WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.520 Picture a kid, barely tall enough to reach the 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:04.559 kitchen counter, being ushered into a room to 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:07.599 perform. Right, like a tiny toddler. Yeah, exactly. 00:00:07.700 --> 00:00:10.460 And not just for a recital and a school gymnasium. 00:00:10.900 --> 00:00:13.859 This kid is holding a stringed instrument, getting 00:00:13.859 --> 00:00:15.500 ready to play for the president of the United 00:00:15.500 --> 00:00:17.320 States. Which is terrifying enough on its own. 00:00:17.719 --> 00:00:20.239 Totally. And not just once, but for two different 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:23.100 presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. 00:00:23.179 --> 00:00:25.539 Kennedy. And he did this before he was even in 00:00:25.539 --> 00:00:28.579 the third grade. It's just unfathomable. It really 00:00:28.579 --> 00:00:31.100 is. And usually when we hear about a childhood 00:00:31.100 --> 00:00:34.259 like that, we expect a very specific trajectory, 00:00:34.259 --> 00:00:38.159 right? Like a story of rigid perfectionism, eventual 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:41.039 burnout, and basically a life lived entirely 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:43.780 inside a soundproof practice room. Oh, absolutely. 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:46.979 The expectation of flawless execution at that 00:00:46.979 --> 00:00:49.679 age, it usually creates this intense pressure 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:52.799 cooker. It often isolates a person, kind of narrowing 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:55.320 their entire universe down to just the wood and 00:00:55.320 --> 00:00:57.390 strings. in their hands. But then you look at 00:00:57.390 --> 00:00:59.670 today's subject, and that expectation is just 00:00:59.670 --> 00:01:02.890 completely shattered. So welcome to today's deep 00:01:02.890 --> 00:01:05.269 dive. If you're listening, you are our favorite 00:01:05.269 --> 00:01:07.969 learner. And we've been digging through a massive 00:01:07.969 --> 00:01:11.310 biographical dossier to bring you the story of 00:01:11.310 --> 00:01:13.689 one of the most recognizable names in music history, 00:01:14.049 --> 00:01:16.659 the American cellist, Yo -Yo Ma. And it is quite 00:01:16.659 --> 00:01:19.379 a dossier. Oh, yeah. But our mission today isn't 00:01:19.379 --> 00:01:21.980 just to list his Grammy Awards or recite his 00:01:21.980 --> 00:01:24.400 resume. We really want to uncover the mechanics 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:27.780 of his life. How does a child prodigy evolve 00:01:27.780 --> 00:01:31.640 into a cultural anthropologist, a global diplomat, 00:01:31.859 --> 00:01:35.359 and a pop culture icon who uses a 300 -year -old 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:37.959 piece of wood to connect humanity? OK, let's 00:01:37.959 --> 00:01:39.840 unpack this. To set the stage for you, I want 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:42.079 you to imagine the backdrop of our conversation 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:44.840 shifting. So we start in a pristine, gilded, 00:01:44.900 --> 00:01:47.280 classical concert hall. Very traditional. Right. 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:49.840 But then the walls dissolve and we're suddenly 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:52.359 on the dusty trails of the ancient Silk Road, 00:01:52.819 --> 00:01:54.900 surrounded by all these global instruments. I 00:01:54.900 --> 00:01:56.920 love that visual. Yeah. And then finally, we 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:00.260 settle into a bustling, chaotic, modern cityscape. 00:02:00.900 --> 00:02:04.519 That visual journey really represents his completely 00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:08.400 genre -defying career. Born in 1955 in Paris 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:12.000 to Chinese parents, he has released over 92 albums. