Arts and Culture
In a fractured world, we need culture to survive and thrive
The cellist Yo-Yo Ma on how culture helped him feel at home in the world, and why our future depends on creativity.
Yo-Yo Ma
Began to study cello at the age of four; attended the Juilliard School; 1976, graduate, Harvard University. Many-faceted career is testament to continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences and to personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Maintains a balance between engagements as soloist with orchestras worldwide and recital and chamber music activities. Discography includes over 90 albums, including 18 Grammy award winners. Artistic Director, Silkroad, an organization promoting cross-cultural performance and collaborations at the edge where education, business, and the arts come together to transform the world. Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Negaunee Music Institute; work focuses on the transformative power music can have in individuals’ lives, and on increasing the number and variety of opportunities audiences have to experience music in their communities. Member of the Board of Trustees, Aspen Institute. Member of the Board of Trustees, World Economic Forum. Performed for eight American presidents, including President Obama on the occasion of the 56th Inaugural Ceremony. Recipient, numerous awards, including: Avery Fisher Prize (1978); National Medal of Arts (2001); Presidential Medal of Freedom (2010); Kennedy Center Honoree (2011).
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