 10 at the Cultural Centre Concert Hall to launch its new season. Also on the programme are Georges Bizet's 1855 Symphony in C and Zhao Lin's Duo, a concerto for cello and sheng that Ma will perform with Wu Tong. The HK Phil will be under the baton of Yu Long, principal guest conductor. READ THE FULL South China Morning Post ARTICLE

He is a known child prodigy. At the age of four, he already made his name with the violin and the viola. But Yo-Yo Ma also went to Harvard. Aside from the fact that he is famously known for the cello, Yo-Yo, according to The Richest, studied at Harvard. It was in 1976 that he earned his Bachelor's degree in Music. He is a celebrated soloist in several major orchestras in the whole world. On the record, he has received 15 Grammys and already has more than 90 albums to his name. To acknowledge his work in his field of study, he also received an honorary doctorate degree from his Alma Mater, Harvard, in 1991. It is interesting to note that President Obama appointed Ma to serve on the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Ma's goal is to bring together talents from all over, diverse artists and musicians. In his efforts, he formed the Silk Road Ensemble and the Silk Road Connect - for children. He continues to make music in order to bring people and music together. READ THE FULL University Herald ARTICLE

In the video below cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Chicago Symphony cellists break into spontaneous dance while playing Johann Strauss II's Blue Danube Waltz in the foyer of Chicago's Symphony Center. The cellists are all using The Block Strap, designed by Mike Block, to support their instruments. Ma was at the venue in June 2016 to perform  ‘A Distant Mirror' with CSO cellists Loren Brown, Richard Hirschl, Katinka Kleijn, CSO principal cello John Sharp, CSO principal percussionist Cynthia Yeh, Silk Road Ensemble cellist Mike Block and percussionist Shane Shanahan, and guest cellists Jeffrey Zeigler and Ashley Bathgate. WATCH THE VIDEO

We know some people are recognized early and immediately – math and musical prodigies come to mind.  It's a subject sparked by recently seeing QUARTET, a 1948 British film of four W. Somerset Maugham stories.  The most memorable one told of a young man expected to follow in the family business and live a life of aristocratic wealth who was determined to become a great classical pianist.  A deal was struck where he would study for two years in Paris on a meager allowance after which he would return and audition for an expert.  If declared mediocre, he would give up his dream and follow his family's wishes.  But if he had talent, the family would support his musical efforts. For this Boston Herald feature that runs this week I spoke with cellist Yo-Yo Ma about his wonderful new documentary, MUSIC OF STRANGERS: THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE - it opens in Boston Friday.  A child prodigy he seemed the natural person to ask these questions.    READ THE Q&A.

Citizen artist. It's a concept dear to Yo-Yo Ma's heart. On Monday morning, he stood in the Kennedy Center Theater Lab, surrounded by hundreds of people, and asked them to talk to each other and figure out what it meant. After a few minutes of conversation between strangers, he praised everyone for interacting. Communication, it seems, is the point of the exercise. Ma was a leader in the Kennedy Center's third annual Arts Summit, presented with the Aspen Institute Arts Program and Citizen University, which on Monday offered 350 participants an intense parade of panels and breakout sessions about art and culture. This year's summit was held under a double banner: "Citizen Artists" on the one hand, and the artistic ideals and goals of President John F. Kennedy on the other. At a luncheon in the middle of the proceedings, the center introduced eight citizen artist fellows, singers and choreographers and visual artists who work intensively with their communities - from Aquil Charlton, a musician who is developing a range of programs in the Chicago public schools, to Yoko K. Sen, an electronic musician who is working to "reimagine the soundscapes in hospitals" (according to the program book). Ma has been working with the "citizen artist" concept for some time. In Chicago, his Citizen Musician initiative with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra aims to create musicians who look beyond the art. The Aspen Institute, which has developed the "citizen artist" concept with Ma, defines them as "Individuals who reimagine the traditional notions of art-making, and contribute to society" through their art or through community-building around it. The whole thing, in short, is very much in keeping with current trends in the performing arts, particularly at large institutions like orchestras, or the Kennedy Center, which are seeking to reaffirm their importance to their communities. READ THE FULL Washington Post ARTICLE

This past week, Aspen Institute Radio celebrated art and culture with discussions about the art of playwriting, the art of African-American History, and a chat with Grammy Award-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Aspen Institute Radio, our two-hour radio show, airs every Saturday and Sunday on SiriusXM Insight (channel 121). Each episode dives into the topics that inform the world around us. Here in our weekly Listen Longer posts, we'll recap each episode and show where you can read, watch, and listen to more. Don't have SiriusXM? Yo-Yo Ma's latest album Sing Me Home, is with the Silk Road Ensemble and will surprise and delight. With guest performers and imaginative sounds that transform the traditional musical landscape, this is the sixth album by the Grammy-nominated Silk Road Ensemble and its founding member and guiding light Yo-Yo Ma - available from Sony Music Masterworks. Sing Me Home is alaso the companion album, developed and recorded alongside The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, a documentary feature from Oscar® and Emmy-winning director Morgan Neville that tells the story of the Ensemble and Silkroad, its parent organization. The Music of Strangers is slated for theatrical release in June.

