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 1978 Yo-Yo Ma married his longtime partner, Jill Horner.
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
Awards. He excelled in his adult life as a cellist and songwriter. In 1988, Yo-Yo Ma founded the Silk Road Project, to educate and study the art and culture on the Silk Road. In the year 2000, Film Director Ang Lee asked him to play on the sound track for the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". This film went on to becoming an astounding success, winning four Academy Awards in 2011—for best foreign-language film, art direction, cinematography and, most importantly for Ma's, best original score. He has also performed in shows like, West Wing, Sesame Street, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and even on The Simpsons. More recently, he was on PBS' Faces of America with host Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., in which he learned about his ancestry. Ma was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2001. During times of tragedy, classical music has always been known as a source of solace. Ma was asked to play at the ceremonies marking one year of the tragedy of September 11. In 2010, he was named a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and is currently serving as a UN Messenger of Peace. Yo-Yo Ma is in demand as never before, his classical recitals and experimental performances sell out, regularly. His willingness to charge ahead into the unknown and take chances has opened a door for a new generation of musicians.