- Title: USA/VARIOUS : AMERICAN VIOLINIST YO-YO MA PERFORMS CONCERT IN THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL
- Date: 7th October 1998
- Summary: MA AND ORCHESTRA PERFORMING "THE PROTECTING VEIL"
- Embargoed: 22nd October 1998 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVANFN74IR8N1CTSSTZ2FRLSHKN
- Story Text: At a recent Los Angeles performance, Paris-born (to Chinese parents) American cellist Yo-Yo Ma achieved the idol status among classical soloists that's usually limited to virtuoso pianists and violinists.
Ma's virtuosity was undeniable during a recent Hollywood Bowl appearance as soloist in a contemporary (1987), mystical, gentle work.
Throughout the fifty minute performance nearly 8,000 enraptured listeners sat spellbound.And for nearly one after the music had ceased the audience remained silent as the sounds seemed to evaporate slowly into the evening air.
The music was "The Protecting Veil" by British-born John Tavener, recent arrival in the ranks of the "holy minimalists," a group of composers driven to express deep spiritual matters in music that blends the silent and the barely audible In "The Protecting Veil" the cellist is the soloist, performing seemingly without a moment's breath, weaving a sinuous, passionate melody into and out of the orchestral fabric of other strings.
Tavener claims inspiration from the chants of the Eastern Orthodox Church.His title refers to a 1,000-year-old legend where the Mother of God casts a veil to protect Greeks from attacking Saracens.
Yo-Yo Ma, whose recent Sony recording of Tavener's work is its third, played as if he was himself entranced by the music, and seemed willing to share that spell with the audience.
Ma's recent recordings and concerts allude to his all-encompassing definition of music.In 1997 Ma was named Artist of the Year in the classical Gramaphone Awards.During the year Ma's releases included "Soul of the Tango," featuring the tango music of the Argentinian Astor Piazzolla.
Ma has also performed in a music video for director Sally Potter's feature film "The Tango Lesson," in which he played Piazzolla's "Libertango".Other recordings include a trio of new cello concertos by Richard Danielpour, Leon Kirchner and Christopher Rouse, Tan Dun's "Symphony 1997" and the string quartets of Schubert and Boccherini.In addition he has recorded the music of Andre Previn and the soundtrack recording of "Liberty!", a documentary series about the American Revolution.
In the past year he also saw the continued success of Appalachia Waltz," an original recording of traditional American fiddle music that featured Ma with violinist Mark O'Connor and bassist Edgar Meyer.
Ma started in 1998 with the release of "Inspired by Bach,"
a multimedia collaboration with artists from six different disciplines.With Ma's new interpretation of the six solo cellos of J.S.Bach, the release also included six short films.The films capture the cellist's creative encounters with choreographer Mark Morris, Kabuki actor Tamasaburo Bando, filmmaker Atom Egoyan, the eighteenth-century artist, architect Piranesi, and ice dancers Christorpher Torvill and Janet Dean.
Ma's goal is to understand and demonstrate how music serves as a means of communications in both Western and non-Western cultures.Because of this, he has taken time to immerse himself in projects as diverse as native Chinese music and the music of the Kalahari bush people in Africa.
Ma was born in 1955 to Chinese parents and began his cello studies with his father at the age of four.He attended the Juilliard School of Music, receiving the Avery Fisher Prize in 1978 before graduating from Harvard University. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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