Everything about Yo Yo Ma totally explained
» This is an anglicized version of the Chinese name "Ma Yo-yo"; the family name is "Ma".
Yo-Yo Ma (b.
October 7,
1955) is a
French-born
American cellist and winner of multiple
Grammy Awards.
Biography
Yo-Yo Ma was born in
Paris to
Chinese parents and had a musical upbringing. His mother, Marina Lu, was a singer, and his father, Hiao-Tsiun Ma, was a
conductor and composer. His family moved to
New York when he was seven years old.
At a very young age, Ma began studying
violin, and later
viola, before taking up the
cello in 1960 at age four. The
child prodigy began performing before audiences at age five, and performed for President
John F. Kennedy when he was seven. At eight years old, he appeared on American television in a concert conducted by
Leonard Bernstein. By fifteen years of age, Ma had graduated from
Trinity School in New York and appeared as a soloist with the
Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra in a performance of the
Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations.
Ma studied at the
Juilliard School of Music with
Leonard Rose, and attended
Columbia University, before enrolling at
Harvard University, but began questioning whether he should continue his studies until, in the 1970s,
Pablo Casals's performances inspired him.
However, even before that time he'd steadily gained fame and had performed with most of the world's major orchestras. His recordings and performances of the
Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Suites recorded in 1983 and again in 1994-1997 are particularly acclaimed. He has also played a good deal of
chamber music, often with the pianist
Emanuel Ax with whom he's a close friendship back from their days together at the Juilliard in New York.
He received his
bachelor's degree from Harvard in 1976. In 1991, he received an honorary doctorate from Harvard.
Career
Ma married his long-time girlfriend Jill Hornor in 1977 and had two children, Nicholas and Emily. They currently reside in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ma's elder sister, Yeou-Cheng Ma, who was also born in Paris, is a violinist married to
Michael Dadap, a New York guitarist. Together they currently run the
Children's Orchestra Society in
Manhasset, Long Island, New York.
Ma currently plays with his own
Silk Road Ensemble, which has the goal of bringing together musicians from diverse countries all of which are historically linked via the
Silk Road, and records on the
Sony Classical label.Ma's primary performance instrument is the
Domenico Montagnana 1733 cello built in Venice and nicknamed
Petunia. This cello, more than 270 years old and valued at US$2.5 million, was lost in the fall of 1999 when Ma accidentally left the instrument in a taxicab in
New York City. It was later recovered undamaged. Another of Ma's cellos, the
Davidov Stradivarius, was previously owned by
Jacqueline du Pré who passed it to him upon her death, and owned by the Vuitton Foundation. Though Du Pré previously voiced her frustration with the "unpredictability" of this cello, Ma attributed the comment to du Pré's impassioned style of playing, adding that the Stradivarius cello must be "coaxed" by the player. It was until recently set up in a
Baroque manner, since Ma exclusively played
Baroque music on it. He also owns a cello made of
carbon fiber by the Luis and Clark company of
Boston.
In 1997 he was featured on John Williams' soundtrack to the Hollywood film,
Seven Years in Tibet. In 2000, he was heard on the soundtrack of the blockbuster film hit
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. He collaborated with Williams again on the original score for the
2005 film Memoirs of a Geisha.Yo-Yo Ma has also worked with world renowned Italian composer
Ennio Morricone and has recorded Morricone's compositions of the
Dollars Trilogy including
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. He has also has over 75 albums: 15 of which are Grammy Award Winners. Mr. Ma is a recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence.
Playing style
Ma has been referred to as “
omnivorous” by critics, and possesses a more eclectic repertoire than is typical for classical musicians. A sampling of his versatility in addition to numerous recordings of the standard classical repertoire would include his recordings of
Baroque pieces using
period instruments, American
bluegrass music; traditional
Chinese melodies including the soundtrack to the film
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; the
tangos of Argentinian composer
Ástor Piazzolla; an eclectic and unusual collaboration with
Bobby McFerrin (where Ma admits to being terrified of the improvisation McFerrin pushes him toward); as well as the music of modern
minimalist Philip Glass in such works as the
2002 piece,
Naqoyqatsi. In 2006, a soundtrack album was released of the music from the
2005 film,
Memoirs of a Geisha. He is known for his smooth, rich tone as well as his considerable virtuosity, including a cello recording of
Niccolò Paganini's
24th Caprice for solo violin,
Zoltán Kodály's
cello sonata, and other demanding works.
Appearances
Ma has appeared in an episode of the animated children's television series,
Arthur (though D.W. kept calling him "Yo Ma-Ma"), as well as on
The West Wing (episode "
Noël", in which he performed the prelude to the Bach Cello Suite No.1 at a Christmas dinner at the White House),
Sesame Street and
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. In
The Simpsons episode "," Ma runs after
Homer Simpson along with many other frequent guests of PBS. Ma performed a duet with Condoleezza Rice at the presentation of the 2001 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal Awards. He also starred in the visual accompaniment to his recordings of the
Bach: Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello. Ma has also been seen with
Apple Computer and former
Pixar CEO
Steve Jobs. Ma is often invited to press events for Jobs's companies, and has performed on stage during event keynote presentations. Ma was the first performer on
September 11,
2002, at the site of the World Trade Center, while the first of the names of the dead were read in remembrance on the first anniversary of the attack on the WTC. He played the Sarabande movement from Bach's Suite in C minor (#5). He performed a special arrangement of Sting's "Fragile" with
Sting and the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir during the opening ceremonies of the
2002 Winter Olympics in
Salt Lake City,
Utah. Ma was named
Peace Ambassador by
United Nations then Secretary-General
Kofi Annan in January
2006. Ma was a guest on the Not My Job segment of
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! on
April 7,
2007, where he won for listener Thad Moore.
Discography
Awards and recognitions
Avery Fisher Prize
Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance:
1998 Yo-Yo Ma Premieres - Danielpour, Kirchner, Rouse (Sony Classical 66299)
1995 The New York Album - Works of Albert, Bartók & Bloch (Sony 57961)
1993 Prokofiev: Sinfonia Concertante/Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme (Sony 48382)
1990 Barber: Cello Concerto, Op. 22/Britten: Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 68 (CBS 44900)
Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance:
1985 Bach: The Unaccompanied Cello Suites (CBS 37867)
Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition:
1995 The New York Album, Stephen Albert: Cello Concerto (Sony 57961)
Grammy Award for Best Classical Album:
1998 Yo-Yo Ma Premieres - Danielpour, Kirchner, Rouse (Sony Classical 66299)
Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album:
2004 Obrigado Brazil (Sony 89935)
2001 Appalachian Journey (Sony 66782)
1999 Soul of the Tango - The Music of Ástor Piazzolla (Sony Classical 63122)
Glenn Gould Prize
1999
Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) (honoris causa)
2005 Princeton UniversityFurther Information
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