Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma (2013)

Yo-Yo Ma ( Chinese 馬友友 , Pinyin Mǎ Yǒuyǒu ) (born October 7, 1955 in Paris ) is an American cellist . His discography includes more than 100 albums , which earned him 19 Grammys (as of 2020).

Life

Ma, son of the Hong Kong singer Marina Lu and the violinist , music professor and conductor Hiao-Tsiun Ma, began playing the cello at the age of four. When he was seven years old, his family moved to New York City and by the age of eight he was already appearing on American television with Leonard Bernstein . Bernstein also referred him to the Juilliard School , where he became a student of Leonard Rose .

Yo-Yo Ma 2008 at the World Economic Forum in Davos

In addition to classical music , he has also released albums with Bobby McFerrin and an album with tango pieces by Astor Piazzolla .

In 1998, Yo-Yo Ma developed the idea of bringing musicians from different cultures together. He organized a first meeting with musicians from the countries of the historic Silk Road . From this project, the Silkroad Ensemble emerged in 2000 with artists from numerous countries who appear in diverse formations around the world and convey the cultural richness of their various musical traditions. The ensemble publishes videos of its activities on YouTube.

Ma accompanied on 20 January 2009, the inauguration ceremony of Barack Obama with a quartet and of John Williams composed piece that works by Aaron Copland contained. On August 29, 2009, he played in a service in Boston in honor of the late Senator Edward Kennedy . In 2011 he recorded the album The Goat Rodeo Sessions with Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile .

Yo-Yo Ma is married and has two children. He plays three cellos: an instrument by Moes & Moes (2003), a cello by Domenico Montagnana (1733) and the “Dawidow” by Stradivari (1712). The Stradivari cello is named after Karl Juljewitsch Dawidow . It has been owned by LVMH since 1988 ; previously it belonged to Jacqueline du Pré .

Discography

In 2011 a collection of 90 CDs ( 30 Years Outside the Box ) was released containing all of the recordings Yo-Yo Ma made for CBS and Sony Classical .

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
year	title	US	Remarks
1992	Hush	US93 (18 weeks) US	with Bobby McFerrin
2000	Appalachian Journey	US170 (2 weeks) US	with Edgar Meyer and Mark O'Connor First published: 1999
2001	Classic yo-yo	US180 (4 weeks) US
2002	Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet	US153 (4 weeks) US	with The Silk Road Ensemble First published: 2001
2003	Obrigado Brazil	US58 (14 weeks) US
2004	Vivaldi's cello	US175 (4 weeks) US	with The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Ton Koopman
2004	Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone	US171 (2 weeks) US	with Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra ( Morricone )
2005	Memoirs of a Geisha	US163 (1 week) US	Soundtrack for the film The Geisha with John Williams and Itzhak Perlman
2007	Appassionato	US79 (5 weeks) US
2007	New Impossibilities	US152 (1 week) US	with The Silk Road Ensemble and Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Miguel Harth-Bedoya)
2008	Yo-Yo Ma & Friends: Songs of Joy & Peace	US20 (17 weeks) US
2011	The Goat Rodeo Sessions	US18 (13 weeks) US	with Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile
2015	Songs from the Arc of Life	US137 (1 week) US	with Kathryn Stott
2017	Bach trios	US141 (1 week) US	with Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile

