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Yo-Yo Ma gave his first public recital at age 5 and by the time he was 19 was being
compared with such masters as Rostropovich and Casals. One of the most sought-after
cellists of our time, Mr. Ma has appeared with eminent conductors and orchestras in all
the music capitals of the world. He has also earned a distinguished international
reputation as an ambassador for classical music and its vital role in society.
Highly acclaimed for his ensemble playing, Mr. Ma regularly performs chamber music
with a wide circle of colleagues. Over the past several seasons, he has joined Emanuel
Ax, Isaac Stem and Jaime Laredo for performances and recordings of the piano quartet
repertoire, including works of Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Fauré, Mozart and
Schumann. Mr. Ma's long-standing partnership with Emanuel Ax is one of the music
world's most successful collaborations. Together they regularly perform duo recitals and
made many recordings, including the complete cello sonatas of Beethoven and Brahms
as well as works of Britten, Chopin, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff and Strauss, among
others. During the 1995-96 season, they celebrated the 20th anniversary of their
partnership with a recital tour culminating at Carnegie Hall as well as a special concert
at Alice Tully Hall for PBS's "Live from Lincoln Center."
Mr. Ma recently completed a collaborative project of a different kind, creating films of
Bach's Six Cello Suites that explore the relationship between Bach's music and other
artistic disciplines. The first of these, featuring original choreography of Mark Morris
set to the Third Cello Suite, was premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in August 1995.
Subsequent films are to incorporate the work of the renowned Kabuki artist Tamasaburo
Bando, the Italian architect Piranesi, Boston-based garden designer Julie Moir Messervy,
Olympic ice-dancing champions Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean, and Canadian film
director Atom Egoyan.
An exclusive Sony Classical recording artist, Yo-Yo Ma is a ten-time Grammy award
winner. Among his recent releases are Peter Lieberson's chamber work "King Gesar;" a
disc of recent concertos by Kirchner, Rouse and Danielpour with David Zinman and the
Philadelphia Orchestra; and a new work by Andre Previn, set to words by Toni
Morrison, with soprano Sylvia McNair and Mr. Previn as pianist. This fall Sony
Classical released "Appalachia Waltz," an album of original music recorded in
Nashville with fiddle player Mark O'Connor and bassist Edgar Meyer.
Contemporary music, particularly by American composers, has for many years been an
important part of Mr. Ma's repertoire. Over the past several seasons, he has premiered
works by Stephen Albert, William Bolcom, John Corigliano, Richard Danielpour, David
Diamond, John Harbison, Lou Harrison, Leon Kirchner, Ezra Laderman, Peter
Lieberson, Tod Machover, Christopher Rouse, Bright Sheng and John Williams.
A very recent premiere of comtemporary music was Heaven, Earth, Mankind:
Symphony 1997, celebrating the return of Hong Kong to Chinese Rule. Mr. Ma
developed a very close relationship with composer Tan Dun and has recently given
performances of the symphony around the world.
Alongside his extensive performing and recording, Yo-Yo Ma devotes time to work
with young musicians in programs such as those at Interlochen and Tanglewood. He
seeks to include educational outreach activities in his regular touring schedule as well,
through master classes and more informal interaction with student audiences. He is also
working to develop concerts for family audiences and appeared with Emanuel Ax on
Camegie Hall's family series in 1995-96
Bom in Paris in 1955 of Chinese parents, Yo-Yo Ma began his cello studies with
his father at age 4. Later, he studied with Janos Scholz and in 1962 he began his
studies with Leonard Rose at The Juilliard School. A graduate of Harvard
University, he was accorded the special distinction of an honorary doctorate in
music in 1991 by his alma mater. He was also the recipient of the prestigious
Avery Fisher Prize in 1978. Mr. Ma and his wife, Jill, have two children, Nicholas
and Emily.
He currently plays a Montagnana cello from
Venice made in 1733 and a Davidoff
Stradivarius made in 1712.
1986 Grammy Award for Cello Concertos by Elgar and
Walton
1990 Grammy Award for Cello Concertos by Barber and
Britten Gramophone Magazine Award for Brahms: Piano
Quartets
1991 Grammy Award for Brahms: Piano Quartets
1992 "Top Classical Crossover Album" in Billboard
Magazine for Hush (with Bobby McFerrin)
1993 Grammy Award for Brahms: Cello Sonatas Grammy
Award for concerted works by Tchaikovsky and
Prokofiev Diapason "5" Award for "Made in America"
(Music by Bernstein, Kirchner, Gershwin & Ives)
1994 Grammy Award for Bach: Suites for Unaccompanied
Cello
1995 Grammy Award and Diapason "5" Award for "The
New York Album" (Music by Stephen Albert, Bartok and
Bloch) Grammy Award for Trios by Beethoven, Mozart
and Brahms (with Richard Stoltzman and Emanuel Ax
1996 Diapason D'Or Award for Schubert: Trout
Quintet & Arpeggione Son
Photo by Anja Tichawsky
(ABOVE) -- Yo-Yo Ma gives an onstage workshop for students from the
Peabody School in Cambridge, at
Jordan Hall, Oct. 93.
Bobby McFerrin with Yo-Yo
Ma
So what is a cello anyways? Most people have heard of one before, but based on my
own experiences, people don't know exactly which member of the orchestra it is. I
remember carrying my cello to a concert once and someone asked me if what I was
carrying was a bass. There has even been a time when someone asked if it was a tuba!
So, here I present you with a good summary of what the cello is:
Cello or Violoncello, large, low-pitched musical instrument of the violin family, held
between the performer's knees. It is really a bass violin played in an upright position. It
has four strings tuned C G d a (C = two C's below middle C; a = the A below middle C).
Its range extends over more than four octaves. It is mostly used in string-quartets and
orchestras.
The Tail spike is used to balance the Cello when being played; it can be adjusted to any
size, and retracts back into the Cello when not in use. The tuning pegs at the Pegbox are
used for tuning the Cello, but for real accuracy, the fine tuners are used. The f hole is
used to increase the resonance of the Cellos body, thus making the sound produced
louder. The 4 Cello strings are thicker that those of the Violin, and are better suited that
way to give the Cello its unique sound. The Cello is played by rubbing the bow string
over the Cello strings, both in left and right directions.
The earliest surviving Cellos are two from the 1560s by the Italian violinmaker Andrea
Amati. Until the late 18th century the Cello was only a supporting instrument, playing
bass lines and adding fullness to musical textures. During the baroque era
unaccompanied Cello suites were composed (1720?) by the German composer Johann
Sebastian Bach, as were Cello concertos by Antonio Vivaldi and Luigi Boccherini, the
Italian composers. In the 19th century, works for the Cello included concertos by
Johannes Brahms and the Czech composer Antonín Dvorák. In the 20th century,
composers such as the Russians Sergey Prokofiev and Dmitry Shostakovich further
explored its solo capabilities. The most prominent 20th-century cellist was the Spanishborn Pablo Casals. Other leading soloists are the Russian-born Gregor Piatigorsky and
Mstislav Rostropovich, and of course Yo-Yo Ma. Each cellist has made his own special
contributions to the world of music.