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.659 Wow, 92. And won 20 Grammy Awards. But, you know, 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:18.240 those numbers, as massive as they are, they don't 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:20.939 actually capture his real legacy. His true impact 00:02:20.939 --> 00:02:23.419 is how he fundamentally dismantled what it means 00:02:23.419 --> 00:02:25.479 to be a classical musician. We really have to 00:02:25.479 --> 00:02:27.060 start at the beginning, I think, to understand 00:02:27.060 --> 00:02:29.080 the foundation he was building on. Because his 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:31.879 mother... Marina was a singer, and his father, 00:02:32.060 --> 00:02:35.060 Hiao -Cin, was a violinist, composer, and professor. 00:02:35.219 --> 00:02:37.340 A very musical household. Super musical. They 00:02:37.340 --> 00:02:39.719 had fled the Chinese Civil War to Paris, where 00:02:39.719 --> 00:02:41.599 he was born, and then moved to Boston when he 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:44.620 was seven. And he played the violin, the piano, 00:02:44.659 --> 00:02:47.699 and the viola. But he finally settled on the 00:02:47.699 --> 00:02:50.719 cello in 1960, at the age of four. And the story 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:53.039 behind that choice is just fantastic. It's so 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:54.659 good. Right. At three years old, he actually 00:02:54.659 --> 00:02:57.280 wanted to play the massive double bass. Just 00:02:57.280 --> 00:02:59.180 picture a toddler trying to wrap his arms around 00:02:59.180 --> 00:03:00.819 an instrument that is essentially a piece of 00:03:00.819 --> 00:03:03.000 furniture. He was incredibly persistent about 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:05.620 it, too. He ended up compromising with his father, 00:03:05.939 --> 00:03:09.039 who went to a renowned Parisian violin maker 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:12.659 named Etienne Vettelot. OK. And Vettelot lent 00:03:12.659 --> 00:03:17.419 them a tiny 1 -16th size cello. which finally 00:03:17.419 --> 00:03:20.780 satisfied him. A 1 16th size cello. That's amazing. 00:03:20.939 --> 00:03:23.360 It's adorable. But the reality of his early years 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:26.500 was really intense. His father managed his early 00:03:26.500 --> 00:03:29.240 education before realizing, you know, his son 00:03:29.240 --> 00:03:31.900 needed a more skilled teacher. So he signed him 00:03:31.900 --> 00:03:35.370 up with Michelle Lapinte. From there, the trajectory 00:03:35.370 --> 00:03:37.990 is staggering. Yeah, the presidents. Exactly. 00:03:38.349 --> 00:03:41.030 Performing for Eisenhower and JFK at age seven. 00:03:41.409 --> 00:03:44.110 By age eight, he's debuting on American television 00:03:44.110 --> 00:03:46.490 with his sister, Yu Cheng. Who later became a 00:03:46.490 --> 00:03:48.810 pediatrician, right? Yes, she did. And they were 00:03:48.810 --> 00:03:51.330 introduced on that broadcast by none other than 00:03:51.330 --> 00:03:53.449 Leonard Bernstein. I mean, that is wild. And 00:03:53.449 --> 00:03:56.009 by nine, he's on The Tonight Show, introduced 00:03:56.009 --> 00:03:58.310 by Isaac Stern. If you think about the psychology 00:03:58.310 --> 00:04:00.650 of that, being a prodigy... It's kind of like 00:04:00.650 --> 00:04:03.849 being a child CEO of a highly structured, high 00:04:03.849 --> 00:04:06.789 stakes startup. That's a great comparison. Every 00:04:06.789 --> 00:04:09.069 minute of your day is optimized for this one 00:04:09.069 --> 00:04:11.870 singular output. Yeah. But how does someone grow 00:04:11.870 --> 00:04:14.509 up in that environment without becoming a cello 00:04:14.509 --> 00:04:16.529 playing robot? Like, yeah, doesn't that kind 00:04:16.529 --> 00:04:20.689 of intense singular focus usually severely stunt 00:04:20.689 --> 00:04:23.029 a person's worldview? Well, what's fascinating 00:04:23.029 --> 00:04:26.870 here is his educational pivot. It completely 00:04:26.870 --> 00:04:29.939 altered his trajectory. because he went to Juilliard, 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:32.240 studying with the great Leonard Rose. He briefly 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:35.459 attended Columbia University, but then he transfers 00:04:35.459 --> 00:04:38.000 to Harvard College, and he doesn't get a degree 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:41.540 in music performance. In 1976, he graduates from 00:04:41.540 --> 00:04:43.860 Harvard with a bachelor's degree in anthropology. 