Happy Birthday Yo Yo Ma - Born 7 October 1955 is a French and American cellist He was a child prodigy and was performing by age five. He completed a Bachelors degree from Harvard University in 1976. He has played as a soloist with many major orchestras. His 75 albums have received fifteen Grammy Awards. In addition to recordings of the standard classical repertoire, he has recorded American bluegrass music; traditional Chinese melodies; the tangos of Argentinian composer Ástor Piazzolla; Brazilian music; and a collaboration with Bobby McFerrin. During their controversial tour of 2005-6, Ma backed them playing cello as sideman for the Dixie Chicks, assisting in the string arrangements for the band. Mas primary performance instrument is a Montagnana cello built in 1733 valued at US$2.5 million. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2001, Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, and the Polar Music Prize in 2012 Yo-Yo Ma was born in Paris on October 7, 1955, to Chinese parents and had a musical upbringing. His mother, Marina Lu, was a singer, and his father, Hiao-Tsiun Ma, was a violinist and professor of music at Nanjing National Central University (predecessor of the present-day Nanjing University). The family moved to New York when he was five years old. At a young age, Ma began studying violin, and later viola, before settling on the cello in 1960 at age four. According to Yo-Yo Ma, his first choice was the double bass due to its large size, but he compromised and took up cello instead. The child prodigy began performing before audiences at age five and performed for Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy when he was seven.At age eight, he appeared on American television with his sister, Yeou-Cheng Ma, in a concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Ma attended Trinity School in New York but transferred to the Professional Childrens School, from which he graduated at fifteen years of age. He appeared as a soloist with the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra in a performance of the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations. A painting featuring Yo-Yo Ma in Currier House, his residence at Harvard University Ma studied at the Juilliard School at age nineteen with Leonard Rose and attended Columbia University but dropped out. He enrolled at Harvard University later on. Prior to entering Harvard, Ma played in the Marlboro Festival Orchestra under the direction of nonagenarian cellist and conductor Pablo Casals. Ma would ultimately spend four summers at the Marlboro Music Festival after meeting and falling in love with Mount Holyoke College sophomore and festival administrator Jill Hornor his first summer there in 1972. However, even before that time, Ma had steadily gained fame and had performed with many of the worlds major orchestras. His recordings and performances of Johann Sebastian Bachs Cello Suites recorded in 1983 and again in 1994–1997 are particularly acclaimed. He has also played chamber music, often with the pianist Emanuel Ax, with whom he has a close friendship back from their days together at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Ma received his bachelors degree from Harvard in 1976. In 1991, he received an honorary doctorate from Harvard Ma has been referred to as omnivorous by critics and possesses an eclectic repertoire.[18] 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; Brazilian Music, in recording traditional songs and songs composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Pixinguinha; a collaboration with Bobby McFerrin (where Ma admitted to being terrified of the improvisation McFerrin pushed him toward); as well as the music of modern minimalist Philip Glass in such works as the 2002 piece Naqoyqatsi. He is known for his smooth, rich tone as well as his virtuosity,including a cello recording of Niccolò Paganinis 24th Caprice for solo violin and Zoltán Kodálys solo sonata.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 20:27:58 +0000
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