To repeat or not to repeat? That was the unusual question the cellist Yo-Yo Ma asked the capacity crowd at Carnegie Hall on Friday evening before a performance of Beethoven's Sonata in A (Op. 69) with the pianist Emanuel Ax. The duo heeded the resounding chorus of yeses (punctuated by a smattering of vociferous noes) and observed the repeat in the first movement. Their interpretation of the work proved the highlight of a memorable concert that featured all five of Beethoven's sonatas for cello and piano, which they have recorded together. Their well-honed collaboration here sounded immaculate and spontaneous, Mr. Ma's silken tone and Mr. Ax's limpid touch meshing to elegant effect. The five sonatas were composed over two decades. The duo aptly traced a stylistic arc from the two genteel Op. 5 Sonatas (written in 1796) through the introspective, enigmatic Cello Sonata in D (Op. 102, No. 2). The cello melody of the Adagio of the Sonata in G minor (Op. 5, No 2) unfolded with gossamer intimacy; Mr. Ax rendered the gently syncopated part with a poetic delicacy. Their reserved approach to the Op. 5 sonatas blossomed into a full-blooded sound in the heroic A major sonata, with Mr. Ax's sparkling runs impressive in the concluding Allegro Vivace. "We ran out of Beethoven," Mr. Ma said after an intense performance of the Cello Sonata in D (Op. 102, No. 2). So for the encore, they offered an arrangement for cello of the Adagio from Brahms's Violin Sonata in D minor. VIVIEN SCHWEITZER SEE THE FULL New York Times PAGE

The students at Noyes Education Campus in Northeast D.C. were starstruck. "Oh my God, Yo-Yo Ma," a group of first graders squealed as they awaited the prodigious cellist's arrival to their school. When he walked in, 6-year-old Enriqueta Bokesa screamed "It's Yo-Yo Ma!," jumped from the stairs at the school's entrance and leaped into Ma's arms - not the typical reaction the world famous cellist receives before a performance. But Noyes students had been learning about Ma and his music throughout the school year as part of the Obama administration's Turnaround Arts program, which aims to help the nation's most-struggling schools with an infusion of art into the curriculum. READ THE FULL Washington Post ARTICLE & WATCH THE VIDEO

Yo-Yo Ma has won the prestigious J Paul Getty Medal for his work as an artist who brings different cultures together through music. Established in 2013, it honours those who make an extraordinary contribution to the practice, understanding and support of the arts. ‘The Getty shares Yo-Yo's commitment to artistic excellence and cross-cultural understanding,' said James Cuno, president and CEO of the J Paul Getty Trust. ‘Our work around the world is inspired by the same values as those of Silkroad: that the best prospects of the future rest on a greater understanding of the interrelationship of the world's many cultures.' ‘It is a great honour to receive the J Paul Getty Medal, and to have this very special recognition of the importance of cross-cultural engagement,' added Ma. ‘Culture and communication are the keys to our work at Silkroad, and in celebrating both tradition and innovation, as the Getty has so successfully done, we are building bridges and creating trust.' Ma will be presented with his medal in a celebratory dinner at the Getty Center on 17 October. March has already been a busy month for the cellist, with Kennedy Center naming him as an artistic partner for 2016-17. His calendar for April includes concerts at Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, while he appears at Piatigorsky Cello Festival in May. Past winners of the medal include Frank Gehry, Harold M Williams and Nancy Englander. Artist Ellsworth Kelly, who died last December, has been awarded a posthumous medal.

