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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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Wells Fargo Joins Austin Symphony Orchestra HULIQ (press release), NC - Maestro Bay then welcomes to center stage the featured guest artist for the evening, cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Mr. Ma makes his long-awaited return to the Austin ... |
Only race left for Phelps is against other sports legends Baltimore Sun, United States - Is Yo-Yo Ma a more profound musician than Jimi Hendrix? Is swimmer Michael Phelps the greatest Olympian of all time? Adherents might claim one or the other ... |
Recalling a pianist's fleeting brilliance Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - from the era when this young artist was making critics reach for new superlatives and being mentioned in the same exalted breath as Yo-Yo Ma. ... |
25 things you might not know about Obama San Angelo Standard Times, tx - His music favorites include Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, Yo-Yo Ma, Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z and jazz legends Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. ... |
Southern Hospitality Music lovers take road to Tanglewood Montgomery Advertiser, AL - They also posed with Yo-Yo Ma after he was featured during a Sunday matinee performance for which Huntsville Symphony Music director Carlos Miguel Prieto ... |
Silk Road Sounds New York Times, United States - By EMILY WEINSTEIN; Compiled by BEN SISARIO Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, which celebrates the cultures of Central Asia and the Middle East along that ... |
 Broadway World | Stew and More to Perform at Alice Tully Hall Opening Nights Festival Broadway World, NY - ... collaborating with everyone from pop/rock icons Todd Rundgren and Joe Jackson to classical music star Yo-Yo Ma and jazz giant Ornette Coleman. ... |
 Boston Globe | Inside the Box Boston Globe, United States - At 275 years old, Yo-Yo Ma's Domenico Montagnana cello is still in its prime. Jeremy Eichler gets the master to muse about his instrument. Even while Yo-Yo ... |
 BBC Sport | Ping-pong has cult following in China Toronto Star, Canada - screams half of the roughly 8000 enthusiastic fans while the other half of the gymnasium responds with a resounding ``Jia yo!," spurring on the local hero ... Roundup: China's men crowned at Olympic table tennis |
Bad economy is a good time for entertainment, Valley arts groups ... Arizona Republic, AZ - The reason our singles were down last year was we didn't have Yo-Yo Ma. This year we have Lang Lang," who just performed at the Beijing Olympics. ... |
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