22 November 2025

Last night Yo-Yo Ma brought his Bach Project home to Boston for a sold-out Celebrity Series concert in Symphony Hall that was for the first time simulcast to over 20 venues across the Commonwealth.  In a 19 November interview on Boston Public Radio, Ma, who has since 2018 toured six continents performing Bach’s Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, explained that “there’s something special about this music”; he practices not to play perfectly, but “to serve a need that is somewhere out there.”  Describing his Bach Project as a listening tour wherever he went to play, Ma asked who was using culture to strengthen the fabric of their community, and learned from the answers that there talented, intelligent, and kind people everywhere.

That message informed what amounted to an astonishing, moving, herculean performance.  For nearly three hours without intermission and only a few remarks in between the first four suites, Ma played all six complex movements of all six complex suites, initially joking that we would know when we were approaching the end of each because all ended with a gigue, and then mouthing “gigue” as he began to play it.  Even disregarding the skill, artistry, concentration, and a lifetime’s dedication required to perform such demanding works all from memory, the physical stamina demanded is gob smacking.  The program itself made clear that because there would be no intermission, audience members were welcome to enter and exit the hall quietly as needed, and when after Suite 4 ended well past 10 o’clock with two more suites to go, and some people, however sheepishly, made their ways to the doors, Ma concurred:  “I know it’s a LOT of cello, but it’s all I got!”

Of course it’s NOT all he’s got.  The program was preceded by a video of Ma taking questions from people around the world, answering each with such animated delight, and, for example, demonstrating whale song on his cello, that I said to my friend Vicky, “He’d make a great grandpa.”  Well, he IS one, four times over, and those grandchildren and the legacy our generation will leave them were clearly on his mind throughout the performance.  Ma turned 70 on 7 October (I was delighted to note my proximate birthday on 8 October, though Ma is three years younger) and proudly declared his performance a birthday present to himself.  Never losing sight of serving the community, he explained that the little cards we found in our programs were actions to be taken.  Before playing Suite 2, which he described as fertile ground for imagination, Ma invited us to let our dream for our communities in 2050 come to us.  That dream we were to record on the card (my modest one:  a full-time librarian and affordable housing).  Then, offering Suite 3, music for taking action, he instructed us to swap cards with a stranger in the audience, who should take it home and plant it:  there are perennial seeds embedded in the paper.  Let the dream take root and grow.

Introducing Suite 4, Ma explained that in writing his first three suites, Bach had set out to learn everything about what the cello could do.  Having done that, in Suite 4, he discovered he could multiply the voices only four strings could play by having the audience’s memory and association, providing harmonies not actually played, perform as well as the musician.  Then came the somber Suite 5, dedicated to all those who have lost something—health, love, purpose—but especially those who had lost their (emphasis on the word) dignity.  Finally, with only the slightest pause, uninterrupted by applause, Ma proceeded through Suite 6, finishing that final gigue with a flourish that brought all to their feet, cheering.

No one at that point expected an encore, but after a second bow, suddenly stagehands were pushing a shiny Steinway D on to the stage, and Ma was telling us that as an old guy, he thought it very important to introduce young talent. That talent proved to be Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

The hall exploded with delight, and well into the third hour of performance, Ma and Wu performed Schumann’s Ave Maria.  At the finale, more cheers and stamping.  Wu congratulated Ma, who flashed several heart hands to the crowd, embraced Wu, and exited stage left.

For a time, we all shared Yo-Yo Ma’s passion and generosity.  As we made our way through the scrum exiting onto Mass Ave well past 11 pm, I saw a young boy of perhaps 8 posing for his mom with a huge grin on his face in front of the Yo-Yo Ma poster twice his size.  There, I thought, is our future.

Thank you, Yo-Yo Ma, for reminding us of our common humanity, and of what is possible if we share and act on our dreams.