Famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma
helps the Orlando Philharmonic celebrate its 25th anniversary with a concert Tuesday night.
Famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma is coming to town — and I’m pumped. Born in Paris to Chinese parents, Ma immigrated to the U.S. as a child. Now 62, he has been performing on the cello since he was 4. His musical repertoire extends beyond the classical standards to bluegrass, tangos and jazz.
Here are seven reasons why I can’t wait for his May 8 concert.
1. He’s helping the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra celebrate.
The concert by Ma — a friend of Orlando Philharmonic music director and fellow cellist Eric Jacobsen is the culmination of the Phil’s 25th-anniversary season. The two are also part of Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, an international collective of musicians and storytellers.
2. It’s Ma’s first time performing in Orlando.
I’m trying to adopt the “better late than never” attitude. You might think he was waiting to play in the modern Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts — but since that facility’s classicalmusic venue isn’t finished yet, he’ll have to make do with the Bob Carr Theater. Maybe he can be coaxed back when the arts center’s final hall is done.
3. He’s bringing Colin Jacobsen with him.
Colin Jacobsen, also part of the Silk Road Ensemble, is a first-rate violinist and acclaimed composer. The Washington Post called him “one of the most interesting figures on the classical music scene.” He’s also Eric Jacobsen’s brother and the siblings founded two of the nation’s most buzz-worthy ensembles, Brooklyn Rider and The Knights orchestra.
4. He’s playing Brahms.
Ma and Colin Jacobsen will take on the solos in Brahms’ Double Concerto in A minor. The three-movement concerto, written in 1887, was Brahms’ final work for orchestra. It was also ahead of its time, leaving critics of the day bewildered. As a result, it went through a stretch in which it was very rarely heard. Eventually critics began to change their tune, so to speak. Noted reviewer Irving Kolodin called the work “the culmination of Brahms’s life-long struggle to evolve a treatment of the concerto in which neither solo instrument nor orchestra would dominate the other.” Kolodin went on to say that “the solo instruments are wedded to each other and to the orchestra in a musical matrimony.”
5. He’s a little secretive.
The other pieces on the program have not been revealed, so it will be a night of musical surprises.
6. He comes with a long list of accolades.
There isn’t room to detail all of Ma’s honors. But here are some significant ones: 18 Grammy Awards, a United Nations Messenger of Peace, the Polar Music Prize, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
7. It’s admirable the way Ma has combined a love of music with a mission to bring the world closer together.
Here’s one of his famous quotes on that idea: “As you begin to realize that every different type of music, everybody's individual music, has its own rhythm, life, language and heritage, you realize how life changes, and you learn how to be more open and adaptive to what is around us.” mpalm@orlandosentinel.com