A sold out Meany Theater greeted cellist Yo-Yo Ma with tumultuous applause as he walked out on stage Tuesday night for a rare solo appearance on the UW World Series. There was one lone chair stage center, for him. His program was vintage Ma: gathering in music from around the world and dovetailing it with familiar Bach. Steven Lowe's program notes gave more enlightenment as to what Ma was demonstrating, a creative amalgam of modern Western musical ideas with international styles and folk traditions. READ THE FULL THE SUNBREAK CONCERT REVIEW

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA) released the results of fiscal year 2015 (July 1, 2014­–June 30, 2015) at its annual meeting Thursday at Symphony Center and the CSOA had it's fifth consecutive year of record-breaking ticket sales, according to Jay Henderson, chairman of the board of trustees of the CSOA, and CSOA president Jeff Alexander, who presented the artistic and financial highlights of the season. Music Director Ricardo Muti and president Alexander announced a two-year contract extension for world-renowned cellist and educator, Yo-Yo Ma, who has served as the organization's Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant since the position was established in 2010. Ma's position as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's first creative consultant stands as a cornerstone of Muti's vision for the CSO which has been formally described as "To deepen the Orchestra's engagement with the Chicago community, to develop a new generation of musicians, and to collaborate with peer artists to bring unparalleled musical experiences to the CSO's audiences at home and around the world."  READ THE Chicago Sun Times ARTICLE   With guidance from Muti and Ma, a variety of programs have been developed both in and outside of Symphony Center, the Orchestra's home, involving musicians of the CSO and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, with Muti and Ma both playing a major role in many of these activities. Since 2010, program sites in addition to Symphony Center have included Chicago-area prisons, schools, hospitals, community centers and other public spaces in the city, as well as a wide variety of sites when the CSO is on tour in the U.S. and throughout the world, such as churches, medical centers, music and special needs schools, rehabilitation and foster homes and orphanage centers.   Ma has served as an invaluable partner to Muti and to the CSO musicians, as well as to the CSO's Negaunee Music Institute. Ma's creativity has helped develop new programs for young people-the innovative "Once Upon A Symphony" series that integrates performances by CSO musicians and storytelling to engage children ages 3 through 5 and their families-and his artistry has enhanced performance and training experiences for members of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.   During his time as the CSO's Creative Consultant, Ma has also worked through the CSO to convene Chicago's cultural organizations, and has actively advocated for arts education as a national cultural advisor for the Chicago Public Schools Arts Education Plan and an honorary co-chair of the Campaign for Creative Schools, which is generating funding to support the implementation of the Arts Education Plan.   To read a new interview with  Maestro Muti visit:

World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma enthralled a packed Waco Hall Thursday night with soulfully expressive play and a body that mirrored the emotions of the music that came from his bow and his fingertips, If the good and joy of music could find human incarnation, Ma came close in his performance of Dvorak's Cello Concerto with a Waco Symphony Orchestra at the top of its game, surrendering himself to the music at hand. His face smiled at the work's playful passages and strained with passion in more poignant moments. His body swayed during rhapsodic moments, his right foot sometimes leaving the stage in the process. READ THE FULL Waco Tribune-Herald REVIEW

The Simpsons" on Fox doesn't often feature cameo appearances by classical musicians. One of the most recent examples was eight years ago when tenor Plácido Domingo snapped a towel at Homer Simpson's buttocks in a locker room in the 2007 episode "The Homer of Seville." On Sunday, cellist Yo-Yo Ma made a cameo on the long-running animated series, playing himself and also performing "The Simpsons" theme over the final credits. The new episode, titled "Puffless," focused on sisters Patty and Selma Bouvier's decision to give up their beloved cigarettes. They make their resolution at a party celebrating their mother's birthday. Montgomery C. Burns crashes the celebration to make his affections for Mrs. Bouvier known once again -- he previously did so in 1994 -- and enlists the aid of Ma to serenade the old lady. The cellist plays the prelude section of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, one of his signature pieces. When asked how he persuaded Ma to make the cameo, Al Jean, the series' showrunner and executive producer, said via Twitter, "We asked and he said yes; lucky us."  READ THE FULL Los Angeles Times PIECE

Yo-Yo Ma was one of the panelists on Sunday's "Fenway Forum: What's the Right Thing to Do?"-one of the first events of Boston's HUBweek. The forum explored the ethical dilemmas of technology's role in our everyday lives. Alongside Ma, an array of personalities contributed to the panel: entrepreneur Arianna Huffington, television writer Alexis Wilkinson, research scientist Andrew McAfee, and professor Sherry Turkle. Regarding music, Ma said "One note can be replicated by anyone. Ask someone to play a second note, and the way they join the first and second notes relies on their muscular makeup but also what they want to hear inside. That path from one note to the next is different for everyone. This comes down to the idea of the human spirit getting to something beyond the finite. It's part of every human being."

