Yo-Yo Ma

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when people throughout the world were staying at home with anxiety, Yo-Yo Ma began sharing video performances on social media. He added the hashtag #SongsofComfort, which motivated other artists to join him to share music throughout these trying times.

Yo-Yo Ma was born in Paris, France in 1955 to Chinese parents and moved to New York City as a young child. He was a child prodigy, learning to play the cello at the age of 4 and playing for esteemed audiences shortly thereafter including Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. Throughout this career, Ma has played for nine American Presidents. While Ma started his undergraduate career at The Juilliard School and Columbia University, he later dropped out to experience life outside of music and enrolled at Harvard University instead, eventually graduating with a degree in in 1976.

Ma has had a prolific career in music, recording 90 albums and winning 18 Grammy Awards. His music has been featured on movie soundtracks including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Memoirs of a Geisha. In addition to his music, Ma has been a patron of the arts, founding the Silk Road Ensemble to connect and promote musicians and cultures of countries along the ancient Silk Road. In addition, he has been designated a United Nations Messenger of Peace since 2006.

Among his many accolades, Ma was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2001, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 by President Barack Obama, and the Polar Music Prize in 2012. In 2020, Yo-Yo Ma was included as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People.