Yo-Yo Ma 馬友友 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Ma in 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Background information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 7 October 1955 Paris, France | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genres | See article | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Musician | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Instrument | Cello | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years active | 1961–present | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Labels | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of | Silk Road Ensemble | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | yo-yoma | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 馬友友 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 马友友 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Yo-Yo Ma[a] (born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist.[1] Born to Chinese[2] parents in Paris, he was regarded as a child prodigy there and began to study the cello with his father at age four. At the age of seven, Ma moved with his family to Boston and later to New York City, where he continued his cello studies at the Juilliard School before pursuing a liberal arts education at Harvard University. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras around the world. He has recorded more than 92 albums and received 19 Grammy Awards.
In addition to recordings of the standard classical repertoire, Ma has recorded a wide variety of folk music, such as American bluegrass music, traditional Chinese melodies, the tangos of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, and Brazilian music. He has also collaborated with artists from a diverse range of genres, including Bobby McFerrin, Carlos Santana, Chris Botti, Diana Krall, James Taylor, Miley Cyrus, and Sting.
Ma has been a United Nations Messenger of Peace since 2006.[3] He has received numerous awards, including the Avery Fisher Prize in 1978, The Glenn Gould Prize in 1999, the National Medal of Arts in 2001,[4] the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, Kennedy Center Honors in 2011, the Polar Music Prize in 2012, and the Birgit Nilsson Prize in 2022.[5] He was named as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2020.[6]
Ma's primary performance instrument is the Davidov cello, made in 1712 by Antonio Stradivari.[7]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ Kosman, Joshua (November 2005). "35 Who Made a Difference: Yo-Yo Ma". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
- ^ "Biography (Text Only) | Yo-Yo Ma". Yo-yoma.com. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
- ^ "Yo-Yo Ma". United Nations Messengers of Peace. United Nations. Archived from the original on September 18, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
- ^ National Medal of Arts Archived July 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, National Endowment for the Arts.
- ^ "President Obama Names Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients". whitehouse.gov (Press release). Washington, D.C. November 17, 2010. Archived from the original on January 26, 2017 – via National Archives.
- ^ "The 100 Most Influential People of 2020". Time. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
- ^ "Yo-Yo Ma on playing his 1712 'Davidov' Stradivari cello". The Strad. Retrieved July 17, 2023.