Yo-Yo Ma Plays Bach Six Suites For Solo Cello Live From WGBH This Sunday

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma will perform J.S. Bach's six cello suites live from the studios of public media producer WGBH on Sunday, May 24 at 3:00 p.m. ET, a memorial for those we have lost in the pandemic and a tribute to the resilience of our communities.

Presented by WCRB Classical Radio Boston, the two-and-a-half-hour performance will air live and uninterrupted on WGBH channel 2 in Boston, and on public radio airwaves, made available to stations across the country by PRX. The performance will also stream live worldwide on Yo-Yo Ma's YouTube channel and at ClassicalWCRB.org.

Ma's offering of music comes in the midst of the now-rescheduled final leg of his Bach Project, a tour of the complete cello suites to 36 communities on six continents, part of a larger conversation about how culture can help us to imagine and build the world we want.

Ma will perform the six suites in isolation from WGBH's Fraser Studio, with each element of the production managed remotely by a single person and using robotic cameras.

"In times of challenge, we've often come together in shared experiences," said Jon Abbott, president and CEO of WGBH. "Yo-Yo Ma has a generosity of spirit, a solemnity that the moment deserves, and a warmth that reminds us of togetherness even as we feel alone. It is the strength we draw from each other that will help move us forward, and we are honored to host and produce this memorial event at WGBH and share it with the world through our public media network."

"We are proud to work with Yo-Yo to share his sounds of solace from our studio to the world," said Anthony Rudel, general manager at WCRB. "It is supremely fitting to have a great musician who has devoted his life to the international community bring the world closer together through the international language that is music, and more specifically Bach."

Yo-Yo Ma's live performance will broadcast on WGBH-TV Channel 2 in Boston and 99.5 WCRB Classical Radio Boston. The performance will stream on YouTube.com/yoyoma and ClassicalWCRB.org.

Through the distribution efforts of public media organization PRX, select local radio stations across the nation will also air the performance including Iowa Public Radio; Maine Public Radio; Louisville Public Media; Texas Public Radio - KPAC, San Antonio; Nashville Public Radio - WPLN; Hawaii Public Radio; WNED, Buffalo; WCLV in Cleveland, OH; KUSC in Los Angeles, CA; KALW in San Francisco, CA; New England Public Radio in Amherst, MA; St. Louis Public Radio; WETA in Washington, DC; Virginia Public Media in Richmond, VA; KPBS in San Diego, CA; Blue Ridge Public Radio (WCQS) in Asheville, NC; KRPS in Pittsburgh, KS, WRTI, Philadelphia and WQXR in New York, NY. (Additional stations may be added/check local listings.) Stations who would like to air the program can reach out to PRX's Station Services team at membership@prx.org. The performance will only be available live, uniting an audience in a shared experience.

To post a comment, you must register and login.