Yo-Yo Ma

About

Official Site: http://www.yo-yoma.com/

The many-faceted career of cellist Yo-Yo Ma is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences, and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Whether performing a new concerto, revisiting a familiar work from the cello repertoire, coming together with colleagues for chamber music or exploring cultures and musical forms outside of the Western classical tradition, Ma strives to find connections that stimulate the imagination.

Yo-Yo Ma was born to Chinese parents living in Paris. He began to study the cello with his father at age 4 and soon came with his family to New York, where he spent most of his formative years. Later, his principal teacher was Leonard Rose at the Juilliard School. He sought out a traditional liberal arts education to expand upon his conservatory training, graduating from Harvard University in 1976. Ma and his wife have two children.

Ma is an exclusive Sony Classical artist, and his discography of over 50 albums - which have won him 15 Grammy Awards - reflects his wide-ranging interests. His latest recording is Vivaldi's Cello, which features his first recordings of concertos and new transcriptions of the music of Antonio Vivaldi, with Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, to be released in Spring 2004. In February, Ma was awarded his 15th Grammy for the best-selling 2003 release Obrigado Brazil. Winner of a pair of Grammys, including Best Classical Crossover Recording, Obrigado Brazil celebrates Brazilian music - from classical to bossa nova and samba - with Ma joined by a gallery of top Brazilian and Latin American musicians, including Sérgio and Odair Assad, Egberto Gismonti, Paquito D'Rivera and Cesar Camargo Mariano.

Yo-Yo Ma maintains a balance between his engagements as soloist with orchestras throughout the world and his recital and chamber music activities. He draws inspiration from a wide circle of collaborators, creating programs with such artists as Emanuel Ax, Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Pamela Frank, Jeffrey Kahane, Kayhan Kalhor, Ton Koopman, Jaime Laredo, Bobby McFerrin, Edgar Meyer, Mark Morris, Mark O'Connor, the late Isaac Stern, Kathryn Stott, Wu Man, Wu Tong and David Zinman. Each of these collaborations is fueled by the artists' interactions, often extending the boundaries of a particular genre. One of Ma's goals is the exploration of music as a means of communication, and as a vehicle for the migrations of ideas, across a range of cultures throughout the world. To that end, he has taken time to immerse himself in subjects as diverse as native Chinese music with its distinctive instruments and the music of the Kalahari bush people in Africa.

He plays two instruments, a 1733 Montagnana cello from Venice and the 1712 Davidoff Stradivarius.

Yo-Yo Ma Newsletter

Email Address
First Name
Country
ZIP/Postal Code
Sign me up for Masterworks mailing list!

Yo-Yo Ma Discography (113titles)