00:04:43.959 --> 00:04:46.620 Wait, anthropology? Yeah. So he essentially steps 00:04:46.620 --> 00:04:48.120 out of the practice room and starts studying 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:50.779 the entirety of the human race. Exactly. That 00:04:50.779 --> 00:04:53.019 anthropological lens is what saved him from the 00:04:53.019 --> 00:04:55.360 prodigy trap. He spent his time at Harvard and 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:57.959 his summers at the Marlboro Music Festival. Yeah, 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:01.879 where he actually met his future wife, Jill Horner. 00:05:02.500 --> 00:05:04.939 And he played under his childhood hero there, 00:05:05.139 --> 00:05:08.040 Pablo Casals. Instead of just obsessing over 00:05:08.040 --> 00:05:10.920 the physics of playing notes perfectly, he started 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:14.500 studying the underlying human condition. Who 00:05:14.500 --> 00:05:16.259 were the people that wrote these notes? What 00:05:16.259 --> 00:05:18.819 were the cultural forces that shaped them? So 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:20.879 it wasn't just about technique anymore? Not at 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:23.980 all. Anthropology became the secret decoder ring 00:05:23.980 --> 00:05:26.560 for his entire career. Because if you look at 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:28.740 the world through the lens of human culture, 00:05:29.220 --> 00:05:31.899 you can't stay siloed in the traditional classical 00:05:31.899 --> 00:05:35.240 music lane. It's too restrictive. You know? Critics 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:37.740 have called his playing style omnivorous. And 00:05:37.740 --> 00:05:39.519 when you look at what he actually plays, you 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:41.639 totally see why. Oh, definitely. I mean, he has 00:05:41.639 --> 00:05:44.180 absolute mastery of the standard classic. repertoire, 00:05:44.579 --> 00:05:47.000 sure. But then he takes his cello and drops it 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:49.500 into American bluegrass, traditional Chinese 00:05:49.500 --> 00:05:52.980 melodies, the tangos of Argentine composer Astor 00:05:52.980 --> 00:05:55.560 Piazzolla, and contemporary, resilient music. 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:57.819 Think about the mechanics of what you just described, 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:00.439 though. Taking a classical cello into a bluegrass 00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:02.399 setting isn't just a matter of playing different 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:04.790 notes. Right, it's a whole different vibe. It's 00:06:04.790 --> 00:06:07.410 a different physical technique. He had to physically 00:06:07.410 --> 00:06:10.930 unlearn the precise metronome -like timing of 00:06:10.930 --> 00:06:13.370 classical music. He had to learn the bluegrass 00:06:13.370 --> 00:06:15.910 chop technique. What's the chop technique? It's 00:06:15.910 --> 00:06:18.430 where you use the cello bow, almost like a percussion 00:06:18.430 --> 00:06:21.129 instrument, hitting the strings to keep the offbeat. 00:06:21.449 --> 00:06:24.029 It requires an entirely different physical relationship 00:06:24.029 --> 00:06:26.829 with the instrument. Wow. And the collaborations 00:06:26.829 --> 00:06:31.100 are just wild. Bobby McFerrin, Carlos Santana, 00:06:31.300 --> 00:06:34.079 James Taylor. He even contributed to a charity 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:36.240 tribute album called the Metallica Blacklist. 00:06:36.660 --> 00:06:39.360 Yes. He backed up Miley Cyrus on a cover of the 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:42.720 song Nothing Else Matters, like taking an instrument 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:45.519 historically associated with European aristocracy 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:48.879 and using its dark, resonant undercurrent to 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:50.980 anchor a heavy metal track. It's brilliant. We 00:06:50.980 --> 00:06:53.199 also see his anthropological approach in his 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:55.959 film scores. I mean, he's featured on John Williams's 00:06:55.959 --> 00:06:58.490 soundtracks for seven years in Tibet. and Memoirs 00:06:58.490 --> 00:07:00.529 of a Geisha. Gorgeous soundtracks. Beautiful. 