This was a first. One cellist, six cello suites, no interval and an audience of 5,000. Yo-Yo Ma, beaming as only he can, reclined back in his chair and looked heavenwards: clearly, for this Bachian odyssey, he'd be travelling Club Class. In fact, there was to be no gilding, no glamour and no grand-standing. Playing on what sounded like gut strings, his tone was tawny, delicate, flecked with frictive texture, as far as possible from the glossy vocalisation we associate with the instrument. For all Ma's charisma, this was an extraordinary exercise in self-effacement. After hearing close-miked recordings or performances in resonant churches, his famous G major Prelude sounded disconcertingly naked in the Royal Albert Hall, at once vast and claustrophobic in its replete state. Ma's strategy was to pull the listeners inwards with absolute clarity of articulation - even if it meant tempos were slower - dancing vitality and variety of phrasing, and by releasing rather than forcing the sound. His command of Bach's language is complete: each dance was delivered in a single, miraculous train of thought; each suite beautifully shaped, the six dramatised into a whole.  READ THE FULL Classical-Music.com REVIEW

The Tanglewood parking attendants were busy early on August 13th considering that the concert to take place at 8pm was chamber music in Ozawa Hall. There was a wine tasting going on, so perhaps the early crowds were not anticipated solely for the music. Who knows for sure? The program featured one of the world's most popular classical artists, Yo-Yo Ma, along with a group of other cellists, for an unusual program billed only as "A Distant Mirror." The minimal description in the Tanglewood brochure suggested that it would in some sense consist of early music, without details beyond a focus on the 16thand 17th centuries. The title could have implied Barbara Tuchman's 14thcentury, but the performers chose it to mean only long ago and far away. Over the decades Yo-Yo Ma not only has become a favorite performer of the cello but has extended his activities beyond chamber music and concertos, with extraordinary breadth, as if to see what usage could be made of the cello in just about every aspect of the world's musics, from Appalachia to the Silk Trail. Clearly audiences have learned to trust him to offer music superbly played, with the exquisite technique, expressive warmth, and sheer joy that have always been so prominent a part of his persona. Even with only a vague idea of what they will hear, audiences throng. Ozawa Hall was packed, and the lawn outside the rear barn door held as many people as I have ever seen there.  READ THE FULL Boston Musical Intelligencer ARTICLE

Something weird happens in Bach's fifth suite for unaccompanied cello. The soloist, who has been bowing away for the past hour and 25 minutes on the previous four suites, tackling some of the most soulful and demanding music in the western classical canon, is suddenly confronted with a new challenge. And it's still a good 40 minutes before he or she can get a well-deserved cup of tea. "Bach decides he's going to enrich the sound of the instrument by tuning it down, taking the A string down to a G," explains cellist Yo-Yo Ma. "He's saying, ‘If I do that, I can get more overtone, I can make the chords richer, make it more polyphonic.' He's trying to make a single-line instrument give the illusion of several voices." Does that make it more difficult to play? He sighs. "Gosh, yes. It makes it more impossible." If you want to hear Yo-Yo Ma battling with impossibility, go to the Albert Hall in London in September, where the great cellist will play all six suites straight through. "It is highly unusual to do that. I think maybe I've done it three times in my life at most." So why is he doing it? "I'm turning 60 in October and it's a quirky birthday present to myself because these suites are so meaningful. They're not only companions and friends, but they've also been reference points in my life." READ THE FULL guardian ARTICLE

On the occasion of his debut in honor of the fifth anniversary of Rockport Music's Shalin Liu Center Yo Yo Ma made an entrance with a sweeping recognition of the gorgeous back wall seascape before he briefly and jokingly turned his chair to face the water as if to serenade the gods of the sea instead of those in the gallery. And what a different opening night it was from the BSO's frothy extravagance last September. The program that Artistic Director David Deveau worked out with Ma had no cheap thrills. The pleasures it afforded came through a deeper contemplation of demanding solo works of Bach and Crumb; while the Apollo on stage serenaded the full house, the Apollo on a chariot aloft brought the sun to its horizon through a rapturous hour.   READ THE FULL The Boston Musical Intelligencer REVIEW

Those without a ticket to the sold-out Yo-Yo Ma - Quad-City Symphony Orchestra concert at the Adler Theatre in Davenport IA are still able hear the performance thanks to two public radio stations.  Both WVIK-FM 90.3 and Iowa Public Radio's classical channel aired concert, preceded by excerpts from an interview with Ma at 7 p.m. Iowa Public Radio's classical music station is heard in the Quad-Cities at 91.7 FM. Ma, an 18-time Grammy Award winner, will perform Dvorak's "Cello Concerto in B Minor" in the second half of the program. A regular part of Ma's repertoire. The first half will include Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture," which was written as a thank you to the University of Breslau and employing student drinking songs for musical material. The symphony will also perform Tchaikovsky's romantic "Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture." The performance concludes the 100th anniversary season of the Quad-City Symphony Orchestra. READ THE Radio Iowa POST READ THE Quad-Cities Online REVIEW READ THE Quad-City Times REVIEW

The third of a triumvirate of celebrity soloists taking part in the 25th anniversary season of Pacific Symphony music director Carl St.Clair showed up Tuesday night in Segerstrom Concert Hall. The place was full of people – even the choral terrace – and full of anticipation. In the end they weren't disappointed, but then it wasn't the type of audience that was going to take disappointment for an answer.

