Yo-Yo Ma facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Yo-Yo Ma
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Yo-Yo Ma in 2018
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| Background information | |||||||||||||||||||
| Native name |
馬友友
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| Born | October 7, 1955 Paris, France |
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| Genres | See article | ||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Musician | ||||||||||||||||||
| Instruments | Cello | ||||||||||||||||||
| Years active | 1961–present | ||||||||||||||||||
| Labels |
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 馬友友 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 马友友 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Yo-Yo Ma (simplified Chinese: 马友友; traditional Chinese: 馬友友; pinyin: Mǎ Yǒuyǒu) is a famous French-born American cellist. He was born on October 7, 1955. Yo-Yo Ma was a child prodigy, meaning he was very talented from a young age. He started performing music when he was only four and a half years old.
He has recorded more than 92 albums. He has also won 19 Grammy Awards, which are very important music prizes. In 2020, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people.
Since 2006, Yo-Yo Ma has been a United Nations Messenger of Peace. In this role, he uses music to help bring people together and promote peace around the world.
Contents
Early Life and Learning Music
Yo-Yo Ma was born in Paris, France. His parents were Chinese. His mother, Marina Lu, was a singer. His father, Hiao-Tsiun Ma, was a violinist, composer, and music professor. When Yo-Yo Ma was seven, his family moved to New York City.
He started playing music very early. At age three, he tried the drums, violin, and piano. He also played the viola. But by age four, in 1960, he chose the cello. He jokes that he first wanted to play the double bass because it was so big! A famous violin maker in Paris lent him a tiny cello.
Yo-Yo Ma went to schools in New York, including Trinity School. He later graduated from the Professional Children's School when he was 15. He played as a solo musician with the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra. He performed a piece by Tchaikovsky called Rococo Variations.
He studied music at the Juilliard School with a famous cello teacher, Leonard Rose. He also went to Columbia University and later Harvard College. Before Harvard, he played in an orchestra led by the famous cellist Pablo Casals. Yo-Yo Ma earned a degree in anthropology from Harvard in 1976. He also received an honorary doctorate from Harvard in 1991.
Music Career and Collaborations
Yo-Yo Ma has played music for many Hollywood films. In 1997, he was on the soundtrack for Seven Years in Tibet. He also played for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000 and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World in 2003. He worked with composer John Williams again for the 2005 film Memoirs of a Geisha.
He has also worked with the Italian composer Ennio Morricone. He recorded music from famous movies like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in America, and The Mission.
Yo-Yo Ma's albums include many types of music. He plays cello concertos by composers like Shostakovich and Bach. He also plays sonatas for cello and piano. He records a lot of classical pieces.
But he doesn't just play classical music! He has recorded many kinds of folk music. This includes American bluegrass music, traditional Chinese songs, and tangos by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla. He has also worked with artists from other music styles. Some of these include Bobby McFerrin, Chris Botti, Carlos Santana, and James Taylor.
In 1999, Yo-Yo Ma helped design a special garden. It was inspired by a piece of music by Bach. This place is called the Music Garden. Its different sections match the movements of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1. It was built in Toronto, Canada.
In 2010, President Obama gave Yo-Yo Ma the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is one of the highest awards a civilian can receive in the United States. Yo-Yo Ma received it in February 2011.
Yo-Yo Ma is known for his beautiful, rich cello sound. People praise his emotional playing and amazing skill.
Personal Life
Since 1978, Yo-Yo Ma has been married to Jill Hornor. She is an arts consultant. They have two children, Nicholas and Emily.
People often describe Yo-Yo Ma as a kind and humble person. He is also known for his work to help others.
Interesting Facts About Yo-Yo Ma
- He started performing for audiences when he was five years old.
- At age seven, he played for presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy.
- When he was eight, he appeared on American television with his sister. The famous musician Leonard Bernstein introduced them.
- He has performed with many of the world's biggest orchestras.
- He is very good friends with pianist Emanuel Ax. They met when they were students at Juilliard.
- Yo-Yo Ma's main cello was made in 1733 by Domenico Montagnana. In 2005, it was worth about $2.5 million!
- Besides English, Yo-Yo Ma speaks Mandarin Chinese and French very well.
- He helped start Silk Road Connect. This is an educational program for middle school children in the United States.
- He is a founding member of the Committee of 100. This group helps Chinese Americans.
- Yo-Yo Ma has appeared as himself on children's TV shows like Arthur and Sesame Street. He was also on The Simpsons and The West Wing.
- He often performed at events for Apple Inc. and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs. He even appeared in a commercial for the Macintosh computer.
- He made a small appearance as himself in the 2022 Netflix movie Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
Awards and Recognition
Yo-Yo Ma has won many awards for his music and his work.
- Grammy Awards
He has won many Grammy Awards for his recordings:
- 1986: For Brahms: Cello and Piano Sonatas
- 1987: For Beethoven: Cello and Piano Sonata No. 4
- 1992: For Brahms: Piano Quartets
- 1993: For Brahms: Sonatas for Cello & Piano
- 1996: For Brahms/Beethoven/Mozart: Clarinet Trios
- 1990: For Barber: Cello Concerto
- 1993: For Prokofiev: Sinfonia Concertante
- 1995: For The New York Album
- 1998: For Yo-Yo Ma Premieres
- 1985: For Bach: The Unaccompanied Cello Suites
- 1995: For The New York Album, Stephen Albert: Cello Concerto
- 1998: For Yo-Yo Ma Premieres
- 1999: For Soul of the Tango
- 2001: For Appalachian Journey
- 2004: For Obrigado Brazil
- 2009: For Songs of Joy & Peace
- 2012: For The Goat Rodeo Sessions (with Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile)
- 2017: For Sing Me Home (with The Silk Road Ensemble)
- 2022: For Beethoven: Cello Sonatas - Hope and Tears (with Emanuel Ax)
Honorary Degrees
Many universities have given Yo-Yo Ma special honorary degrees:
- 1991: Harvard University
- 2005: Princeton University
- 2019: University of Oxford
- 2019: Dartmouth College
- 2021: Mount Holyoke College
- 2022: Stony Brook University
- 2022: Columbia University
- Other Awards
- 1978: Avery Fisher Prize
- 1999: The Glenn Gould Prize
- 2001: National Medal of Arts
- 2004: Latin Grammy for Best Instrumental Album for Obrigado Brazil
- 2006: Dan David Prize
- 2006: Léonie Sonning Music Prize
- 2011: Kennedy Center Honor
- 2011: Presidential Medal of Freedom
- 2012: Polar Music Prize
- 2013: Gramophone Hall of Fame
- 2014: Fred Rogers Legacy Award (He said this was one of the greatest honors he ever received!)
- 2016: Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters (from France)
- 2020: Asia Game Changer Award
- 2021: Praemium Imperiale
- 2022: Birgit Nilsson Prize
- 2024: Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal
Images for kids
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Ma appearing at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in 2008
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Ma's performance at Paranal Observatory, home of the Very Large Telescope
See also
In Spanish: Yo-Yo Ma para niños
