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Yo-Yo Ma, Live on Idagio

Yo-Yo Ma stands against a white stone wall. He's wearing a dark blue button up and wire-frame glasses. He holds his cello gently and looks at the camera wistfully.
Jason Bell
Yo-Yo Ma

The renowned cellist celebrates the 75th anniversary of the United Nations with "A New Equilibrium," streamed live from GBH's Fraser Performance Studio.This concert is no longer available.

In October 1945, the world came together to ratify the United Nations Charter. “It must have been,” Yo-Yo Ma, a UN Messenger of Peace, has said, "a moment of profound hope for the future, a step towards a world defined by equality, opportunity, and safety for all."

Now, the cellist channels that hope into music for United Nations Day through a program that weaves in musical and video creations by artists from around the world. Together, their work reminds us of the values we share, the common challenges we face, and the hope that we can find solutions together.

From cello arrangements of works by Beethoven and the Lebanese rock band Mashrou’ Leila to a new collaboration with South African jazz great Abdullah Ibrahim, Yo-Yo Ma shares music, words, and images that offer renewed hope for a better future in which we live in balance with one another and with nature.

On the program:

Song of the Birds (Traditional Catalan song)

Max Richter: All Human Being
   Yulia Mahr, film

Ludwig van Beethoven (arr. Peter Lichtenthal): Symphony No. 6 (“Pastoral”), II. – “Szene am Bach”

Antonín Dvořák (arr. Dara Hankins): Songs My Mother Taught Me
   Dara Hankins, cello (II–VII)

Abdullah Ibrahim: Soweto
   Abdullah Ibrahim, piano

Zolani Mahola and Seachange Collective: Amphibious Soul
   Zolani Mahola, vocals
   Madosini, mhrube mouthbow
   Jonny Blundell, guitar
   Brydon Bolton, double bass
   Hans Huyssen, cello arrangement
   Ronan Skillen and Tom Foster, sea percussion
   Sea Change Project, film

Mashrou’ Leila (arr. Mike Block): Tayf

Wu Tong: Rain Falling from the Roof
   Wu Tong, sheng

Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen (Traditional, arr. Harry Burleigh)
   Nathaniel Taylor, Cello

Antonín Dvořák (arr. William Arms Fisher): Going Home (from Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, “From the New World”)

Simple Gifts (Traditional, arr. Aaron Copland)