Yo-Yo Ma was in the house. He could do no wrong. Not that he did.

The two-part program was mainstream to the max, a hum-along agenda designed to please the most conservative of tastes. As warm-up for the stellar guest, St.Clair led the orchestra in yet another performance of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" as orchestrated by Ravel, last performed by these musicians in August. After intermission Ma arrived with a work he didn't have to pack music for – Dvorák's Cello Concerto. READ THE FULL Orange County Register REVIEW

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma has long been one of the most recognizable classical musicians as well as one of today's most committed spokesmen for the essential role of culture in society. Now nearing 60, Ma says - "better interpret the world," as he continues to perform in creative collaborations with like-minded friends, colleagues and arts and educational institutions - partnerships that leap across national boundaries. For the last 15 years, his Silk Road Ensemble, an international nonprofit music collective dedicated to cross-cultural ambassadorship have performanced over 70 commissions, bringing different musical traditions togetner to create a synthesis that helps us understand each other in our global society. The Silk Road group returns to Chicago's Symphony Center as part of their 15th anniversary U.S. tour. Their program will hold works inspired by musical traditions as diverse as Sicilian, Persian and Syrian, including the world premiere of a double concerto arrangement of Chinese composer Zhao Lin's "Paramita." In a recent phone interview, Ma took time out from a Silk Road rehearsal with the New York Philharmonic to explain how he's managed to keep things fresh and new over the life of his ensemble.  READ THE FULL Chicago Tribune INTERVIEW

Yo-Yo Ma has been described by Washington Post art and architecture critic Philip Kennicott as arguably the best cellist ever, known for his fresh, richly interpretative approach. The audience at the Bermuda Festival's Founders' Recital, performed in honour of its conceivers - violinist extraordinaire Yehudi Menuhin, later Lord Menuhin; Bermuda's then Governor, Sir Edwin Leather, and the Festival's first chairman, John Ellison - certainly anticipated a particularly special performance, and were left in sheer wonder at the brilliance of this extraordinary musician. On Sunday evening, Mr Ma could have been performing at the Kennedy Centre rather than our own Earl Cameron Theatre.  READ THE FULL Royal Gazette REVIEW

In a 45-minute, wide-ranging phone interview with Yo-Yo Ma prior to a Cal Performances "Berkeley Talks" appearance / Wednesday, Dec. 10, the 59-year-old, 17-time Grammy winner - who plays his instrument with immeasurable assuredness and technical command - is primed to query and postulate.

Instead of exploring how to monetize art, Ma asks, "How do cultural citizens, those of us in the arts, science and philosophy, discover arts' essentials? What is the value of art besides monetary value? Are people getting art in new ways? Are they stopping to think humanistically? Do you know how many drafts it takes to make something readable?"  READ THE FULL SF Weekly PIECE

The Greenville Symphony Orchestra and the world renowned cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, are a grand match for Greenville, as was apparent recently at the special performance Mr. Ma gave at the Peace Center. For the GSO to appeal to a musician of Mr. Ma's caliber and be able to support that level of talent through providing him with our own accomplished musical talents is truly a compliment to the symphony. It is proof in the pudding of the symphony's high quality and the community's ever-growing appreciation and support of classical music. READ THE FULL Greenville News REVIEW.

Sitting in the splendor of Reynolds Auditorium in Winston-Salem, N.C., I enjoyed a virtuoso performance by one of the world's greatest musicians, cellist Yo-Yo Ma. It was the eve of the High Point Market, and I found some leadership lessons as Ma's beautiful music filled the auditorium. There are powerful lessons there for the mattress industry, which has more than its fair share of big egos and hard-charging executives. Ma set a stirring example of humble leadership, lifting up his co-performers as the applause was ringing in their ears. This was a win for the team, the orchestra, and not just for the brilliant man who shined so bright that night. READ David Perry's FULL ARTICLE IN Furniture Today

On Being is in the final stages of producing an episode with the classical superstar cellist, Yo-Yo Ma. They released a preview of the program! SEE THE FULL On Being PREVIEW HERE

Yo-Yo Ma has played his 300-year-old cello for eight of the nine Supreme Court justices. Ma entertained Wednesday at the court's annual spring musical concert in an ornate conference room beneath portraits of Chief Justices Warren Burger and William Rehnquist. Ma played pieces by Bach and John Williams, as well as a Catalan folk song that he said was a favorite of famed Spanish cellist Pablo Casals. Ma performed on a 1712 Davidoff Stradivarius cello. The current chief justice and Ma were classmates at Harvard in the 1970s. Chief Justice John Roberts jokingly said they had much in common, including that neither took Music 101 in college.       Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/yo-yo-ma-plays-supreme-court-106706.html#ixzz31nCqyYTQ