00:07:01.209 --> 00:07:04.550 And he recorded Ennio Morricone's legendary compositions 00:07:04.550 --> 00:07:07.089 for films like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. 00:07:07.629 --> 00:07:10.310 But the ultimate manifestation of this is the 00:07:10.310 --> 00:07:12.649 Silk Road Ensemble, which he founded. Tell me 00:07:12.649 --> 00:07:14.769 about the Silk Road Ensemble. Well, he brought 00:07:14.769 --> 00:07:17.850 together musicians from diverse countries historically 00:07:17.850 --> 00:07:20.410 linked by the ancient trade route. He wanted 00:07:20.410 --> 00:07:22.990 to physically demonstrate how cultures naturally 00:07:22.990 --> 00:07:25.389 bleed into one another. He was blending instruments 00:07:25.389 --> 00:07:28.129 like the cello with the Chinese pipo or the Indian 00:07:28.129 --> 00:07:31.329 tabla. He even took this beyond music into physical 00:07:31.329 --> 00:07:34.290 space, which is crazy. In Toronto, he co -designed 00:07:34.290 --> 00:07:37.009 a music garden. He literally collaborated with 00:07:37.009 --> 00:07:39.709 landscape architects to translate Bach's Suite 00:07:39.709 --> 00:07:42.009 No. 1 into the physical environment. How does 00:07:42.009 --> 00:07:44.810 that even work? sections of the garden mirror 00:07:44.810 --> 00:07:47.069 the swirling, flowing dance movements of the 00:07:47.069 --> 00:07:49.910 suite. But here's where it gets really interesting. 00:07:50.029 --> 00:07:52.769 It's like he is a master linguist trying to speak 00:07:52.769 --> 00:07:55.410 every dialect on earth. But if you're listening 00:07:55.410 --> 00:07:57.250 to this, you might be wondering, if you spread 00:07:57.250 --> 00:08:00.189 yourself across bluegrass, tango, heavy metal, 00:08:00.410 --> 00:08:02.970 and landscape architecture, don't you eventually 00:08:02.970 --> 00:08:05.889 lose your edge as a classical master, like Jack 00:08:05.889 --> 00:08:09.379 of all trades, master of none. Does he risk diluting 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:11.459 his core talent. It's the natural assumption 00:08:11.459 --> 00:08:14.100 to make, for sure. But genre isn't a boundary 00:08:14.100 --> 00:08:16.540 to him. It's just a different dialect, the exact 00:08:16.540 --> 00:08:19.639 same human language. OK, I see. His rich, smooth 00:08:19.639 --> 00:08:22.439 tone, his virtuosic technique, and what critics 00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:25.759 call his soulful lyricism that remains a constant 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:28.660 grounding force underneath all these wild explorations. 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:30.680 He doesn't change how he speaks through the cello. 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:33.299 He just expands who he is speaking to. That makes 00:08:33.299 --> 00:08:35.620 a lot of sense. And you don't get to hop between 00:08:35.620 --> 00:08:38.350 17th century Bach and modern bluegrass. using 00:08:38.350 --> 00:08:41.690 just any instrument. Ma's empathy for different 00:08:41.690 --> 00:08:43.970 cultures actually extends to the wood itself. 00:08:45.269 --> 00:08:48.029 Which brings us to the fascinating, almost human 00:08:48.029 --> 00:08:50.590 relationship he has with his cellos. I mean... 00:08:50.440 --> 00:08:52.440 They're practically supporting characters in 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:54.740 his story. Oh, absolutely. They require a deep 00:08:54.740 --> 00:08:57.639 partnership. His primary performance cello is 00:08:57.639 --> 00:09:01.000 the Davidoff Stradivarius, made by Antonio Stradivari 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:04.399 in 1712. This is 1712. Yeah. It's an instrument 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:06.940 with immense history. It was actually bequeathed 00:09:06.940 --> 00:09:09.379 to him by the legendary cellist Jacqueline Dupre. 00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:11.340 And what's fascinating is that Jacqueline Dupre 00:09:11.340 --> 00:09:14.059 actually found that exact cello incredibly frustrating. 00:09:14.139 --> 00:09:16.100 She called it unpredictable. Right, because she 00:09:16.100 --> 00:09:19.080 had a very impassioned, fiery, aggressive playing 00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:21.259 style. She played with a very heavy bow arm. 