1. In the latest installment of "Where's Yo-Yo," cellist Yo-Yo Ma gave a surprise concert at Acadia National Park:
2. Meet 15-year old violinist (and Chestnut Hill local) Keila Wakao, who just won the 2021 Menuhin Competition — otherwise known as the "Olympics of the Violin."
3. ...And in another Menuhin Competition-related story, 13-year old Christian Li is the youngest musician ever to record Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" — the piece with which he won the joint junior first prize in 2018. Here's a video of that performance:
4. After 23 years as president and CEO of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Mark Volpe is retiring. In an interview for The Boston Globe, he looks back on his time with the BSO.
5. Pianist Min Kwon's "America/Beautiful" project, launching July 4, 2021, presents variations on "America the Beautiful" by more than 70 of today's leading American composers.
About the project, Kwon said,
"Ultimately this project is about embracing our diversity, and remembering that by understanding, appreciating, and celebrating our differences, we become stronger both as individuals and as a country. The fact that 70 composers can hear the same song in a completely different way is, to me, something truly beautiful."
Here's a preview video: