Happy Birthday, Yo-Yo Ma!

Today is French-born Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma's 69th birthday!

A graduate of the Juilliard School, Harvard University, and Columbia University, Yo-yo has performed as a soloist with orchestras around the world for more than five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the pre-eminent virtuosi string soloists of all time.

Ma has released over 92 albums and earned 19 Grammy Awards.

Alongside the traditional classical repertoire, Ma has explored various folk genres, including American bluegrass, traditional Chinese tunes, the tangos of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, and Brazilian music.

He has also worked with a wide array of artists from different genres, such as Bobby McFerrin, Carlos Santana, Chris Botti, Diana Krall, James Taylor, Miley Cyrus, and Sting.

Ma has served as a United Nations Messenger of Peace since 2006. Other accolades include the Avery Fisher Prize in 1978, the Glenn Gould Prize in 1999, the National Medal of Arts in 2001, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, Kennedy Center Honors in 2011, the Polar Music Prize in 2012, and the Birgit Nilsson Prize in 2022.

In 2020 he was recognized as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People.

YO-YO MA | ELGAR | CELLO CONCERTO IN E MINOR | DAVID ZINMAN & THE BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA| 1994