Yo-Yo Ma News

The 2013 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Opening Night Gala and Soiree, "Once Upon a Time," has a won a 2015 Gala Award, "Best Fundraising Event," by Special Events magazine. Pittsburgh Symphony Director of Events Shannon Capellupo accepted the award at a black-tie ceremony on January 8 in Anaheim, Calif.

Bagpiper, pianist and composer Cristina Pato will perform at the Ware Center of Millersville University on Wednesday, Jan. 28, at 7:30 p.m., as part of the performing arts center's World Music and Festivals series. The concert is made possible by an ArtsConnect grant from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.

On Wednesday, January 28, banjo legend Béla Fleck will join Brooklyn's own innovative chamber orchestra, The Knights, at Schimmel Center at Pace University to kick off a seven-state East Coast tour. The concert features the title track of the orchestra's brand new album, being released on January 26 on Warner Classics, The Ground Beneath Our Feet, a group composition that was written collaboratively by the members of the ensemble and is named after the Baroque ground bass that inspired it. Additional repertoire includes Rossini (overture and Se il mio nome spaer voi bramate, both from The Barber of Seville) and John Adams (Chamber Symphony).

CANTON, OHIO (January 8, 2015) – The Canton Symphony Orchestra is honored to be the first orchestra in Ohio to perform China native Zhao Jiping's Pipa Concerto No. 2. Guest artist, Wu Man will perform the solo pipa. The concert, part of the CSO's MasterWorks Series, is Saturday January 24 at 8:00pm at Umstattd Performing Arts Hall (2323 17th Street NW, Canton).

MUMMENSCHANZ, the legendary Swiss mask troupe that revolutionized wordless theatrical entertainment, will be in Providence this month to thrill audiences of all ages with its famously uproarious performances and to kick off the FirstWorks 2015 "Artistic Icons" series. MUMMENSCHANZ will delight Rhode Island audiences with classic favorites and brilliant new works on Thursday, January 22, 2015 at 7:00 P.M. at Veterans Memorial Auditorium (The Vets).

The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma will perform alongside the New York Philharmonic, led by Alan Gilbert, for a celebration of the innovative world-music ensemble's 15th anniversary, Thursday, February 19, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, February 20 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, February 21 at 8:00 p.m.

The January broadcasts of The New York Philharmonic This Week - the weekly radio series of concerts and recordings by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin - begin with Alan Gilbert leading the Orchestra in an all-Mozart program: the Mass in C minor, Great, and Piano Concerto No. 22, featuring Emanuel Ax as soloist. The Mass features soprano Jennifer Zetlan, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, tenor Paul Appleby, baritone Joshua Hopkins, and the New York Choral Artists, directed by Joseph Flummerfelt.

The New York Philharmonic has announced the 2014-15 season's free Insights at the Atrium series. All held at the David Rubinstein Atrium and beginning at 7:30 p.m., these events combine discussion, often with live performance and video, to explore themes of the season.

Singer-songwriter-guitarist Aoife O'Donovan – who founded and fronted the bluegrass band Crooked Still – is now a “formidable folk-pop solo artist” (NPR). The guitar-strumming, feathery-voiced, soulful O'Donovan steps into The Eccles Center spotlight on Saturday, January 17. Concert starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available by calling ?435-655-3114 or online at EcclesCenter.org.

Inspired by Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project, Egyptian musicologist Mina Girgis and Ethiopian-American singer Meklit Hadero created their own, localized concert experience -- one that uses the power of music to raise awareness of the cultural and environmental challenges along the world's longest river.

The January broadcasts of The New York Philharmonic This Week - the weekly radio series of concerts and recordings by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin - begin with Alan Gilbert leading the Orchestra in an all-Mozart program: the Mass in C minor, Great, and Piano Concerto No. 22, featuring Emanuel Ax as soloist. The Mass features soprano Jennifer Zetlan, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, tenor Paul Appleby, baritone Joshua Hopkins, and the New York Choral Artists, directed by Joseph Flummerfelt.

Dreams & Prayers, the first album on A Far Cry's in-house record label Crier Records, has received a Grammy® nomination, the group's first, in the category “Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.”

American Symphony Orchestra presents the play and the opera THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER at Alice Tully Hall tonight, December 19, 2014.

In early 2015, the celebrated mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato continues her multi-part Carnegie Hall Perspectives series showcasing her vocal creativity and multifaceted talents that range from programs of familiar and forgotten repertoire from the Baroque and bel canto eras to new works by Jake Heggie written expressly for her.

Carnegie Hall presents the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in three concerts conducted by Music Director Riccardo Muti, January 30 to February 1 in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. The series begins on Friday, January 30 at 8:00 p.m. with Muti leading a program featuring two portraits of the sea, Mendelssohn's Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage Overture and Debussy's La mer, paired with Scriabin's Symphony No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 43, "The Divine Poem," in which the Russian composer's newfound mysticism and fascination with touching all of the senses through music is at the core of an extravagantly scored work.

MARY TESTA -- the two time Tony Award nominated singer and actress -- and MICHAEL STAROBIN, the Tony Award winning orchestrator and arranger will perform four concerts in January to promote their new album Have Faith from Ghostlight Records.

MARY TESTA - the two time Tony Award nominated singer and actress - and MICHAEL STAROBIN, the Tony Award winning orchestrator and arranger will perform four concerts in January to promote their new album Have Faith from Ghostlight Records. Fresh off her recent starring role on Broadway in Wicked, Mary will perform a special CD release engagement at The Laurie Beechman Theater at The West Bank Cafe January 4-5,11-12, 2015 at 7:00 PM. Music Director Michael Starobin, will join her on piano with Alisa Horn on cello. Since being released earlier this month, Have Faith was called "stunning" by Playbill, "beautifully hypnotizing" by BroadwayWorld and "a sensational CD debut, terrific from first cut to last" by the Connecticut Post. For tickets, please visit www.lauriebeechmantheatre.com. To order the album, please visit www.sh-k-boom.com/havefaith.

Michael Winograd's acclaimed Yiddish Art Trio, known around the world for its stunning reinterpretions of klezmer music will perform for the first time in eastern Connecticut at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry tonight, December 12 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will be sold on the night of the performance at the door for $10 ($8 for students), payable by cash or check.

Music Director ?Marin Alsop will lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring on Thursday, January 8, 2015 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Sunday, January 11, 2015 at 3 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore. Also on the Classical Concert Series program are Barber's Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance and Osvaldo Golijov's Rose of the Winds (BSO premiere). The Rite of Spring is the subject of Maestra Alsop's third Off the Cuff program of the 2014-2015 season, held Friday, January 9 at 8:15 p.m. at Strathmore and Saturday, January 10 at 7 p.m. at the Meyerhoff. Capitalizing on Marin Alsop's charismatic way of illuminating classical music, the Off the Cuff programs focus on one masterwork, allowing the Maestra to discuss the back story of the piece and the composer's life. Please see below for complete program details.

Long Yu will make his New York Philharmonic debut conducting Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, with Maxim Vengerov as soloist - replacing Principal Horn Philip Myers, previously scheduled to perform Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 4, who has withdrawn due to shoulder surgery - and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5, Thursday, January 22, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 23 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, January 24 at 8:00 p.m.