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:24.259 But when he inherited it, he realized the Stradivarius 00:09:24.259 --> 00:09:26.940 simply couldn't be attacked. If you apply too 00:09:26.940 --> 00:09:29.139 much pressure, the sound chokes. It just shuts 00:09:29.139 --> 00:09:32.059 down. Exactly. He noted that the instrument must 00:09:32.059 --> 00:09:34.580 be coaxed. You have to lighten the touch and 00:09:34.580 --> 00:09:36.879 just let the natural resonance of the 300 -year 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:39.480 -old wood do the work. It's like someone driving 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:42.179 a temperamental, priceless, vintage Formula One 00:09:42.179 --> 00:09:45.200 car. If you force it, if you just mash the gas, 00:09:45.460 --> 00:09:47.980 it spins out and fights you. But if you partner 00:09:47.980 --> 00:09:49.779 with it, if you listen to what the engine wants, 00:09:50.220 --> 00:09:53.259 it flies. So Jacqueline Dupré essentially tried 00:09:53.259 --> 00:09:55.700 to tame a wild horse, but he realized he had 00:09:55.700 --> 00:09:58.460 to whisper to it. That is a perfect analogy. 00:09:58.600 --> 00:10:00.779 That kind of sensitivity is a requirement for 00:10:00.779 --> 00:10:03.279 these instruments. And it's not his only priceless 00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:07.360 cello. He also plays a 1733 Domenico Montagnana 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:10.360 cello, which has a fantastic name. Petunia. Petunia. 00:10:10.620 --> 00:10:12.500 A student in Salt Lake City approached him after 00:10:12.500 --> 00:10:14.360 a class and asked if the cello had a nickname. 00:10:14.860 --> 00:10:16.879 He said no, but told her she could name it if 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:19.519 he played for her. She picked Petunia, and it 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:22.580 stuck. I love that a 1733 masterpiece is named 00:10:22.580 --> 00:10:25.620 Petunia. But man, Petunia's had a very stressful 00:10:25.620 --> 00:10:28.799 life. Oh, you mean the taxi incident. Yes. In 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:31.159 1999, he accidentally left it. And keep in mind, 00:10:31.539 --> 00:10:33.220 this is an instrument valued a few years later 00:10:33.220 --> 00:10:36.100 at $2 .5 million in the trunk of a New York City 00:10:36.100 --> 00:10:38.600 taxi cab. Oh my god. Just imagine the absolute 00:10:38.600 --> 00:10:41.500 panic of watching a Ford Crown Vic drive away 00:10:41.500 --> 00:10:43.580 with a multi -million dollar piece of history 00:10:43.580 --> 00:10:46.700 in the back. Thankfully, It was quickly returned 00:10:46.700 --> 00:10:50.080 undamaged. But 1999 was relentless for Petunia. 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:53.179 Later that same year, the cello's neck was severely 00:10:53.179 --> 00:10:55.879 damaged by an x -ray baggage scanner in Taiwan. 00:10:56.370 --> 00:10:59.330 Ouch. Yeah. He had a concert to play, so he had 00:10:59.330 --> 00:11:01.350 to scramble and borrow the Paul Stradivarius 00:11:01.350 --> 00:11:03.830 from the local Cime Museum just so he could perform. 00:11:04.570 --> 00:11:07.190 But impressively, Petunia was repaired by a local 00:11:07.190 --> 00:11:09.750 luthier just in time for him to actually play 00:11:09.750 --> 00:11:12.549 both cellos during the concert. He's very adaptable, 00:11:12.610 --> 00:11:14.990 though. He also plays modern cellos, including 00:11:14.990 --> 00:11:17.889 one made entirely of carbon fiber. That adaptability 00:11:17.889 --> 00:11:20.009 is key. Like, he doesn't just stick to the antique 00:11:20.009 --> 00:11:22.570 wood. Exactly. And this raises an important question 00:11:22.570 --> 00:11:24.389 about the relationship between the artist and 00:11:24.389 --> 00:11:26.720 the world around them. Notice how his approach 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:29.159 to the Davidoff Stradivarius, that it must be 00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:31.960 coaxed rather than forced, mirrors his entire 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:34.500 worldview. He doesn't impose his will on the 00:11:34.500 --> 00:11:36.799 wood, he collaborates with it, and he does the 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:39.340 exact same thing with people. He really does. 00:11:39.820 --> 00:11:42.559 He takes that collaborative empathy and deploys 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:45.519 it in places where language has failed or broken 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:47.840 down entirely. I mean, think about September 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:50.980 