Excited chatter filled the concert hall at the BYU Music Building as audience members poured in to watch Yo-Yo Ma perform.
Ma is an award-winning cellist who came to Brigham Young University to perform as part of the BYU BRAVO! series. This particular event was to celebrate BYU’s sesquicentennial.
The concert also recognized the 100th anniversary of the College of Fine Arts and Communications (CFAC). BYU created the first college of fine arts west of the Mississippi, established in 1925.
Ma opened the concert with “Appalachia Waltz” by Mark O’Connor and wove it into a medley that included “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
After this first song, he explained how the fiddle tunes in the song represent musical migration.
“I’m an immigrant, and I was here last night thinking about all the people who traveled here over the decade, and what it took to arrive here. And I am just so grateful to be here and be with you,” Ma said.
In between pieces, Ma shared the story of how a high school student in Utah named his cello 25 years ago. After he played for her, she chose the name Petunia.
“I feel like my cello has come home because the cello was named in Salt Lake City,” Ma said.
Lyndsay Keith, producer of the BRAVO! series, said it took a year and a half to contact and schedule Yo-Yo Ma for the concert.
“I knew that both of these anniversaries were coming up, and I wanted someone of really high profile like him, and I couldn't think of anyone else who would be a better fit for such a big celebration,” Keith said.
As part of her job, Keith was able to greet and interact with Yo-Yo Ma backstage.
“He is just the kindest, warmest, most friendly person you can imagine. It was kind of like talking to someone you've known all your life, but you've only just met him,” Keith said.
The pieces in the program by Abel Selaocoe, Camille Pépin and Caroline Shaw were all written for Ma to play.
According to Keith, Ma premiered them just two days before the BYU concert at a recital in Santa Barbara, California.
“I think it’s so cool that BYU has the means to invite such world-renowned musicians here at BYU and get to hear them live. It’s once in a lifetime,” Monet Rojas, an usher at the performance, said.
Rojas is a senior at BYU studying harp performance and has loved Yo-Yo Ma’s music for a long time.
“I’m a huge fan of Maya Angelou, the poet. So I’m really interested to see what Caroline Shaw has done to take a poem and put it with cello music. That’s one of my favorite art forms,” Rojas said before the concert.
Caroline Shaw composed the work “When,” based on Maya Angelou’s poem “A Brave and Startling Truth.” It was one of the pieces written for Yo-Yo Ma to perform.
Ma read the last stanza of Maya Angelou’s poem before playing the piece and then encouraged audience participation during the song.
He led them in singing the words “when” and “when we come to know.”
After the song ended, a reverent silence hung in the air before the audience erupted into applause.
Brandon and Keely Glenn attended the event with their three sons; Keely Glenn is a contemporary dance professor at BYU.
“Having the interactive component was really exciting. And also just to hear Yo-Yo Ma sing and to provide music in that way, an invitation for all of us to participate in the music was really nice,” Keely Glenn said.
Ma’s concert was filled with memorable moments, including when a hair on his bow broke.
“It was kind of fun to see that one of his bow hairs broke,” Brandon Glenn said.
After the final piece, the concert hall erupted into a standing ovation, prompting him to play an encore: a traditional Catalan carol called "Song of the Birds."
After the concert, patrons were invited to continue the BYU 150 and CFAC 100 celebration in the lobby, enjoying live music from the Honors String Quartet and eating hors d'oeuvres.
Keith said it was the first time BRAVO! held a post-concert reception, partnering with BYU Catering Services, which provided the food and tables.
“There is something about listening to music, but getting to see it live is completely different,” Rojas said.
