125 Moments: 071 Yo-Yo Ma

On December 14, 2009, cellist Yo-Yo Ma was appointed the Chicago Symphony’s first Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, “to deepen the Orchestra’s engagement with the Chicago community and to nurture the legacy of the CSO while supporting a new generation of musicians.”

One of Ma’s most important projects — launched in January 2011, during Riccardo Muti’s first season as music director — was the Citizen Musician initiative, encouraging people of all ages, interests, skill levels, and backgrounds to generously use and promote the power of music to make meaningful contributions to their communities. Over the course of the initiative and with Ma’s leadership, Citizen Musician activities engaged tens of thousands of people in schools, hospitals, churches, youth detention centers and prisons, universities, and conservatories in Chicago and around the world.

In collaboration with the staff of the Association’s Negaunee Music Institute, Ma also has worked extensively with the musicians of the Civic Orchestra, developing a variety of artistic challenges, including residencies at Chicago Public Schools, in-depth explorations of core orchestral repertoire (including Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, Strauss’s Don Quixote, and Tchaikovsky’s symphonies), and performances of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos in community venues across the city. He has been an advocate for the value of arts education in the lives of students, and his involvement, on behalf of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, was influential in the swift development of the district’s first Arts Education Plan, approved by the Chicago Board of Education in October 2012.

Yo-Yo Ma made his debut with the Orchestra on December 13, 1979, at Orchestra Hall in Kabelevsky’s Cello Concerto with Leonard Slatkin conducting; he first appeared at the Ravinia Festival on July 1, 1982, in Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D major with Charles Dutoit conducting. With the Orchestra, he has recorded Bloch’s Schelomo, Brahms’s Double Concerto (twice) and Williams’ Suite from Memoirs of a Geisha. Ma has been one of Orchestra Hall’s most frequent guest artists, performing not only as a soloist with the Orchestra but also as a chamber musician in a wide variety of ensembles.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra: 125 Moments was created to celebrate the ensemble’s 125th season in 2015-16 and gathered significant events, illustrated with imagery and artifacts from the collections of the Rosenthal Archives.

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