Information AboutYo-yo Ma |
Yo-Yo Ma () (b. October 7 , 1955 ) is an French -born American 1 Cellist and winner of multiple Grammy Award s. 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 ''. 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 ' performances inspired him. 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 '', 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 1976.2 In 1991, he received an honorary doctorate from Harvard.3 Later life and career after performing a Duet at the presentation of the 2001 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal Awards]] 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.4 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 .5 It was later recovered undamaged. 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. 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 .6 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 foreign film hit '' Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ''. He collaborated with Williams again on the original score for 2005's '' 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 ''. A wonderful literary portrait of Yo Yo Ma is in David Blum's book, Quintet, Five Journeys toward Musical Fulfillment (Cornell University Press, 1999). It originally appeared as an article in the 1 May 1989 issue of The New Yorker. DISCOGRAPHY PLAYING STYLE APPEARANCES Ma has appeared in an episode of the animated children's television series, '''' episode " The Ticket " Kramer spontaneously yells out "Yo Yo Ma!" after being kicked in the head by Crazy Joe Divola. 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 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
Grammy Award For Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance :
Grammy Award For Best Instrumental Soloist Performance : Grammy Award For Best Classical Contemporary Composition :
Grammy Award For Best Classical Album :
Grammy Award For Best Classical Crossover Album :
Glenn Gould Prize
Doctor Of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) ('' Honoris Causa '')
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