Recently in Yo-Yo Ma Category

Here's a video I took of Mr. Ma playing Mark O'Connor's Appalachia Waltz with DePauw students at The Hub (the centralized non-dorm food court on the DePauw campus).  This was supposed to something of a flash mob event though before any of the music students, much less Mr. Ma, arrived, there were already several hundred students filling the Hub to the brim!

There is a much better video of Mr. Ma taken from the floor posted by The DePauw Multimedia here.

Also, a couple of videos of a performance of Felix Mendelssohn's Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 with DePauw students and faculty at Asbury Towers Retirement Home here and here.

The Asbury performance happened not more than an hour after the Hub appearance!

Some pics of Jon playing with Yo-Yo Ma and Eric Edberg during the Bach Brandenburg No. 3 reading in Kresge Auditorium (DePauw University). 2011 Sept. 29 Photos by Marilyn Culler. More photos may be found here: http://photos.depauw.edu/albums/3419/

So on Thursday I drove up to my Alma mater, DePauw University, to attend this year's DePauw Discourse.  This year's guest was Yo-Yo Ma, who probably doesn't need any introduction (just click on the link to his website for more info).  The entire schedule may be found here, though there were a number of concurrent events happening as Mr. Ma had many other appearances throughout the event which were not publicly announced including a masterclass for the music students as well as other performances.

One performance not mentioned took place immediately after his talk Thursday night--a performance with members of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, DePauw University School of Music students and faculty and, well, me.  I happened to have my cello with me as I had a performance in Indianapolis last night and wouldn't have had time to get back home.  So I was asked to join the performance of a reading of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3.  My stand partners (three of us shared a stand of music) were my cello prof while I was at DePauw, Eric Edberg (who is still teaching there), and Mr. Ma himself.  The former was to my right and the latter to my left.  It was an unexpected,, but pleasant, surprise.  After that reading those of us left broke out in a group improv/drum circle which Mr. Ma declined to participate in as he had another engagement.

The whole weekend was chock full of events and I must admit I had to miss a number of them for various reasons.  I'm still reeling from the experience and all the stimulating discourse.  I'm not entirely sure how long it will take to process but will probably blog about some thoughts over the next few days as I know I have tons to say about it.

Last night was a performance with one of my groups in Indianapolis which brought some surprise family visitors who wanted to celebrate my birthday (which was yesterday) and brought me a birthday cheesecake and cupcakes for all the participants in the show.  I ended up playing the third movement of the Cassado suite for solo cello (which went much better than a previous performance I did at Derby City Espresso a couple weeks ago), but more about that later.

For now, check out the links above and this one in particular which has video excerpts of Mr. Ma's talk from Thursday,  'Reflections on a Life in Music.'  Also, a photoalbum of the talk by DePauw staff photographer, Larry Ligget, may be found here.

This post was originally posted at my blog here.

This weekend I'll be returning to my alma mater for the DePauw Discourse 2011 featuring Yo-Yo Ma.  Mr. Ma will be giving a talk, performance and master class during the residency at DePauw University over the next couple of days.  Also included in the Discourse are a number of other speakers, educators and performers in the arts.  This will prove to be, I hope, an invigorating experience.

After the last event on Saturday I will be performing with my Experimental Vintage Goth project, Secondhand, at the UUI (Universalist Unitarian Church of Indianapolis) in Indianapolis, Indiana.  The show is titled, "Amiable Artistry - A Belly Dance Show" and details may be found at the facebook event here. 

In between events I plan on doing a collaborative recording project with West Coast based cellist, Derek M Johnson, in celebration of our respective birthdays.  More on that later.

Hope to see some of you folks over the next few days!