Quotes by

Yo-Yo Ma

The role of the musician is to go from concept to full execution. Put another way, its to go from understanding the content of something to really learning how to communicate it and make sure its well-received and lives in somebody else. – Yo-Yo Ma

I learn something not because I have to, but because I really want to. Thats the same view I have for performing. Im performing because I really want to, not because I have to bring bread back home. – Yo-Yo Ma

I love grocery shopping when Im home. Thats what makes me feel totally normal. I love both the idea of home as in being with my family and friends, and also the idea of exploration. I think those two are probably my great interests. – Yo-Yo Ma

Things can fall apart, or threaten to, for many reasons, and then theres got to be a leap of faith. Ultimately, when youre at the edge, you have to go forward or backward if you go forward, you have to jump together. – Yo-Yo Ma

The thing that Ive always been slightly frustrated with, was that the idea of a CD is kind of confined to a material possession that you can put on a shelf. And the idea of music, for me, is always about both the communication and the sharing of content. And so the interactive part is missing. – Yo-Yo Ma

One is that you have to take time, lots of time, to let an idea grow from within. The second is that when you sign on to something, there will be issues of trust, deep trust, the way the members of a string quartet have to trust one another. – Yo-Yo Ma

My teacher, my great cello teacher Leonard Rose, was such a great cellist, and nurturing man, very patient. But I grew up not only admiring him, but obviously Casals, Rostrotovich, Jacqueline du Pre, and many others, including many of my peers and contemporaries. – Yo-Yo Ma

Good things happen when you meet strangers. – Yo-Yo Ma