Yo-Yo Ma is the cello's superstar. He's taken this inherently grave and introverted instrument and made it a vehicle for his outsize personality. In doing do he's had to wrench the cello out of its normal habitat. He appears alongside world music and pop musicians, and plays in unusual spaces, often for vast audiences. All this has made him the ideal proselytiser for classical music. This is admirable, but there were times at this recital when it seemed as if the cello's sound and expressive range simply weren't big enough for Ma. Everything was etched in vivid colours and shaped in an unusual, ear-catching way, even the straightforwardly cheerful phrase that opened the first piece in his programme, Stravinsky's Suite Italienne. It was a bit much, especially in comparison with the excellent Kathryn Stott at the piano. She brought out the spicy, balletically energised dissonance of the score, and made the fiendishly hard Tarantella dance with light-fingered grace. The difference is that Stott put herself at the service of the music – one was hardly aware of her, whereas Ma always seized the eye. READ THE FULL Telegraph REVIEW

"He is interested in everything" - Yo-Yo Ma

51-year-old cellist-composer Giovanni Sollima has musical interestes that span from the Middle Ages to Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana. These wide-ranging interests will be exhibited in the composer's "Antidotum Tarantulae XXI (Antidote to Tarantulas XXI)," Concerto for Two Cellos and Orchestra" which will get its world premiere performances TONIGHT!! Jan. 30-Feb. 1 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and soloists Yo-Yo Ma and Sollima. Many of Sollima's varied fascinations will be audible in this work, which the composer describes as kind of musical time machine, with elements from the Renaissance and baroque eras interspersed with "small experiments." He incorporates musical fragments from medieval Italian composer Matteo de Perugia and Nicola Vicentino, a Renaissance visionary who pioneered explorations of microtones and chromaticism, and even a love song from none other than Leonardo da Vinci.

READ THE Chicago Sun Times ARTICLE

from MARTIN BOOKSPAN....For decades now New Year's Eve on PBS has meant a Gala Concert by the New York Philharmonic. This year's installment in what is now a continuing tradition will be a Ravel sandwich, with filling of music by Piazzola and Golijov. The Philharmonic's Music Director, Alan Gilbert, will open the program with Ravel's "Alborada del Gracioso" and close it with the composer's "Bolero." In between will come a Suite from Piazzola's "La serie del Angel" in an arrangement by Octavio Brunetti and Osvaldo Golijov's "Azul." Both the latter works are scored for Cello and Orchestra, and our soloist will be no less a master of the instrument than Yo-Yo Ma. Ravel's "Alborada del Gracioso" began its musical life in 1905 as a piece for solo piano in a collection titled "Miroirs." Thirteen years later he transcribed the work for symphony orchestra with an enlarged percussion section. The word "alborada" references an old type of Spanish poetry and song in which a lover takes leave of his beloved at dawn. So "Alborada del Gracioso" is "The Jester's Morning Song." The instrumentation is a riot of orchestral color, with a particularly haunting solo for English horn.  As George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" was once characterized as the introduction of jazz into the classical music concert hall, so the music of Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) may be said to have introduced the tango into the classical music concert hall. Argentinian by birth, Piazzolla spent his early years in New York's Greenwich Village. At some point his father acquired the Argentinian instrument, the accordian-like bandoneon, and young Astor began to explore the music of the Argentine tango. He also discovered the recordings of Carlos Gardel, the master of the bandoneon and the tango. Years spent in Europe resulted in Piazzolla studying conducting with the legendary Hermann Scherchen and composition with the equally legendary Nadia Boulanger. In the end, however, he turned back to the bandoneon and created what was termed the ‘new tango."  In the early 1960s Piazzolla composed a series of works to accompany an Argentinian play about an angel who comes down to earth to give aid and comfort to the inhabitants of a downtrodden village. The angel accomplishes its mission, but is ultimately killed in a knife fight.  It was the New York Philharmonic, expressly for this concert, which commissioned Octavio Brunetti, the inheritor of Piazzolla's mantle, to make this arrangement for cello and orchestra of Piazzolla's "La serie del Angel." And this will mark the first of Yo-Yo Ma's two appearances with the Orchestra this evening. Yo-Yo Ma will also take to the stage for the performance of "Azul" for cello and ensemble by the Argentine-American composer, Osvaldo Golijov. "Azul" was composed for Yo-Yo Ma in 2006 and received its premiere with Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which had commissioned it. The word "azul" in Spanish and Portugese means "blue." In the half-dozen years since the premiere it has become a favorite in Yo-Yo Ma's repertory, and he has played it with colleagues the world over. Golijov's "Azul" is an evocation of music from the Baroque period, specifically of the 17th and 18th century French master Francois Couperin. It is rhapsodic, melismatic and altogether haunting in effect. The concert concludes with Ravel's iconic "Bolero," created in 1928 as a dance for the famed Ida Rubinstein. Ravel himself once described the score as "orchestral effects without music." But what effects! A single theme is introduced by snare drum and solo flute, the snare drum continues with its rat-a-tat rhythmic motif throughout the piece while the theme is passed from one group of instruments to another, all the time increasing in volume. The ending is a shattering collapse. It did not take long for "Bolero" to enter the mainstream of symphonic literature. As a matter of fact it was the New York Philharmonic, under Arturo Toscanini, that played the American premiere of "Bolero" in 1929. History is fuzzy concerning that premiere. Ravel paid a four-month visit to the United States in 1928, touring virtually the length and breadth of the land. There appears to be no record of a return visit by Ravel the next year. Yet legend has it that he attended that 1929 New York premiere and refused to acknowledge Toscanini's singling him out in the audience afterwards because he felt Toscanini's tempo was unacceptably fast. Whether to make the point or not, Ravel himself recorded "Bolero" in January 1930 conducting the Paris Lamoureux Orchestra. The tempo is considerably slower than on a recording by Toscanini. Maestro Gilbert's tempo? We shall see and hear on Live From Lincoln Center on New Year's Eve, December 31, 2013!     I leave you with the usual suggestion that you check with your local PBS station for the exact day and time of the telecast in your area.  Happy New Year! MARTIN BOOKSPAN

