Yo-Yo Ma to perform benefit concert at Yale January 13

Concert will benefit the Yale School of Music cello program

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, whose artistry and wide-ranging interests have earned him the adulation of audiences worldwide, will come to Yale University to perform a special benefit concert in Woolsey Hall on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.

Appearing at the invitation of legendary cellist and Yale professor Aldo Parisot, Yo-Yo Ma will perform a suite by J.S. Bach for solo cello, in a duet with Yale assistant professor of cello Ole Akahoshi, and as a concerto soloist with members of the Yale Philharmoniaconducted by Mr. Parisot.

Of special interest, Yo-Yo Ma will interview Aldo Parisot onstage after intermission in what should be a lively and informative conversation between two masters of the cello who have enjoyed a warm friendship for many years. Parisot first heard Yo-Yo Ma perform in New York when Ma a fourteen-year-old prodigy, and he continued to follow the young cellist’s career. “I always admired his playing—he’s a wonderful artist,” says Parisot. “And as it turns out, he admired me too! It’s that simple.”

The concert will benefit the Cello Enrichment Fund at the Yale School of Music, which provides funding to cello students to support their burgeoning careers. Nearly twenty years ago, a similar concert took place in Woolsey Hall, for the benefit of scholarships at the Yale School of Music, in which Yo-Yo Ma appeared at the invitation of Aldo Parisot as soloist in two concertos with an orchestra conducted by Parisot and in the Debussy Cello Sonata, with pianist Elizabeth Parisot.

Earlier, in 1987, Yale University awarded Yo-Yo Ma an honorary Doctor of Music degree.

The program on January 13 will include J.S. Bach’s Suite No. 3 in C major for solo cello, Jean-Baptiste Barrière’s Sonata in G major for two cellos, and Franz Josef Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C major.

Tickets, general admission within sections of Woolsey Hall, are available through the Yale School of Music box office, located in the lobby of Sprague Hall at 470 College Street; online atmusic.yale.edu; or by phone at 203 432-4158. Ticket prices range from $25 to $50, with a $10 discount off any ticket for students. Patron tickets start at $75.

NOTE: Availability is limited. A block of tickets will be released for sale on Tuesday, January 6 at noon.