Yo-Yo Ma Biography

Yo-Yo Ma was born on October 7th, 1955 in Paris, France. His mother was a singer and his father was a composer and a teacher of music. As a child, he was trained with his sister, Yeou-Cheng, to play the violin and piano. At the age of Four, Yo-Yo Ma began playing the cello. By the age of five, he memorized three songs by the famous Johann Sebastian Bach's. At the age of seven, he moved to New York City with his family and was already widely known. He attended the Juilliard School and when he was sixteen, decided to attend Harvard University. At Harvard, he wanted to study other things besides music, so he decided to take courses in different subjects, he would like, such as German literature and anthropology. He graduated Harvard university with a degree in Liberal Arts in 1976.
In his early career, right after college he decided to fully commit to music, but was stopped due to a back surgery for a severe case of scoliosis. This surgery was very risky and could have potentially changed his life forever. After the surgery, he had to wear a full body cast and wasn’t allowed to play anything until he was fully recovered. Yo-Yo Ma was in recovery for six months. After recovering from this surgery, Yo-Yo Ma was in high demand, he sometimes booked concerts years in advance. The hallmarks of his career have been experimentation and innovation. Classical Music was brought to a much larger audience than ever before. Over his long career he produced more than 75 albums. He has worked alongside many famous musical talents, and is considered one of Billboard’s best classical sellers. He has also won more than 15 Grammy