New Impossibilities 7/31/07 88697103192 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Appassionato 1/9/07 88697026682 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites [Great Performances] 6/6/06 82876787512 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone 1/3/06 82876762252 Super Audio CD Hybrid BUY NOW	Memoirs Of A Geisha 11/22/05 82876747082 CD Longplay BUY NOW	R. Strauss: Don Quixote, Op. 35; Sonata in F Major for Cello and Piano, Op. 6 [Classic Library] 8/30/05 SK94735 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon 4/5/05 SK93962 CD Longplay BUY NOW	BUY NOW	Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone 9/28/04 SK93456 CD Longplay BUY NOW
The Dvorák Album 9/7/04 SK92858 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Schubert: Trout Quintet; Arpeggione Sonata; Die Forelle 8/10/04 SK92765 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Schumann: Cello Concerto; Adagio & Allegro; Fantasiestücke; Five Stücke im Volkston, Op. 102 8/10/04 SK92757 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart: Clarinet Trios [Expanded Edition] 7/27/04 SK92730 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Fauré: Piano Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 [Expanded Edition] 7/27/04 SK92745 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Schubert: Piano Trio No. 1; Brahms: String Quintet No. 2; Bach: Sarabande & Double from Partita No. 1, BWV 1002 [Expanded Edition] 7/27/04 SK92740 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano: Classic Library Series 4/20/04 82876594152 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Vivaldi's Cello 3/30/04 SK90916 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Mozart: Piano Quartets, K. 493 & K. 478 [Expanded Edition] 2/24/04 SK93071 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Concertos from the New World [Expanded Edition] 2/24/04 SK93072 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Obrigado Brazil - Live In Concert 2/10/04 SK90970 CD/DVD BUY NOW	BUY NOW
Brahms: Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra in A Minor, Op. 102 & Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60 - Expanded Edition 9/30/03 SK90405 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Dvorák: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 87; Sonatina in G, Op. 100; Romatic Pieces, Op. 75 - Expanded Edition 9/30/03 SK93013 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Haydn: Three Favorite Concertos -- Cello, Violin & Trumpet Concertos - Expanded Edition 9/30/03 SK90392 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev: Cello Sonatas - Expanded Edition 9/30/03 SK90397 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Simply Baroque - Expanded Edition 9/30/03 SK90386 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Obrigado Brazil 7/29/03 SK89935 CD Longplay BUY NOW
BUY NOW	Classics For A New Century 6/10/03 SK80019 CD Longplay BUY NOW	BUY NOW
Paris - La Belle Époque 4/15/03 SK87287 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Saint-Saëns: Organ Symphony; Carnival of the Animals; Bacchanale; March militaire; Danse Macabre 4/1/03 SBK87277 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Naqoyqatsi (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 10/8/02 SK87709 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Isaac Stern: In Tribute and Celebration 7/16/02 S2K89936 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Meyer: Double Bass Concerto; Double Concerto; Bottesini: Double Bass Concerto No. 2; Grand Duo Concertant 6/11/02 SK60956 CD Longplay BUY NOW	BUY NOW
Silk Road Journeys - When Strangers Meet 4/16/02 SK89782 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Classic Perlman: Rhapsody 4/2/02 SK89449 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Yo-Yo Ma Plays The Music of John Williams 2/19/02 SK89670 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Classic Yo-Yo 9/18/01 SK89667 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Classical Hits 9/11/01 SK89702 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Heartland: An Appalachian Anthology 7/3/01 SK89683 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Inspired by Bach, Vol. II: Falling Down Stairs & Sarabande 11/21/00 SVD89298 DVD Video Longplay BUY NOW	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - OMPS 11/14/00 SK89347 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Inspired by Bach, Vol. I: The Music Garden and The Sound of the Carceri 11/7/00 SVD89297 DVD Video Longplay BUY NOW
Corigliano: Phantasmagoria 10/3/00 SK60747 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Simply Baroque II 8/15/00 SK60681 CD Longplay BUY NOW	BUY NOW
BUY NOW	Appalachian Journey 3/21/00 SK66782 CD Longplay BUY NOW	BUY NOW
Solo 9/21/99 SK64114 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Brahms: Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 83 & Sonata in D Major, Op. 78 8/24/99 SK63229 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Stock: Lulie the Iceberg 5/25/99 SK61665 CD Longplay BUY NOW
