{"id":16455,"date":"2025-06-09T14:38:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T18:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/?p=16455"},"modified":"2025-07-10T14:41:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T18:41:59","slug":"review-scrutiny-planetary-humanism-yo-yo-ma-brings-his-message-of-hope-and-healing-to-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/review-scrutiny-planetary-humanism-yo-yo-ma-brings-his-message-of-hope-and-healing-to-toronto\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: SCRUTINY | Planetary Humanism: Yo-Yo Ma Brings His Message Of Hope And Healing to Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Ludwig van Toronto<\/a><\/p>\n

By Michelle Assay<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not every day that you enter a concert hall 15 minutes early only to find the artist already on stage, chatting to the audience.<\/p>\n

And, when the artist is the legendary cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, you can\u2019t help but curse the snail\u2019s-pace subway that prevented you from arriving even earlier.<\/p>\n

As the Roy Thomson Hall gradually filled, Ma continued answering questions from the floor: \u2018Welcome. Ask me anything\u2019 read the display on two screens above the stage. Audience members obliged with questions ranging from emotional engagement with music to a young lad\u2019s concerns about his lack of motivation when practising the violin.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a magic button inside you,\u201d a beaming Ma responded, \u201cwhich turns something you think you should do to something you want to do. Only you can flick that switch and make the instrument your friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

I doubt the young aspiring musician would miss his next practice slot. Midway through his next response, Ma was handed his cello, and the lights were dimmed to signal the official start of the Evening with Yo-Yo Ma: Reflections in Words and Music.<\/p>\n

These days it is not unusual for star performers not to provide audiences with a program prior to the event. Pianist Andr\u00e1s Schiff is a notable example, as in his recent recital at the Koerner Hall, where he announced and explained each piece from the podium, effectively turning the evening into a lecture-recital. But, Yo-Yo Ma\u2019s evening was something altogether different. It was nothing less than a celebration of humanity and hope, through music that connects and heals, all arising from decades of reflection on why musicians do what they do.<\/p>\n

Appropriately enough, the program opened with New Brunswick Indigenous composer George Paul\u2019s Mi\u2019kmaq Honour Song \u2014 anthem-like and elemental, calling for unity and respect. Ma has long been advocating for this piece, and he included it on his 2021 Notes for the Future album.<\/p>\n

His shout-out \u2018Good evening, Toronto; Elbows Up!\u2019 immediately brought the house down.<\/p>\n

After some thoughts on the nature of gratitude and \u2018what it means to be us\u2019, he began his reminiscences about his childhood and the time when, under the thumb of Tiger parents, he felt emotionally and physically unsafe. \u201cBut I had a friend,\u201d he added, \u201cwho could suspend time, during which I felt safe.\u201d Cue Bach\u2019s First Cello Suite in its entirety, and cue the audience\u2019s cheerful anticipatory gasp. To see Ma perform is a transforming experience. He lives and breathes his music, and nowhere more touchingly than when he plays Bach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it in human nature that makes us so cruel to one another?\u201d he asked poignantly.<\/p>\n

An excerpt from Shostakovich\u2019s First Cello Concerto gave as good a musical answer as any. The last movement from George Crumb\u2019s Sonata for Solo Cello then epitomized the frenetic excitement of New York, where Ma and his family moved when he was seven.<\/p>\n

Ma is a master storyteller, moving seamlessly from his life journey to deeper philosophical ruminations, and pausing to reflect on his dilemma in choosing between obedience to his father and being true to himself. He chose the latter path. A remark from his teacher, Leon Kirchner, about the young student not having found his \u2018sound\u2019 sent him off on a quest to find not just \u2018my sound\u2019 but \u2018our sound\u2019.<\/p>\n

A parade of excerpts followed, celebrating the sounds of countries, cultures and regions, from Piazzola to Bloch, from Mashrou\u2019 Leila to Ahmet Adnan Saygun. Stylistic and temporal barriers were dissolved, as the \u2018College Hornpipe\u2019 metamorphosed into Bach\u2019s Third Brandenburg Concerto. A medley then encapsulated the sound of the \u2018American soul\u2019, embracing Gershwin\u2019s \u2018Summertime\u2019, Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s setting of \u2018Goin\u2019 Home\u2019 in the New World Symphony, and the spiritual \u2018Nobody Knows the Trouble I\u2019ve seen\u2019 \u2014 all utterly mesmerising.<\/p>\n

What else but Bach\u2019s elegantly mournful Fifth Cello Suite could have risen to Ma\u2019s call for music as \u2018energy, medicine for times of joy, tragedy, change; for sorrow and loss\u2019? The Prelude from the Sixth Suite then accompanied majestic images of Paris\u2019s reopened Notre Dame. A quick conversation on the cello with Roger Payne\u2019s recording of humpback whales led to thoughts on the relationship between ourselves and nature, and fear for the future of humanity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make sure we don\u2019t sleepwalk into World War III,\u201d the soon-to-be-70 cellist warned. \u201cOur job is to make sure nobody is ever just a statistic,\u201d came as a solemn but subtle reminder of ongoing civilian sufferings.<\/p>\n

Read the full review.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Ludwig van Toronto By Michelle Assay It\u2019s not every day that you enter a concert hall 15 minutes early only to find the artist already on stage, chatting to the audience. And, when the artist is the legendary cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, you can\u2019t help but curse the snail\u2019s-pace subway that prevented you from arriving … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3633,3612,4437],"class_list":["post-16455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cello","tag-review","tag-yo-yo-ma"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16456,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16455\/revisions\/16456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/2353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}