Latest news with #Yo-YoMa
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The legendary Yo-Yo Ma is coming to BYU
The legendary Yo-Yo Ma is coming back to Utah. The 19-time Grammy-winning cellist is a headliner for Brigham Young University's recently announced 2025-26 Bravo! arts series. Ma's appearance for a special gala at BYU will celebrate both the university's 150th anniversary and the centennial of the school's College of Fine Arts and Communication, according to the season lineup. Ma's BYU appearance, scheduled for Feb. 24, comes a little over a year after he performed with the Utah Symphony — an appearance that was billed as his first performance in Salt Lake City since the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics, per Deseret News. The cellist also performed at Salt Lake's Red Butte Garden in 2021 as part of his bluegrass project, 'The Goat Rodeo Sessions,' which also features Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers mandolin player Chris Thile. BYU's art series has attracted high-profile figures in classical music over the years. In 2020, master violinist Itzhak Perlman made his debut at the school with a performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, as the Deseret News reported. Perlman returned to the university for two performances in 2023. Below is the full lineup for BYU's 2025-26 Bravo! art series: Sept. 19-20, Song of the North — 'A large-scale, cinematic performance combining the manual art of shadow puppetry with projected animation to tell the courageous tale of Princess Manijeh, a heroine from ancient Persia,' per the season announcement. Oct. 17, Aba Diop & the Yermande Family — Senegalese percussionist Aba Diopa brings his ensemble that combines West African and Western instruments in its performances. Oct. 24, Spanish Night with Pablo Sáinz-Villegas and Friends — Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas returns to the Bravo! arts series after a sold-out solo recital. This time, backed by a trio of musicians, he'll highlight pieces from his homeland in Spain. Nov. 1, Bodytraffic — The Los Angeles-based contemporary dance company showcases a wide range of styles — ballet, contemporary, modern, Afro-Cuban and hip-hop, per BYU's Bravo! series announcement. Jan. 23, Joshua Henry — Grammy winner and Broadway actor Joshua Henry performs his show, 'Get Up Stand Up,' which 'is a soulful bop through the songs that have moved and grooved us through the decades,' according to the Bravo! series. Feb. 6-7, 'How to Train Your Dragon' — The BYU Philharmonic will perform the score to 'How to Train Your Dragon' as the film plays on the big screen. Feb. 24, Yo-Yo Ma — Ma will appear in a gala celebrating BYU's 150th anniversary and the centennial of the school's College of Fine Arts and Communication. March 17, Ímar — The Glasgow-based Celtic folk band returns to BYU for a St. Patrick's Day concert that will highlight Irish, Scottish and Manx trad music. March 26, Utah Symphony with Pablo Ferrández — Cellist Pablo Ferrández will perform Korngold's Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky's 'Variations on a Rococo Theme' with the Utah Symphony. April 14, Bridge & Wolak — Michael Bridge (accordion and piano) and Kornel Wolak (clarient and piano), a musical duo from Canada, will perform "reimagined repertoire of classical, world and jazz fusion." Season tickets go on sale July 9, and individual tickets will be available starting Sept. 10.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The legendary Yo-Yo Ma will perform at 2 universities in Utah
The legendary Yo-Yo Ma will perform at least twice in Utah next year — at two universities. Utah Valley University recently announced The Noorda's Center for the Performing Arts 2025–26 season, and the lineup includes a performance from renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma on Feb. 25. That performance comes the day after the 19-time Grammy winner is scheduled to perform at Brigham Young University — an appearance that celebrates both the university's 150th anniversary and the centennial of the school's College of Fine Arts and Communication, as the Deseret News previously reported. Ma's pair of solo performances in Utah is significant, coming a little over a year after he performed with the Utah Symphony in an appearance that was billed as his first performance in Salt Lake City since the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics, per Deseret News. The Noorda's upcoming season also features another classical music superstar: violinist Joshua Bell. The violin virtuoso previously performed at UVU in 2021 and Brigham Young University in 2017. Another big draw for the season is Broadway and Disney star Lea Salonga, the powerful voice behind Disney princesses Jasmine and Mulan who was the guest artist for the Tabernacle Choir's 2022 Christmas concert. Below is the full 2025–26 season lineup, per The Noorda website: Sept. 12 — The Wailin' Jennys Sept. 26 — Henry Yeff aka Reeps100 Oct. 13 — 123 Andres Nov. 5 — Lea Salonga Dec. 12 — La Nueva Generacion, 'A Mariachi Christmas' Dec. 16 — Utah Symphony, 'Here Comes Santa Claus' Feb. 6, 2026 — Tango After Dark Feb. 25, 2026 — Yo-Yo Ma April 3, 2026 — Brush Theatre presents: Doodle Pop April 21, 2026 — Joshua Bell Tickets are available on The Noorda's website. Ma's performance is only available through season ticket packages until July 1.
