Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma is married to Jill Hornor, who works as an arts consultant. The couple has two children, Nicholas and Emily.

Despite having won numerous awards, and having earned tremendous fame worldwide, he is of a quite humble nature.

Since 2006, he has been an United Nations Messenger of Peace.

Yo-Yo Ma was born on 7 October 1955, in Paris, France to Chinese parents. His mother, Marina Lu, was a singer while his father, Hiao-Tsiun Ma, was a violinist and a professor of music who taught at the Nanjing National Central University. The family moved to the USA when Yo-Yo Ma was a child.

He received a musical upbringing and started playing the violin and the piano from an early age. He learnt to play the cello when he was only four and a half.

He gained much popularity as a child prodigy because of his remarkable talents. He performed for Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy when he was only seven. He made his first television appearance as an eight year old.

He graduated from the Professional Children’s School at the age of fifteen. Then he studied at the Julliard School, and later attended Columbia University. However, he soon dropped out and entered Harvard College. He graduated in 1976. Fifteen years later, he also received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater.

Yo-Yo Ma wanted to begin his career right after receiving his bachelor’s degree. However it was delayed for some months as he had to undergo surgery for scoliosis. Fortunately, the surgery was a success and he was able to begin his career soon after. Blessed with extraordinary musical skills, he gained much popularity before long.

His amazing talents as a cellist attracted many contemporary composers and he gained numerous commissions. Quite often, he also performed as part of a trio, with pianist Emanuel Ax and violinist Young-Uck Kim. For their recordings of the sonatas of Ludwig Van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms, they earned a lot of appreciation.

On July 5th, 1986, Yo-Yo Ma performed on the New York Philharmonic's tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, which was one of the most significant performances in his career.

Throughout his career, he has produced numerous albums. Some of his early works are ‘Great Cello Concertos’ (1989), ‘Made in America’ (1993) and ‘Soul of the Tango: The Music of Astor Piazzolla’ (1997).

Yo-Yo Ma founded the Silk Road Project in 1998 to encourage collaboration among artists and institutions. He saw it as a means to “promote multicultural artistic collaboration”. According to its website, the project aims to connect the world’s neighborhoods by bringing together both artists and audience from around the world. Currently, it is affiliated to Harvard University.

Yo-Yo Ma has composed soundtracks for several films. ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ which was released in the year 2000, can be regarded the most important movie he has ever worked in. The film, which was directed by Ang Lee, was a huge hit. It was nominated for ten Oscars, out of which it won seven. It also did well commercially, grossing more than $200 million dollars on a budget of $17 million.

’The Goat Rodeo Sessions’ is Yo-Yo Ma’s most recent album, on which he collaborated with Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile. The album included tracks such as ‘Quarter Chicken Dark’ and ‘Where’s My Bow?’ It debuted at No. 23 on the US Billboard 200, and No. 1 on the Classical as well as the Classical Crossover charts. It did well commercially and eventually won two Grammys as well.