11, 2002. He was the first performer at the site 00:11:50.980 --> 00:11:53.200 of the World Trade Center, as the names of the 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:55.039 dead were read on the first anniversary of the 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:57.500 attacks. He played the Saramond. from Bach's 00:11:57.500 --> 00:11:59.779 cello suite number five. And the choice of that 00:11:59.779 --> 00:12:03.240 specific piece is vital to understand. A syrup 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:06.720 bond is originally a slow, stately dance, but 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:09.500 in Bach's fifth suite, it's stripped down to 00:12:09.500 --> 00:12:13.159 a single, haunting, solitary line of notes. So 00:12:13.159 --> 00:12:15.720 no big chords or anything. Right. There are no 00:12:15.720 --> 00:12:17.960 chords to provide comfort or warmth. It perfectly 00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:20.360 captured the feeling of absolute isolation and 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:22.620 grief of that day. And he does this constantly. 00:12:22.759 --> 00:12:25.200 He performed at the Interfaith Healing Service 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:27.580 following the Boston Marathon bombing. During 00:12:27.580 --> 00:12:30.039 the COVID -19 pandemic, after receiving his second 00:12:30.039 --> 00:12:32.320 vaccine dose at a community college in Massachusetts, 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:34.679 he just stayed in the observation waiting room. 00:12:34.899 --> 00:12:37.159 Oh, I remember seeing a video of that. Yeah, 00:12:37.419 --> 00:12:39.759 he sat in a plastic chair and played an impromptu 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:41.879 concert of Ave Maria for everyone sitting there 00:12:41.879 --> 00:12:44.559 in their masks. He shows up for moments of national 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:47.960 transition and celebration too. At Barack Obama's 00:12:47.960 --> 00:12:51.080 first inauguration in 2009, he performed John 00:12:51.080 --> 00:12:53.919 Williams' Air and Simple Gifts with a quartet. 00:12:54.019 --> 00:12:56.580 But it was freezing, right? It was wicked cold, 00:12:56.659 --> 00:12:59.120 as he put it. Because a broken string wasn't 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:01.440 an option on live global television in freezing 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:04.259 temperatures, the quartet actually pantomimed 00:13:04.259 --> 00:13:06.779 the performance along to a tape they had meticulously 00:13:06.779 --> 00:13:09.759 recorded two days prior. That is so smart. He 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:12.610 also connects music to human discovery. Because 00:13:12.610 --> 00:13:15.110 of his deep love for astronomy, he traveled to 00:13:15.110 --> 00:13:18.769 the Atacama Desert in Chile in 2019 to play at 00:13:18.769 --> 00:13:21.899 the Paranal Observatory. just him, his cello, 00:13:22.059 --> 00:13:24.539 and the massive telescopes under the stars. Incredible. 00:13:24.940 --> 00:13:27.960 And fast forward to December 2024, he was there 00:13:27.960 --> 00:13:30.399 performing the Prelude from Bach's first cello 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:32.940 suite at the highly anticipated reopening of 00:13:32.940 --> 00:13:35.340 Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. There were also 00:13:35.340 --> 00:13:37.940 those massive Hollywood Bowl concerts in 2017 00:13:37.940 --> 00:13:41.419 and 2021, playing for crowds of 17 ,000 people. 00:13:41.559 --> 00:13:43.899 During the 2017 show, he shared a story about 00:13:43.899 --> 00:13:46.639 Pablo Casals. When Casals was just a 13 -year 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:49.600 -old boy in 1890, he found an old forgotten copy 00:13:49.549 --> 00:13:52.149 of the Bach cello suites in a secondhand music 00:13:52.149 --> 00:13:54.769 store. Those suites were largely ignored at the 00:13:54.769 --> 00:13:57.649 time, but Casals discovery brought them to modern 00:13:57.649 --> 00:14:00.350 attention. He looked out at the massive crowd 00:14:00.350 --> 00:14:02.830 in Los Angeles and said, if there are any 13 00:14:02.830 --> 00:14:05.669 year olds here, don't throw anything away. That 00:14:05.669 --> 00:14:07.799 is a beautiful sentiment. But wait, let me play 00:14:07.799 --> 00:14:10.620 Devil's Advocate for a second. Playing a cello 00:14:10.620 --> 00:14:13.179 at an observatory or ground zero sounds moving, 00:14:13.559 --> 00:14:16.299 but isn't it ultimately just a symbolic PR gesture? 