Los Angeles Times
07-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘Last Repair Shop' for LAUSD musicians gets $1-million gift, plus a visit from Yo-Yo Ma
In a downtown Los Angeles warehouse Sunday night, a few blocks north of the 10 Freeway, an unlikely quartet performed for the first and probably only time in front of a rapt audience. At the piano, Amanda Nova, a Fairfax High School graduate and freshman at the USC Thornton School of Music. On alto sax, Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School student Ismerai Calcaneo. On violin, Palms Middle School seventh-grader Porche Brinker. And on cello, the most senior member of the group: Yo-Yo Ma. All four performers played on instruments owned and maintained by the Los Angeles Unified School District. (Yo-Yo Ma's Stradivarius had the night off.) As the world-renowned cellist took to the improvised stage, Ma spun his borrowed instrument around, revealing a strip of blue tape on which the school-issued instrument's number was written in black marker. The ensemble came together at a fundraiser at the facility where about a dozen LAUSD employees maintain and repair the school district's 130,000 instruments. The repair shop, its staff and the students who played with Yo-Yo Ma on Sunday were featured in the documentary short 'The Last Repair Shop.' Co-directed by Ben Proudfoot and composer Kris Bowers (and co-distributed by L.A. Times Studios and Searchlight), the film won an Academy Award for documentary short last year. Before their Oscar win, the film's creators saw the shop's financial needs and launched a capital campaign with a goal of raising $15 million, said Proudfoot, the chief executive of Los Feliz-based Breakwater Studios. 'Many of the folks that work in the shop now will retire in the next few years,' Proudfoot said in an interview Sunday night. 'So where will the next generation of repair technicians come from? Who will train them? And how do we make sure that this shop remains here for generations and generations to come?' Proudfoot said 82% of LAUSD's more than 440,000 students live below the poverty line. 'For a family to pay $25 a month to rent a violin or take responsibility for a $2,000 tuba, it's not going to happen for most students, right?' he said. 'That's why we are doing whatever we can to protect this shop and to rally the community to support it so that L.A. can keep this beautiful, wonderful thing that pretty much every other city in America has cut or privatized. Like so many things in our world, musical instruments [in other school districts] have been put behind a paywall for kids.' At the emotional core of 'The Last Repair Shop' are the stories of the dedicated technicians and the students who benefit from the free instruments. The message: Music education has the power to transform lives. Proudfoot said the fundraising campaign has received about 1,330 gifts from individuals in 30 states so far, many of which were small donations of $10 to $25. Together, those donations add up to more than $700,000. At Sunday's event, the campaign organizers — who include philanthropist Jerry Kohl and Juilliard President Damian Woetzel — celebrated a $1-million donation from the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation, founded by the veteran TV producer behind 'Dharma & Greg,' 'Two and a Half Men' and 'The Big Bang Theory.' A new sign that reads 'The Lorre Family Strings Department' will hang above one section of the shop. Proudfoot said that naming opportunities for the brass, woodwind and piano shop, as well as other parts of the warehouse, are available to future donors. Proudfoot's co-director, Bowers, was unable to attend the event because of the recent birth of his second child. In an email to The Times, he cited his personal connection to 'The Last Repair Shop.' 'I was one of the many students who depended on these instruments,' Bowers wrote. 'I'll never forget the feeling when a repaired instrument was placed back in my hands — it was as if a blocked pathway to creativity suddenly opened. I would not be the musician or composer I am without those instruments — and without this shop.' Sunday night, 18-year-old Calcaneo reflected on the repair shop's work. She said access to a well-tuned and maintained instrument can motivate students to keep playing music — and it can change a life. 'I feel like once your instrument stops working, [students] start losing that hope and they might go to another path other than music,' Calcaneo said. 