Yo-Yo Ma - Cellist
Created | Updated Mar 6, 2008
Yo-Yo Ma is one of the greatest cellists of our time. He has performed extensively both as a soloist as well as with many other artists, including renowned jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, classical pianist Emanuel Ax, and composer/conductor, Leonard Bernstein.
Early Years
Ma was born in Paris
on 7 October 1955, to Chinese parents. His mother, Marina Lu, was a singer, and his father, Hiao-Tsuin Ma, a conductor and composer. He started to play the cello at four years old after previously trying both violin and viola. His family moved to New York when he was seven, making Ma one of very few French-Chinese-American musicians.
After moving to New York, he was quickly recognized as an extremely gifted musician, and child prodigy. He attended the Juilliard School from 1962, studying under Leonard Rose. He later attended Harvard University to expand his education and graduated with a liberal arts BA degree in 1976, but he was inspired to become a professional cellist by his love of the music of Pablo Casals.
Ma married Jill Hornor, his long time girlfriend in 1978, and they have two children, Nicholas and Emily.
Recordings and Repertoire
Ma has recorded a wide range of repertoire, from the Bach Cello Suites, and other classical works1 including all the major cello concertos and sonatas, to the soundtrack of the movie "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon." He enjoys collaborating with other artists such as Kayhan Kalhor, Ton Koopman, Bobby McFerrin, Edgar Meyer, Mark Morris, Mark O'Connor, Kathryn Stott, Wu Man, Wu Tong, and David Zinman, and looks to extend musical boundaries. His musical interests are diverse as is shown from his collaboration with Edgar Meyer and Mark O'Connor into Appalachian music, to his exploration of native Chinese music and the music of the Kalahari bush people in Africa.
Silk Road Project
Besides playing concerts, Ma participates in many festivals, and workshops with students. His most famous project began in 1992 when he established the large scale Silk Road project, in which he involved many musicians, in a vision to bring together artists and audiences around the globe to 'connect the world's neighbourhoods'. It takes its inspiration from the cultural traditions of the historic Silk Road which crossed many nations from East to West, and it aims to promote innovation and learning through the arts.
Awards
In 1978, aged only 22, he received the Avery Fisher Prize 2. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Musical Arts from Princeton in 1991. In 1999 he was awarded the Glenn Gould prize 3
Ma has won many Grammy awards for his playing, including Best Instrumental Soloist for his Bach suites, in 1985
Instruments
Yo-Yo Ma plays Montagnana cello made in Venice in 1733, and the 1712 Davidoff Stradivarius previously owned by Jacqueline Du Pré. He also owns a Luis and Clark Carbon Fibre Cello.
He continues to perform in concerts around the world, details of his schedule can be found here.
1 The term 'Classical' here is used to describe the genre of western art music, and not as a period within this genre. 2 An award given to American musicians for outstanding achievement in classical music. 3 This is awarded every third year to a living individual in recognition of his/her contributions to music and communication.