  Yo-Yo Ma Is Hooked on Homeland

Celebrated cellist is also a newshound  SEE ADDWEEK page   Yo-Yo Ma - Age 57
Accomplishments World famous cellist; performing at Carnegie Hall with his group The Silk Road Ensemble on Oct. 16 (it recently released the album A Playlist Without Borders); 16-time Grammy Award winner; recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Base Cambridge, Mass. What's the first information you consume in the morning? 
I open up my email and text messages and then go on to a number of news sites-the Times, Washington Post, HuffPost, Daily Beast, Politico, things like that. Sounds like you stay very well informed. 
Well, with so many things happening in the world, occasionally it's nice to go dark and just catch up later. But I think that, especially with the nature of the work that I do, it's essential to know what's going on. Do you ever read the news in print? 
Whenever I can. I travel all the time, so I don't actually have print subscriptions to newspapers because I just end up constantly canceling them. But on the road, I like reading papers. Sometimes I go to three cities in one day, and seeing what each newspaper chooses to cover is fascinating. Are you active on social media? 
I don't do any [social media] personally because I can barely keep up with what I have to do already. It's something I know I'm missing out on because there's tremendous benefit to it, but it's also important to have silence. What occupies your mind in the car? 
I listen to NPR a lot, but often I don't listen to anything because it's nice to have the quiet. If I'm falling asleep, I'll turn on some heavy metal at top volume with the windows open-although that doesn't happen very often, since I tend not to drive when I'm really tired. When you listen to music, is it generally for work or pleasure?
I think that depends on the switch in your brain you turn on and off. I could listen to music for sheer enjoyment, but other times it's for critical analysis. What music have you been listening to lately? 
I work with an ensemble called the Silk Road Ensemble. Their interests in music are very widespread, so I've been listening to a lot of music that I otherwise would not be exposed to. And I've been touring with Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer and Stuart Duncan, so I've been listening to their music, too-a lot of bluegrass-tinged influences. What are your favorite TV shows? 
I love Homeland. It's so amazing. And my wife and I watch a lot of news shows-we'll watch C-SPAN, which some people say is the most boring thing on Earth, but what's great is we get to hear authors talk about their work. Other than that, I love to watch Stephen Colbert. His show is just crazy good. Tell me about your favorite app. 
As you know, I'm a newshound, so Zite is one of my favorite apps. I use it to follow a lot of news in neuroscience and entrepreneurship. All the things I don't get from other news sources, I get from Zite. What's on your reading list? 
I was just reading a book that Antonio Damasio wrote called Self Comes to Mind and another book called Teaching the Taboo: Courage and Imagination in the Classroom by Rick and William Ayers. And I recently read a great book by Edward O. Wilson called Letters to a Young Scientist. He explains that the most important thing you need to be a scientist is not intelligence but passion, and the bookkeeping comes second. If what he says is true, that would be an incredible indictment of our educational system.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra has big plans for the fall. Thrilled to welcome Yo-Yo Ma back to Powell Hall on Saturday, October 19 for the fifth annual Red Velvet Ball, David Robertson leads the orchestra in an evening of: SUPPÉ  Light Cavalry Overture 
HAYDN  Cello Concerto in C major
HÉROLD  Zampa Overture
SAINT-SAËNS  Cello Concerto No. 1 READ THE St. Louis Dispatch STORY