'And not only that, they might feel like their school or the system is not supporting them in their passion.' Ahead of their performance with Ma, Calcaneo, Brinker and Nova exhibited a cool confidence. 'When I first got told I was playing with Yo-Yo Ma, I was like, wow, that's not real. That feels like a lie,' Nova said. 'And now I'm here with one of the most renowned musicians in the world.' Brinker, the seventh-grade violinist, said she had watched videos of Ma playing cello online. 'Now that I've played with professionals before, I'm a little less scared,' she said. 'I'm not nervous,' Calcaneo said, adding later: 'We rehearsed on our own and it sounded really good. I can only imagine how good it will sound with Yo-Yo Ma!' The quartet's performance of 'Ode to Joy' did indeed sound good. Brinker kicked it off with a tender solo rendition of the opening bars of Beethoven's theme. Ma watched her intently, smiled broadly and responded with his own elegant version of the same theme. Ma also offered a benediction to the repair shop, playing the Prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major on the same borrowed cello. He and Woetzel, a former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, also led the audience in an interactive performance of George Balanchine's ballet 'Serenade,' set to Tchaikovsky's 1880 Serenade for Strings in C, Op. 48. In between performances, Ma and Woetzel chatted about why they believe music education is a public good and a human right. Offering access to free musical instruments is essential, Ma said. 'There are few things in life that are non-transactional,' Ma said. 'The young people that are getting these instruments, they will probably see the world in the year 2100. We may not see that world, but we can help make it possible that world is actually a good world.' These performances and conversations took place against a backdrop of damaged horns, well-worn instrument cases, tools and faded photos of high school bands performing at the Rose Bowl Parade. In a mounted glass box amid the decades of accumulated musical ephemera, the documentary film's Oscar statue was also on display. And what's next for the LAUSD cello Yo-Yo Ma played? 'It's going back to school of course,' repair shop supervisor Steve Bagmanyan said. Thanks to the work of Bagmanyan and the rest of the repair shop staff, it soon will be back in the hands of a cello student at Florence Nightingale Middle School.
Los Angeles Times
07-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Yo-Yo Ma visits the ‘Last Repair Shop' and celebrates $1-million gift
The LAUSD program that provides free working instruments and was featured in the Oscar-winning doc 'The Last Repair Shop' receives $1 million to safeguard its future. Yo-Yo Ma marks the occasion with a mini concert with kids.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Warming center to open in Jefferson Parish ahead of cold weather
JEFFERSON PARISH, La. (WGNO) — Jefferson Parsh officials are preparing for anticipated cold temperatures in the area. Parish officials said the National Weather Service is forecasting a drop in temperatures on Wednesday, Feb. 19. Jefferson Parish bus services changes for 2025 Mardi Gras season WGNO meteorologists predict that colder weather will move in on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, with lows in the upper 20s to lower 30s across parts of Southeast Louisiana. The parish will open a warming center on Wednesday, Feb. 19, at the Terrytown Playground at 641 Heritage Ave. The warming center will open at 1 p.m. on Wednesday and remain open until 8 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 21. Here's where to find a first aid station at Orleans, Jefferson parish Mardi Gras parades Parish officials said those in need of temporary shelter can contact Jefferson Parish Human Services Authority, and those needing transportation to the warming center can call the Jefferson Parish Emergency Operations Center at 504-349-5360. Additionally, parish officials are reminding residents to protect their pets, plants, pipes and people. This includes checking on neighbors, bringing pets inside or making sure they have warm shelter, wrapping pipes and protecting sensitive unveiled of New Orleans' best friend Scrim Warming center to open in Jefferson Parish ahead of cold weather Arkansas PBS livestreaming Yo-Yo Ma performance, conversation Man drives 730 miles to burn down ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend's house, police say Social Security chief steps down over DOGE access to recipient data: Reports Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
