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He\u2019ll be performing at the\u00a02024 BBC Proms<\/a>\u00a0with Emmanuel Ax and Leonidas Kavakos. But who is cellist Yo-Yo Ma<\/strong>?<\/p> Yo-Yo Ma<\/a><\/strong> is an American cellist of Chinese descent. A child prodigy<\/a><\/strong>, he played for John F Kennedy when he was just seven years old, and studied at the Juilliard School<\/a><\/strong> and Harvard University.\u00a0<\/p> A world-renowned performer, he has made more than 90 recordings, encompassing Western classical music, American bluegrass, traditional Chinese melodies, Argentine tango and Brazilian music. He has also won 19 Grammy Awards. In 1998, he founded the Silk Road<\/a><\/strong> Project to promote collaboration between musicians from all over the world.\u00a0<\/p> Ma is particularly associated with the music of JS Bach<\/a><\/strong>. But he has also appeared on film soundtracks, such as Tan Dun<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon<\/em>\u00a0and John Williams<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Seven Years In Tibet<\/em>.<\/p> He was appointed a United Nations peace ambassador in 2006, and appeared at the inauguration of US president Barack Obama in 2009. He has played for eight presidents throughout his career.<\/p> Yo-Yo Ma was born in Paris in 1955 to Chinese parents. His mother was a singer and his father was a violinist<\/a><\/strong>, composer and professor of music. Ma\u2019s parent\u2019s migrated from the Republic of China to France during the Chinese Civil War. The family moved to New York in the US when Ma was seven.<\/p> Yo-Yo Ma began the playing the cello<\/a><\/strong> at four years old. At the age of seven, he performed for US presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F Kennedy.\u00a0Here is that performance, introduced by a certain Leonard Bernstein<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>Who is Yo-Yo Ma?<\/h2>
When and where was Yo-Yo Ma born?<\/h2>
When did he first learn to play the cello?<\/h2>