00:14:16.460 --> 00:14:18.759 Like, what is a guy with a cello actually fixing 00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:21.759 in a moment of acute crisis? Well, if we connect 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:24.220 this to the bigger picture, it is entirely functional. 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:27.080 He was actually named a United Nations messenger 00:14:27.080 --> 00:14:30.419 of peace in 2006 for this exact reason. Really? 00:14:30.659 --> 00:14:33.600 A messenger of peace? Yes. He fundamentally believes 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:36.379 that music bypasses the logical dividing tribe 00:14:36.269 --> 00:14:38.809 parts of our brain. When you are dealing with 00:14:38.809 --> 00:14:41.350 profound grief or deep ideological differences, 00:14:41.730 --> 00:14:45.250 words often fail. Music provides collective catharsis. 00:14:45.490 --> 00:14:47.809 It physically and emotionally forces a room full 00:14:47.809 --> 00:14:50.090 of divided people onto the exact same shared 00:14:50.090 --> 00:14:54.250 frequency. That is heavy, profound work. But 00:14:54.250 --> 00:14:57.110 the contrast to that weight is that he is incredibly 00:14:57.110 --> 00:15:00.190 grounded and totally willing to poke fun at himself. 00:15:00.450 --> 00:15:03.009 Yeah. Which is exactly how he hacked pop culture. 00:15:03.509 --> 00:15:05.950 I mean, in 2001, People magazine named him the 00:15:05.950 --> 00:15:08.509 sexiest classical musician. Which he famously 00:15:08.509 --> 00:15:11.110 called the worst epithet he's ever faced. It's 00:15:11.110 --> 00:15:13.610 hilarious. He really finds the pedestal of classical 00:15:13.610 --> 00:15:16.549 music ridiculous. And he actively dismantles 00:15:16.549 --> 00:15:19.629 it by being everywhere in media. He's been on 00:15:19.629 --> 00:15:22.409 Sesame Street five times. Five times. He's appeared 00:15:22.409 --> 00:15:24.769 on the children's cartoon, Arthur, played at 00:15:24.769 --> 00:15:26.889 a congressional Christmas party on the West Wing, 00:15:27.230 --> 00:15:29.549 and been a guest on the Colbert Report and NPR's 00:15:29.549 --> 00:15:32.549 Tiny Descon. He was even on The Simpsons twice. 00:15:32.690 --> 00:15:34.529 I didn't know he was on The Simpsons. Yeah, he 00:15:34.529 --> 00:15:36.370 played himself in an episode called Puffless, 00:15:36.750 --> 00:15:38.629 and his likeness appeared in another episode, 00:15:38.750 --> 00:15:41.389 voiced by Hank Azaria. He also had a cameo in 00:15:41.389 --> 00:15:45.309 the Netflix movie Glass Onion. So what does this 00:15:45.309 --> 00:15:48.490 all mean? Like, contracting this stiff, tuxedo 00:15:48.490 --> 00:15:50.490 -clad stereotype of classical musicians with 00:15:50.490 --> 00:15:52.789 a guy hanging out on Sesame Street? Well, he 00:15:52.789 --> 00:15:55.549 realized early on that the tuxedo -clad classical 00:15:55.549 --> 00:15:59.009 world was incredibly intimidating to outsiders. 00:15:59.659 --> 00:16:02.440 By appearing on Sesame Street, he was intentionally 00:16:02.440 --> 00:16:05.179 ensuring that a child's very first exposure to 00:16:05.179 --> 00:16:07.860 a cello was next to Big Bird. Oh, that's brilliant. 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:10.500 He strips away the elitism before it can even 00:16:10.500 --> 00:16:12.919 form in a person's mind. It's the same reason 00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:15.799 he had such close ties with Steve Jobs. He played 00:16:15.799 --> 00:16:18.840 at major Apple events and at Jobs' memorial service. 00:16:18.899 --> 00:16:20.919 That's a fascinating connection. Jobs always 00:16:20.919 --> 00:16:22.940 talked about the intersection of technology and 00:16:22.940 --> 00:16:25.480 the liberal arts, and Yo -Yo Ma is the living 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:28.519 embodiment of that intersection, using intense 00:16:28.519 --> 00:16:31.539 technical mastery to deliver pure human emotion. 