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He was born in Paris to Chinese parents (with ancestry in Zhejiang), and had a musical upbringing. His mother, Marina Lu (盧雅文), was a singer, while his father, Hiao-Tsiun Ma (馬孝駿), was a conductor and composer. Ma began to study the violin, then the viola, before taking up the cello. His family moved to New York City, United States when he was seven.
Ma was a child prodigy, appearing on American televisionSee TV (disambiguation) for other uses and Television (band) for the rock band Television is a telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound over a distance. The term has come to refer to all the aspects of television p at the age of eight in a concert conducted by Leonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein ( August 25, 1918 October 14, 1990) was an American Jewish composer and orchestra conductor. Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and studied at Harvard. He was highly regarded as a conductor, composer, pianist, and educator.. He entered the Juilliard School, and then went to Harvard (where he was in Currier House), but was questioning whether he should continue his studies until, in the 1970sMillennia: 1st millennium 2nd millennium 3rd millennium Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Years: 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 Events and trends, Pablo CasalsPau Casals i Defill ( December 29, 1876 October 22, 1973), commonly known as Pablo Casals was a virtuoso Catalan cello player (and later conductor). He made many recordings throughout his career, of solo, chamber, and orchestral music, also as conductor,'s performing inspired him.
Since that time, he has steadily gained in fame, and has performed with most of the world's major orchestraAn orchestra is a musical ensemble used most often in classical music. A small orchestra is called a chamber orchestra''. Full size orchestras may sometimes be called "symphony orchestras" or "philharmonic orchestras"; these prefixes do not indicate any ds. His recordings and performances of Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach ( March 21, 1685 July 28, 1750) was a German composer and organist of the Baroque period, and is almost universally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. His works, noted for their intellectual depth, technical comma's suites for unaccompanied cello are particularly acclaimed, and he has also played a good deal of chamber music, often with the pianist Emanuel Ax. One of his cellos, the " Davidov Strad", was previously played regularly by Jacqueline du Pré and left to him upon her death.
Yo-Yo Ma has been called "the most omnivorous of all cellists" by critics and indeed possesses a far more eclectic repertoire than typical for a classical player. He has performed and recorded Baroque pieces on period instruments, American Bluegrass music, traditional Chinese melodies, the Argentinian tangos of Astor Piazzolla, Brazilian music, the soundtrack to the film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Philip Glass's minimalist score of Naqoyqatsi in addition to numerous recordings of the standard classical repertoire.
He currently plays in his own project, The Silk Road Ensemble and records on the Sony Classical label.
Ma married his long-time girlfriend, Jill Hornor, a violinist, in 1978. They have two children, Nicholas and Emily. Ma's elder sister, Yeou-Cheng Ma (馬友乘), also born in Paris, is a violinist, married to Michael Dadap, a New York guitarist.
Interestingly, Ma appeared on the children's television series, Arthur.