More albums

1980: Saint-Saëns : Carnival of the Animals (Chamber Version) (with Philippe Entremont and Gaby Casadesus)
1980: Cello Concertos (with Lorin Maazel and Orchester National de France )
1980: Triple Concerto in C major Op. 56 for piano, violin and violoncello (triple concerto) ( Beethoven : with Berliner Philharmoniker , Mark Zeltser, Anne-Sophie Mutter , Herbert von Karajan )
1982: Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 (Beethoven: with Emanuel Ax )
1983: The Unaccompanied Cello Suites / Suites for Violoncello / Les Suites Pour Violoncelle Seul - Vol. 1, Suites Nos. 1 & 2 (Bach)
1983: The Unaccompanied Cello Suites Vol. 2 - Suites Nos. 3 & 4 (Bach)
1983: The Unaccompanied Cello Suites Vol. 3 Suites Nos. 5 & 6 (Bach)
1983: The Six Unaccompanied Cello Suites / 6 Suites for Violoncello / Les 6 Suites Pour Violoncelle Seul (complete) ( Bach )
1983: Sonatas for Viola da Gamba & Harpsichord (Bach: with Kenneth Cooper)
1983: Cello Concerto No. 1 ( Shostakovich : with Ormandy and Philadelphia Orchestra )
1983: Saint-Saëns, Lalo: Cello Concertos
1983: Kreisler, Paganini: Works
1984: Japanese Melodies
1984: Quintet, Op. 163, D. 956 (C major) ( Schubert : with Cleveland Quartet)
1984: Haydn: Three Favorite Concertos - Cello, Violin and Trumpet Concertos
1984: Beethoven: Cello Sonatas Nos. 3 and 5
1984: Bolling: Suite for Cello and Jazz Piano Trio
1984: Shostakovich, Kabalevsky: Cello Concertos
1985: Sonatas for Cello and Piano ( Brahms : with Emanuel Ax)
1985: Divertimento, K. 563 ( Mozart : with Gidon Kremer and Kim Kashkashian )
1985: Elgar, Walton: Cello Concertos (with London Symphony Orchestra and André Previn )
1985: Strauss: Don Quixote; Schoenberg: Cello Concerto (with Seiji Ozawa , Boston Symphony Orchestra , Strauss , Schoenberg )
1986: Dvořák : Cello Concerto, Op. 104 / Rondo, Op. 94 / Waldesruhe, Op. 68 No. 5 (with Berliner Philharmoniker and Lorin Maazel )
1986: Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 4; Variations
1986: Haydn: Cello Concertos
1987: Concerto for Cello & Orchestra, G. 482 / Symphonie Concertante for Violin, Cello & Orchestra / Grand Overture (Symphony) for Double Orchestra Op. 18, No. 1 ( Boccherini , JC Bach , Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pinchas Zukerman )
1987: Schubert: Quartet No. 15, D. 887; Mozart: Adagio & Fugue K.546 (with Kim Kashkashian, Daniel Phillips, Gidon Kremer)
1987: Beethoven: Complete Cello Sonatas
1987: Boccherini: Cello Concerto; JC Bach: Sinfionia Concertante
1987: Mozart: Adagio and Fugue in C Minor; Schubert: String Quartet No. 15th
1988: Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2; Cello Sonata
1988: Dvořák: Piano Trios
1988: Schumann: Cello Concerto; Adagio and Allegro; Fantasy pieces; more ( Sir Colin Davis conducting Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra )
1988: Brahms: Double Concerto; Piano Quartet No. 3
1989: Symphony No. 5 / Cello Concerto No. 1 ( Shostakovich : with New York Philharmonic and Leonard Bernstein , Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy )
1989: Anything Goes (with Stéphane Grappelli )
1989: Great Cello Concertos: Dvořák, Elgar, Haydn, Saint-Saëns, Schumann
1989: R. Strauss, Britten: Cello Sonatas (with Emanuel Ax)
1989: Shostakovich: Quartet No.15; Gubaidulina: Rejoice
1989: The Japanese Album
1989: Portrait of Yo-Yo Ma
1989: Barber: Cello Concerto; Britten: Symphony for Cello andamp; Orchestra
1990: Saint-Saëns Concertos (with Cecile Licad and Cho-Liang Lin )
1990: Claudio Abbado - Brahms - Double Concerto; Berg - Chamber Concerto
1990: Brahms: The Piano Quartets
1990: A Cocktail Party
1990: Mozart: Serenade, K.361; Sonata for Bassoon and Cello, K.292
1990: Strauss: Don Quixote; The love of Danae
1991: Tchaikovsky Gala in Leningrad (with Jessye Norman , Itzhak Perlman , Leningrad Philharmonic *, Yuri Temirkanov)
1991: Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev: Cello Sonatas
1991: Brahms: Double Concerto; Berg: Chamber Concerto
1991: Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1; Piano Concerto No. 2; Violin Concerto No. 3
1992: Sonatas for Cello and Piano (Brahms: with Emanuel Ax)
1992: Brahms: String Sextets Opp. 18 & 36 (with Stern , Lin , Laredo , Tree and Robinson ; 2 CDs)
1994: Immortal Beloved (Beethoven: with Sir Georg Solti , Emanuel Ax, Pamela Frank, Gidon Kremer, Murray Perahia and London Symphony Orchestra )
1994: Beethoven / Schumann Piano Quartets (Beethoven / Schumann: with Stern, Laredo and Ax)
1994: The New York Album (with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and David Zinman )
1995: Triple Concerto, Choral Fantasy (Beethoven: with Itzhak Perlman and Daniel Barenboim )
1995: Concertos from the New World (Dvořák / Herbert : with New York Philharmonic and Kurt Masur )
1996: Appalachia Waltz (with Edgar Meyer and Mark O'Connor)
1996: Premieres - Cello Concertos (with Philadelphia Orchestra , David Zinman , Danielpour , Kirchner and Rouse )
1996: Fire Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio (with Goldenthal , Panagulias , Maddalena , Pacific Symphony Orchestra and St. Clair )
1996: Quintets (Schubert, Boccherini, Stern, Lin, Laredo, Ma, Robinson)
1997: Soul of the Tango (The Music of Astor Piazzolla) (with Astor Piazzolla )
1997: The Cello Suites: Inspired by Bach
1997: The Concertos ( Goldschmidt : with Sabine Meyer and Chantal Juillet)
1997: Symphony 1997 ( Tan Dun )
1998: The Protecting Veil / Wake Up… and Die
1999: Solo
1999: Simply Baroque (with Ton Koopman and The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra )
2000: Phantasmagoria (John Corigliano: with Emanuel Ax and James Tocco)
2001: Cello Suite Nos. 1, 5 & 6 ( Bach )
2001: Mozart (with Gidon Kremer and Kim Kashkashian)
2001: Heartland: An Appalachian Anthology
2002: Yo-Yo Ma Plays the Music of John Williams
2002: Meyer - Bottesini: Concertos (Edgar Meyer with Joshua Bell , Yo-Yo Ma, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Hugh Wolff )
2002: Naqoyqatsi : Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (with Philip Glass )
2003: Paris - La belle époque
2004: Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon (with The Silk Road Ensemble)
2004: Obrigado Brazil Live in Concert
2004: The Dvořák Album
2006: The Six Unaccompanied Cello Suites (Bach)
2006: US Winter Tour: Madison, WI. Overture Hall (with The Silk Road Ensemble)
2008: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - film + soundtrack (with Tan Dun)
2010: Piano Trios Op. 49 & 66 ( Mendelssohn : with Emanuel Ax and Itzhak Perlman)
2013: A Playlist without Borders (with The Silk Road Ensemble)
2018: Six Evolutions - Bach: Cello Suites

