Choose artist...
Home   >   Projects

Projects

Artist: Yo-Yo Ma | Kathryn Stott
Projects per page:
Yo-Yo Ma | Kathryn Stott:

Merci

Merci is a deeply personal expression of gratitude, a celebration of the powerful relationships that keep music alive. This effervescent recording is rooted in the compositions of Gabriel Fauré, whom Stott calls her “musical soulmate,” and follows the arcs of his inspiration and influence, from the creations of his teacher Camille Saint-Saëns and his friend and supporter Pauline Viardot to works by his student Nadia Boulanger and her sister, Lili. Merci is testament to the gift of friendship, to the connections among performers, between students and teachers, and across generations that make music magic.

Ma and Stott—both of whom have connections to Fauré through their respective teachers Luise Vosgerchian and Nadia Boulanger—reveal the extent of Fauré’s influence and inspiration through a recording that juxtaposes Fauré’s works for strings and piano with compositions by members of his musical family. Beginning with his Berceuse, Op. 16, Fauré’s works alternate with those of his student (Nadia Boulanger), teacher (Camille Saint-Saëns), and friends and contemporaries (Lili Boulanger, Pauline Viardot), in a tribute to the belief that, in Ma’s words, “we musicians stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, and that we can only hope that ours will sustain those who come after.”

 

Yo-Yo Ma | Kathryn Stott:

Songs from the Arc of Life

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Kathryn Stott create a unique classical music experience with their new Sony Classical recording Songs from the Arc of Life available September 18, 2015. This all-new recording also celebrates thirty years of friendship and collaboration in concerts and recordings for Ma and Stott. The album includes pieces they have frequently performed but never recorded, as well as a handful of discoveries.

Yo-Yo Ma | Kathryn Stott:

Comfort and Hope

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Kathryn Stott come together again, this time for Songs of Comfort and Hope, set for release on December 11, 2020 on Sony Classical. Available now for preorder, Songs of Comfort and Hope is inspired by the series of recorded-at-home musical offerings that Ma began sharing in the first days of the COVID-19 lockdown in the United States. Throughout the spring and summer, Yo-Yo Ma's #SongsofComfort grew from a self-shot video of Antonín Dvorák's "Goin' Home" into a worldwide effort that has reached more than 18 million people.

Ma and Stott mark the next chapter in the project with this new album, offering consolation and connection in the face of fear and isolation. The album includes 21 new recordings, which span modern arrangements of traditional folk tunes, canonical pop songs, jazz standards, and mainstays from the western classical repertoire. "Songs are little time capsules of emotions: they can contain long-lost dreams and desires, and feelings of great spirit, optimism, and unity," Ma and Stott write of Songs of Comfort and Hope.

"Songs bring a sense of community, identity, and purpose, crossing boundaries and binding us together in thanks, consolation, and encouragement. It had long been our wish to explore this medium further, but we could never have imagined that the catalyst would be a pandemic that fundamentally rearranged our ways of living. This is music that tells stories, that marks occasions private and public, that gives voice to celebrations, remembrances, and all of life's mysteries. These are songs that pay tribute to musical champions of social justice - like Paul Robeson and Violeta Parra - and to the troubadours of our joy, imagination, and sorrow - like Francis Poulenc, Wu Tong, and Benjamin Britten."