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra announced today that renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma will partner with the CSO's training orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, for its first-ever Citizen Musician Fellowship Program during the 2013/14 season. Ma will mentor eight Civic members in the one-year pilot program, during which the young musicians will work with music programs in the Chicago public schools and community organizations, receive musical entrepreneurship training with Chicago-based ensembles, and develop their own community activities and projects to celebrate the transformative power of music. The Citizen Musician Fellows will also receive guidance from members of the CSO and other professionals who have pursued innovative careers in music. The one-year program may serve as the basis for the future development of a two-year Citizen Musicianship Fellowship curriculum. READ THE FULL STORY IN examiner.com

Master cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who has recorded 75 albums and won 15 Grammy Awards got together recently with street dance legend Lil Buck to collaborate in this modernized treatment of a performance entitled The Dying Swan. A remake of the cello standard "The Swan," composed by Camille Saint-Saëns, this hybrid of classical music and street dancing was all recorded by director Spike Jonze (with his phone.) The impromptu video captures the performers carefully watching each other's timing in a genuinely beautiful artistic collaboration. Jonze then posted it to the blog of Opening Ceremony. This is definitely a case of substance over style: Ma and Buck make an amazing combination.

Imagine a party, a musical party inspired by the holiday season. A party that celebrates the universal hopes, dreams and joy animating seasonal festivals the world over – Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid al-Adha, Kwanzaa, Yule and New Year's Day. That is what brought Yo-Yo Ma together with a remarkable group of friends to create Yo-Yo Ma & Friends Songs of Joy & Peace, a new album of songs from Sony BMG Masterworks that will be available Tuesday, October 14. "It started with the idea of a party, a party built around the concept of joy and the infinite varieties of joy to be found in the world," Ma recalls. "But joy can't exist in our world without the comfort of peace. As we all draw closer and closer together in this world, nothing is more important. So as much as the music in this album is about joy, it is also about peace, about the two operating in tandem. I am really excited to know that I have all these fabulous colleagues who think the same way." "Holidays are always about going home and being with friends and family," remarked Diana Krall. "And so wanting to capture that, I think, is what we did today.  We played together and it would have been weird if it was done in any other way. One of the best days of my life was today with Yo-Yo Ma." And Chris Botti went on to say: "The sound of the two instruments [trumpet and cello] is very, very beautiful and haunting together and Yo-Yo brings the joy. He's got enough joy for everyone. I'm just incredibly honored to be given an invitation to the party and thrilled to be here." Songs of Joy & Peace is available online and in stores now. The recording has been chosen as a featured holiday selection at Starbucks and will also be sold at select Starbucks locations nationwide. Also available is a special deluxe edition of Songs of Joy & Peace featuring an expanded booklet, a CD of the album including bonus tracks, and an exclusive DVD showcasing five music videos of Yo-Yo Ma joining forces with guest artists James Taylor ("Here Comes the Sun"), Alison Krauss ("The Wexford Carol"), Renee Fleming ("Touch the Hand of Love"), Diana Krall ("You Couldn't Be Cuter") and Chris Botti ("My Favorite Things")   In addition, the Songs of Joy & Peace bonus DVD will premiere a behind-the-scenes 60-minute video documenting the making of the album. For his new album, the multiple Grammy-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma, currently celebrating his 30th anniversary with Sony Classical and Sony BMG Masterworks, invited many of his favorite artists from the worlds of popular and classical music to collaborate on a selection of songs -- some sacred, some secular, some traditionally seasonal, some simply beloved -- connected in their sense of wonder. Yo-Yo Ma conceived of Songs of Joy & Peace as a universal holiday house party of music "uniting different forms of joy" with the idea of combining familiar material with songs that would offer the listener the gift of discovery performed by old friends and new. To celebrate the release of Songs of Joy & Peace, Ma teamed up with Indaba Music, the leading social network and online collaboration tool for musicians. Ma has recorded the melody Dona Nobis Pacem and is making it available for other musicians to record to it - creating a virtual collaboration. The music can be downloaded as part of a contest hosted on Indaba Music to create the most original and interesting counter melody or most creative set of variations. The Indaba Music community will vote for their favorites and Ma will choose the winner who will have the opportunity to record with him.