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
year	Title album	CH	Remarks
2010	While My Guitar Gently Weeps	CH46 (2 weeks) CH	Santana feat. India.Arie and Yo-Yo Ma

More singles

1992: Hush Little Baby (with Bobby McFerrin )

Awards

Grammys

1984: for Bach: Six Unaccompanied Cello Suites - Best Classical Performance-Instrumental Soloist (s) (with orchestra)
1985: for Elgar: Cello Concerto / Walton: Concerto For Cello & Orchestra - Best Classical Performance-Instrumental Soloist (s) (with orchestra)
1985: for Brahms: Sonatas for Cello and Piano - Best Chamber Music Performance
1986: for Beethoven: The Sonatas for Piano; Variations, WoO. 46; Variations, Op. 66 - Best Chamber Music Performance
1989: for Barber: Cello Concerto / Britten: Symphony For Cello - Best Classical Performance-Instrumental Soloist (s) (with orchestra)
1991: for Brahms: The Piano Quartets, Op.25 & Op.26, Op.60 - Best Chamber Music Performance
1992: for Prokofiev: Sinfonia Concertante / Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme / A - Best Classical Performance-Instrumental Soloist (s) (with orchestra)
1994: for The New York Album - Best Classical Performance-Instrumental Soloist (s) (with orchestra)
1995: for Brahms / Beethoven / Mozart: Clarinet Trios - Best Chamber Music Performance
1997: for Premiers - Best Classical Album + Best Classical Performance-Instrumental Soloist (s) (with orchestra)
1998: for Soul of the Tango: Music of Astor Piazzolla - Best Classical Crossover Album
2000: for Appalachian Journey - Best Classical Crossover Album
2003: for Obrigado Brazil - Best Classical Crossover Album
2009: for Yo-Yo Ma & Friends: Songs of Joy & Peace - Best Classical Crossover Album
2012: for Goat Rodeo Sessions - Best Folk Album
2016: for Sing Me Home - Best World Music Album