For immediate release: April 24, 1998
For more information:
Jo Procter, News Director
Direct phone line: 413-597-4279
CELLIST YO-YO MA TO SPEAK AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE'S 209TH COMMENCEMENT, JUNE 7
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.--Williams College has announced that Yo-Yo Ma will give the principal address at the college's 209th Commencement, Sunday, June 7. Commencement Exercises take place on West College Lawn beginning at 10 a.m.
Yo-Yo Ma is one of the most sought-after cellists of our time and has appeared as soloist with orchestras or in recitals and chamber music activities in all the music capitals of the world. He plays two instruments, a 1733 Montagnana cello from Venice and the 1712 Davidoff Stradivarius.
The son of Chinese parents, he was born in Paris in 1955 but spent most of his formative years in New York. He began his cello studies with his father at age four and gave his first public recital at age five. He studied with Leonard Rose at The Juilliard School, and by the time he was 19 he was being compared with such masters
as Rostropovich and Casals.
Yo-Yo Ma sought out a traditional liberal arts education to expand upon his conservatory training, graduating from Harvard University in 1976. He also holds an honorary doctorate in music from his alma mater.
J.S. Bach's Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, one of the cornerstones of his repertoire, have been part of his musical life from an early age. He has performed them often in recital--including the complete cycle on several occasions. Over the past few years, stimulated by Albert Schweitzer's description of the pictorial element
in Bach's works, Yo-Yo Ma has re-explored this music alongside creative arts from a variety of disciplines. The results of this collaboration with artists from wide-ranging disciplines have been captured in a series of films--one for each suite--entitled "Inspired by Bach."
Yo-Yo Ma often performs lesser-known music of the 20th century and has been especially committed to contemporary American music, premiering works by a diverse group of composers, ranging from Stephen Albert to Peter Lieberson to John Williams.
He performs with a wide circle of colleagues, including Isaac Stern, Jaime Laredo, and Emanuel Ax. Ax and he regularly perform duo recitals and have made many recordings, including the complete cello sonatas of Beethoven and Brahms as well as works of Britten, Chopin, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, and Stauss.
One of his goals has been to understand and demonstrate how music serves as means of communication in both Western and non-Western cultures. To that end, he has taken time to immerse himself in native Chinese music and its distinctive instruments and in the music of the Kalahari bush people of Africa.
Alongside his extensive performing and recording career, Yo-Yo Ma devotes time to work with young musicians in programs such as those at Interlochen and Tanglewood. He is committed not only to bringing young audiences into contact with music but allowing them to participate in the creation of music.
Williams College is consistently ranked one of the nation's top liberal arts colleges. Founded in 1793, it is the second oldest institution of higher learning in Massachusetts. The college of 2,000 students is located in Williamstown, which has been called the best college town in America. Its Commencement speakers in recent
years have included former President George Bush, writer Grace Paley, musician and civil rights activist Bernice Johnson Reagon, museum curator J. Kirk Varnedoe, television journalist Jim Lehrer, and historian John Hope Franklin.
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