Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Mais a Chinese-American cellist. Born in Paris, he spent his schooling years in New York City and was a child prodigy, performing from the age of five. He graduated from the Juilliard School and Harvard University and has enjoyed a prolific career as both a soloist performing with orchestras around the world and a recording artist. His 90+ albums have received 18 Grammy Awards...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCellist
Date of Birth7 October 1955
CityParis, France
CountryUnited States of America
There's a part of me that's always charging ahead. I'm the curious kid, always going to the edge.
One of the things I love about music is live performance.
Nobody else can make the sound you make.
As a musician I'm kind of nomadic, Waldo-like. I show up in different places, and I'm witness to unbelievable things.
I realized late in life that my twin passions are music and people.
I remember when I was growing up. My great wish was to understand who I was and how I fit in the world.
After reaching 50, I began to wonder what the root of life is.
My involvement in the political arena is to make sure there's a place for culture.
Once something is memorable, it's living and you're using it. That to me is the foundation of a creative society.
People will ask, 'Are you famous?' And I always answer, 'My mother thinks so.'
You must have a reason to be in the places to which you go, and you must do only things that you really care about.
What came up at age 49 is I realized that of all the things I'm interested in, the thing I'm most interested in is figuring out what makes people tick, why people think the way they do, why they act the way they do. And I realized that music is such a great way to investigate why people do what they do.
The tango is really a combination of many cultures, though it eventually became the national music of Argentina.
Jazz has been such a force in music, that any musician, including classical composers, have been influenced, and obviously performers, also.