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Member Number: 9735
Yo-Yo Ma (Traditional Chinese: 馬友友; Simplified Chinese: 马友友; Pinyin: Mǎ Yǒuyǒu) (b. October 7, 1955) is a French-born American cellist of world renown and the winner of multiple Grammy Awards.
Biography
Childhood and early career
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.
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. At eight, he appeared on American television in a concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein. By age fifteen, Ma had already graduated from high school and appeared as 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 to continue his studies until, in the 1970s, Pablo Casals' performing inspired him.[citation needed]
However, even before that time, he had 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 are particularly acclaimed, and he has also played a good deal of chamber music—often with the pianist Emanuel Ax, with whom he has 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.
Later life and career
Ma married his long-time girlfriend, Jill Hornor, a violinist, in 1977. They have two children, Nicholas and Emily. They currently reside in Winchester, Massachusetts. Ma's elder sister, Yeou-Cheng Ma, 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. This US$2.5 million, more than two hundred and seventy year old cello, nicknamed Petunia, was lost in fall 1999 after Ma left the instrument behind in a taxicab in New York City. It was later recovered unharmed. Another of Ma's celli, the Davidov Stradivarius, was previously owned by Jacqueline du Pré who passed it to him upon her death, though its current owner remains anonymous. 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.[citation needed] 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 fibre, by the Luis and Clark company of Boston.
In 1997 he was featured on the soundtrack to the Hollywood film, Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt. In 2000, he was heard on the soundtrack of the blockbuster foreign film hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
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; 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.
AccomplishmentsAppearances
Ma has appeared in an episode of the animated children's television series, Arthur, as well as on The West Wing, Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. 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 Pixar CEO Steve Jobs. Ma is often invited to press events for Jobs's companies, and has performed on stage during event keynote presentations.
In The Simpsons episode Missionary: Impossible, Ma runs after Homer Simpson along with many other frequent guests of PBS.
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 Secretary-General Kofi Annan in January 2006.[7]
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.
Awards and recognitions
Dan David Prize
- 2006
Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:
- 1996 Brahms/Beethoven/Mozart: Clarinet Trios (Sony 57499)
- 1993 Brahms: Sonatas for Cello & Piano (Sony 48191)
- 1992 Brahms: Piano Quartets Op. 25, Op. 26) (Sony 45846)
- 1987 Beethoven: Cello and Piano Sonata No. 4 in C & Variations (CBS 42121)
- 1986 Brahms: Cello and Piano Sonatas in E Minor Op. 38, and F Op. 99 (RCA 17022)
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 University
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Yo-Yo Ma wows RPO crowd Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, NY - More than 3000 people scrambled to their seats in the Eastman Theatre, settling only momentarily before a pre-concert announcement that Yo-Yo Ma had been ... Yo-Yo Ma wows RPO crowd |
Orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma Globe and Mail, Canada - And a fitting tribute it was, thanks to guest soloist Yo-Yo Ma - who, it's fair to say, has now inherited the crown of World's Foremost Cellist. ... Toronto welcomes back Yo-Yo Ma |
 CNET Blogs | A boombox that would bring Yo-Yo Ma to tears CNET Blogs, CA - The noise you may hear in the background is one Antonio Stradivari spinning in his 18th century grave. We honestly don't have anything against the boombox's ... |
Boston Orchestra To Present YO-YO MA HULIQ (press release), NC - The entire orchestra is absolutely thrilled to have the chance to work with Yo-Yo Ma. I am honored to be the concertmaster, and I know it will be an ... |
Yo-Yo Ma Will Accompany Sony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall Debut Bloomberg - s Tokyo-based amateur orchestra will make its Carnegie Hall debut on Oct. 14, playing with cellist Yo-Yo Ma in its first appearance outside Japan. ... |
Virtuoso to play, thanks to driver who returned $4M violin The Associated Press - Quint found himself in the same predicament as other musicians, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who had left their instruments in cabs. ... |
 Gizmodo.com | ASIMO to Conduct Yo-Yo Ma and Detroit Symphony Orchestra Gizmodo.com - It looks like there's no end to ASIMO's skills: the smart, cute robot is to pick up the baton and conduct cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Detroit Symphony ... |
 Tech Digest | Maestro Asimo conducts Yo Yo Ma - is there anything this robot can ... Tech Digest, UK - On 13th May our Honda robot pal will be flexing his servos in his first attempts at crowd control by conducting Yo Yo Ma and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra ... |
Is Madonna appearing at Oilcan Harry's?; Yo-Yo Ma on Long Center's ... Austin American-Statesman, TX - A solo concert by famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma and a world premiere of a piece composed specifically for the Long Center's Dell Hall by noted Texas-born composer ... |
In Concert, Searchers Retrieve Yo-Yo Ma's Lost Stradivarius New York Times Blogs, NY - By KATHERINE E. FINKELSTEIN Yo-Yo Ma, the world's most famous living cellist, could not have planned a more dramatic and nail-biting performance in New York ... |
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