Yo-Yo Ma
Kathryn Stott

Performers

• Kathryn Stott, Piano
• Yo-Yo Ma, Cello

Program

• SCHUBERT Sonata in A Minor, D. 821, "Arpeggione"
• SHOSTAKOVICH Sonata in D Minor, Op. 40
• PIAZZOLLA Le Grand Tango
• EGBERTO GISMONTI / CARNEIRO Bodas de Prata and Quatro Canto (arr. Gismonti)
• FRANCK Violin Sonata in A Major
• 
  Encores:
• ELGAR Salut d'amour, Op. 12
• FALLA Polo from Siete canciones populares españolas
• SAINT-SAËNS The Swan from Carnival of the Animals
• 
  Program is approximately 2 hours, including one intermission

Bios

• Kathryn Stott
  
  Kathryn Stott is one of Britain’s most versatile musicians. Born in Lancashire, she studied at The Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal College of Music, and was a prizewinner at the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in 1978. In addition to her busy career as a performer, Ms. Stott is a visiting professor at both the Royal Academy of Music and Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester. As a concerto soloist, she enjoys associations with many major orchestras throughout the world, and she has longstanding musical relationships with many distinguished instrumentalists.
  
  A special interest in contemporary music has led to several world premieres. She is a remarkable exponent of tango and other Latin dance music, reflected in her collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma and leading South American musicians on the Grammy Award–winning album Soul of the Tango and its successor Obrigado Brazil, the latter accompanied by a highly successful tour of Japan, the United States, and Europe.
  
  Ms. Stott has been the artistic vision behind several major festivals and concert series, including Fauré and the French Connection (for which she was appointed Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French government), and Piano 2000 and Piano 2003 at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. She was appointed Artistic Director of the Manchester Chamber Concerts Society in 2008 and guest artistic director of the Italian chamber festival Incontri in Terra di Siena in 2010. Current and future plans include tours of both North and South America, and performances in Australia, Hong Kong, and Japan, as well as throughout Europe. She has a daughter, Lucy, and lives in Manchester. She has walked the Great Wall of China, raising funds for cancer research, and recently accepted a position on the boards of Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy fundraising committee and the Hallé Concerts Society.

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• Yo-Yo Ma
  
  The multifaceted career of cellist Yo-Yo Ma is testament to his continual search for new ways of communicating with audiences and his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Whether performing a new concerto, revisiting a familiar work from the cello repertoire, coming together with colleagues for chamber music, or exploring musical forms outside of the Western classical tradition, Mr. Ma strives to find connections that stimulate the imagination.
  
  Mr. Ma maintains a balance between his engagements as soloist with orchestras throughout the world and his recital and chamber music activities. He draws inspiration from a wide circle of collaborators, each fueled by the artists’ interactions. One of Mr. Ma’s goals is to explore music as a means of communication and a vehicle for the migrations of ideas across a range of cultures. Expanding upon this interest, Mr. Ma established the Silk Road Project to promote the study of the cultural, artistic, and intellectual traditions along the ancient Silk Road trade route that stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. By examining the flow of ideas throughout this vast area, the project seeks to illuminate the heritages of the Silk Road countries and identify the voices that represent these traditions today. In the 2009–2010 academic year, the Silk Road Project partnered with arts and educational organizations to pilot Silk Road Connect, a multiyear, multidisciplinary educational initiative for middle school students in New York City public schools.
  
  Through the Silk Road Project, as throughout his career, Mr. Ma seeks to expand the cello repertoire, frequently performing lesser-known music of the 20th century and commissions of new concertos and recital pieces. He has premiered works by a diverse group of composers, among them Stephen Albert, Elliott Carter, Chen Yi, Richard Danielpour, Osvaldo Golijov, John Harbison, Leon Kirchner, Christopher Rouse, Bright Sheng, Tan Dun, and John Williams.
  
  Mr. Ma remains one of the best-selling recording artists in the classical field. He is an exclusive Sony Classical artist, and his discography of over 75 albums (including more than 15 Grammy Award winners) reflects his wide-ranging interests. Mr. Ma’s most recent recordings include Songs of Joy and Peace; Paris: La Belle Époque, with pianist Kathryn Stott; and New Impossibilities, a live album recorded with the Silk Road Ensemble and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

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