00:16:32.059 --> 00:16:34.340 Part of this deep appreciation for life and his 00:16:34.340 --> 00:16:36.720 willingness to just hang out with Big Bird or 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:39.759 Homer Simpson comes from a place of intense personal 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:42.419 resilience too. In his 20s he developed severe 00:16:42.419 --> 00:16:45.399 scoliosis. Oh wow. Yeah it required major surgery 00:16:45.399 --> 00:16:47.120 and threatened his ability to play the cello 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:50.080 entirely. Surviving that made him view his entire 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:53.409 subsequent music career as a gift. When you almost 00:16:53.409 --> 00:16:56.169 lose the ability to do the thing you love, you 00:16:56.169 --> 00:16:58.070 don't waste time being a snob about it, you just 00:16:58.070 --> 00:17:01.009 wanna share it. You also get a sense of his deep 00:17:01.009 --> 00:17:04.029 roots from a PBS series called Faces of America. 00:17:04.630 --> 00:17:07.109 They traced his genealogy and found his paternal 00:17:07.109 --> 00:17:10.950 line goes back 18 generations to the year 1217. 00:17:11.509 --> 00:17:14.250 1217. Yeah, a relative actually had to hide the 00:17:14.250 --> 00:17:17.109 family genealogy in their home in China to save 00:17:17.109 --> 00:17:19.549 it from being destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. 00:17:20.190 --> 00:17:22.990 And fun fact from the DNA research, he is distantly 00:17:22.990 --> 00:17:26.650 related to actress Eva Longoria. That is so random 00:17:26.650 --> 00:17:29.529 but awesome. So when you look at the entire scope 00:17:29.529 --> 00:17:32.190 of his life, it really is a master class in connection. 00:17:33.250 --> 00:17:35.049 Let's do a rapid fire recap for you listening. 00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:37.940 We started with a four -year -old child prodigy 00:17:37.940 --> 00:17:41.000 compromising on a tiny cello in Paris, navigating 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:42.579 the pressure cooker of playing for presidents. 00:17:42.859 --> 00:17:44.859 Right, and we saw how a Harvard anthropology 00:17:44.859 --> 00:17:47.559 degree shifted his entire worldview. He stopped 00:17:47.559 --> 00:17:49.720 studying notes and started studying people, leading 00:17:49.720 --> 00:17:52.400 to an omnivorous repertoire that spans the bluegrass 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:55.220 chop technique, Argentine tango, and the Silk 00:17:55.220 --> 00:17:57.880 Road ensemble. We explored how his empathy extends 00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:01.230 to the wood itself. coaxing the Davidov Stradivarius 00:18:01.230 --> 00:18:03.769 rather than attacking it, and surviving the panic 00:18:03.769 --> 00:18:05.250 of leaving the two and a half million dollar 00:18:05.250 --> 00:18:08.250 petunia in a New York City taxi. And finally, 00:18:08.309 --> 00:18:10.529 we saw him act as an instrument of diplomacy, 00:18:10.970 --> 00:18:13.410 playing a solitary sarabande at Ground Zero and 00:18:13.410 --> 00:18:16.509 Bach in a vaccination clinic, all while intentionally 00:18:16.509 --> 00:18:19.069 hacking pop culture on Sesame Street to break 00:18:19.069 --> 00:18:21.849 down the walls of classical music. It's an unbelievable 00:18:21.849 --> 00:18:23.910 journey, and it leaves me with this final thought 00:18:23.910 --> 00:18:26.750 for you to mull over today. When we look at his 00:18:26.750 --> 00:18:29.359 life, from that Harvard degree to the Silk Road 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:32.039 Ensemble to playing alone under the stars at 00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:35.180 the Atacama Desert Observatory. What if we've 00:18:35.180 --> 00:18:37.460 been looking at him backwards this entire time? 00:18:38.059 --> 00:18:40.500 What if Yo -Yo Ma isn't actually a musician who 00:18:40.500 --> 00:18:42.900 happens to be interested in humanity? What if 00:18:42.900 --> 00:18:45.940 he is, at his absolute core, an anthropologist? 00:18:46.819 --> 00:18:48.900 And the cello is simply the field journal he 00:18:48.900 --> 00:18:51.440 uses to record and connects the human race. that 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:53.740 completely changes the way you hear every note 00:18:53.740 --> 00:18:56.400 he plays. It really does. Thank you for joining 00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:58.839 us on this deep dive. Do yourself a favor today. 00:18:59.140 --> 00:19:01.859 Go put on his recording of the Bach cello suites 00:19:01.859 --> 00:19:04.359 and listen to it with entirely fresh ears. Catch 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:04.900 you next time.