Storytelling doesn’t just happen through words. As Yo-Yo Ma proved through his performance at Hancher Auditorium on Oct. 30, sometimes the best stories are told through music.
Ma began his performance with a tale from his childhood, sharing that when he was four years old, he was often very lonely, but took comfort in an old friend. That “old friend” was none other than Johann Sebastian Bach, a classical composer who wrote pieces for many instruments, including the cello.
The 70-year-old cellist introduced us to Bach with a passion and skill that took my breath away. Even though it was clear Ma had played each movement multiple times throughout his career, his passionate, breathtaking music filled the Hancher as he seamlessly transitioned from one movement to the next.
When he concluded Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, the audience’s thunderous applause was a sharp contrast to Ma’s beautiful, melodic playing.
From there, Ma told his next story about his parents living in the midst of the Japanese invasion of China, and of his birth in 1955 — just 10 years after the end of World War II.
‘How could humans be so cruel?’ Ma asked, a precursor to his next piece, Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, an angry piece that wailed from the cello.
But Ma’s tale continued, as he told the story of being a 15-year-old student at The Juilliard School, enthralled by the piece, “Sonata for Cello” by George Crumb. With its fast-paced, energizing — almost wild — melody, it was easy to see how a young musician would be fascinated by the piece.
At 18 years old, Ma left his home in New York to attend Harvard University, where he pursued a degree in anthropology. Through his studies, he learned how people’s values contribute to their culture, and reflected that in his Hancher performance by playing the sounds of countries and regions, including the U.S.
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From the Brasileirinho to College Hornpipe by Bach — eliciting laughter from the audience for his cleverness in incorporating his old friend — Ma took us on an emotional, cultural journey across the world before returning to the U.S.
“Does the U.S. have a soul?” Ma wanted to know, beginning with the upbeat, jazzy piece “Take the ‘A’ Train” before transitioning to the bittersweet, beautiful classic “Summertime” to “Fanfare for the Common Man,” “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen,” and ending with the melancholy piece, “Goin’ Home.”
For Ma, it was clear, the U.S. has a soul, and it is a beautiful, tumultuous one.
One of my favorite moments of Ma’s show was his performance of “Songs of the Humpback Whale” by Roger Payne, accompanied by videos of humpback whales. Ma would take a moment to listen to the whales before replicating those sounds on his instrument. Eventually, the cello’s wails became indistinguishable from the animals’ cries in a profound and chilling performance.
Ma followed this performance with his next story by saying we, as humans, are akin to nature in creativity and destructive capability. He illustrated this statement with a story about his trip to Paris last year and how he’d been able to see the newly reconstructed Notre Dame Cathedral.
Growing up in Paris, Ma lived not too far from Notre Dame, and shared with the Hancher audience the music he associated with the cathedral while inside.
As part of the audience, I got to view a camera tour of Notre Dame accompanied by Ma’s reverent playing. As someone who studied the cathedral for a class, it made the architecture seem even more beautiful.
Ma ended his performance with a unison reading of a snippet of Maya Angelou’s poem, “A Brave and Startling Truth.” For his last song of the night, he invited the audience to sing the hymn “Dona Nobis Pacem (Give Us Peace),” accompanying us on his cello, which beautifully filled the auditorium.
As the renowned cellist took his final bows, the standing ovation and thunderous applause he received were well-deserved.