The Protecting Veil & Wake Up...and Die 8/11/98 SK62821 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Korngold, Schmidt: Music for Strings and Piano Left Hand 5/19/98 SK48253 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Bach: The Cello Suites 2/17/98 S2K63203 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Piazzolla: Soul of the Tango 11/11/97 SK63122 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Liberty! 10/28/97 SK63216 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Seven Years in Tibet 9/30/97 SK60271 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Previn: From Ordinary Things 2/25/97 SK62004 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Premiers - Concertos for Violoncello and Orchestra by Danielpour, Kirchner & Rouse 11/19/96 SK66299 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Schubert, Boccherini: String Quintets 11/12/96 SK53983 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Lieberson: King Gesar 10/1/96 SK57971 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Appalachia Waltz 9/17/96 SK68460 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Greatest Hits: Saint-Saëns 11/14/95 MLK69251 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart: Clarinet Trios 7/25/95 SK57499 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Chopin: Chamber Music 9/20/94 SK53112 CD Longplay BUY NOW	The New York Album 9/20/94 SK57961 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Rachmaninoff: Greatest Hits 8/9/94 MLK64056 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Beethoven, Schumann: Piano Quartets 6/14/94 SK53339 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Dvorák In Prague: A Celebration 3/22/94 SK46687 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Made in America 8/10/93 SK53126 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht & String Trio 1/12/93 SK47690 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Fauré: Piano Quartets 1/12/93 SK48066 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Brahms: Sonatas for Cello & Piano, Opp. 38., 99 and 108 10/6/92 SK48191 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Prokofiev: Sinfonia Concertante; Tchaikovsky: Rococco Variations; Andante Cantabile 9/29/92 SK48382 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Brahms: Sextets, opp.18&36 6/16/92 S2K45820 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Hush 1/28/92 SK48177 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1; Piano Concerto No. 2; Violin Concerto No. 3 1/15/91 MDK46506 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Brahms: Piano Quartets 10/23/90 S2K45846 CD Longplay BUY NOW
A Cocktail Party 9/25/90 MFK46357 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Don Quixote, Op. 35 1/30/90 MDK45804 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Great Cello Concertos: Dvorák, Elgar, Haydn, Saint-Säens, Schumann 12/5/89 M2K44562 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Strauss and Britten Cello Sonatas 11/14/89 MK44980 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Shostakovich: Quartet No.15; Gubaidulina: Rejoice 10/3/89 MK44924 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Anything Goes The Music of Cole Porter 9/26/89 MK45574 CD Longplay BUY NOW
The Japanese Album 7/11/89 MFK45546 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Portrait of Yo-Yo Ma 4/11/89 MK44796 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Cello Concerto 2/28/89 MDK44903 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Barber: Cello Concerto; Britten: Symphony for Cello & Orchestra 2/7/89 MK44900 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2, Cello Sonata 11/1/88 MK44664 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Dvorák: Piano Trios 6/14/88 MK44527 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Beethoven: Complete Cello Sonatas 11/24/87 M2K42446 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Boccherini: Cello Concerto; J.C. Bach: Sinfionia Concertante 8/18/87 SK39964 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Mozart: Adagio and Fugue in C Minor; Schubert: String Quartet No.15 5/5/87 MK42134 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Dvorák: Cello Concerto; Silent Woods; Rondo 9/23/86 MK42206 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Haydn: Cello Concertos 8/19/86 SK36674 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Beethoven: Cello Sonata No.4; Variations 7/15/86 MK42121 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Strauss: Don Quixote, Op. 35 & Schoenberg: Concerto in D Major for Cello and Orchestra (Arr. from Harpsichord Concerto by Mathias Georg Monn) 3/31/86 MK39863 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Mozart: Divertimento, K.563 11/12/85 SK39561 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Elgar, Walton: Cello Concertos 6/29/85 MK39541 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Japanese Melodies 6/23/85 MK39703 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites 5/24/85 M2K37867 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Schubert: Quintet in C Major 1/22/85 MK39134 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Bach: Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord 6/26/84 MK37794 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Beethoven: Cello Sonatas Nos.3 & 5 6/26/84 MK39024 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Bolling: Suite for Cello and Jazz Piano Trio 4/24/84 MK39059 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Shostakovich, Kabalevsky: Cello Concertos 2/7/84 MK37840 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Beethoven: Cello Sonatas, Op.5, Nos.1 & 2 10/25/83 MK37251 CD Longplay BUY NOW	Saint-Saëns, Lalo: Cello Concertos 8/16/83 MK35848 CD Longplay BUY NOW
Kreisler, Paganini: Works 6/28/83 MK37280 CD Longplay BUY NOW