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Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Solon Gordon, piano

Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works for cello, bringing communities together to explore culture’s role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Yo-Yo Ma strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity.

Yo-Yo Ma will perform a recital with pianist Solon Gordon in the Sanctuary, the glass-enclosed indoor amphitheater, at Grace Farms.

Doors open at 2:15 pm.

Know Before You Go

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Yo-Yo Ma, cello

© Brantley Guttierez

Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works for cello, bringing communities together to explore culture’s role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Yo-Yo strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity.

Most recently, Yo-Yo began Our Common Nature, a cultural journey to celebrate the ways that nature can reunite us in pursuit of a shared future. Our Common Nature follows the Bach Project, a 36-community, six-continent tour of J. S. Bach’s cello suites paired with local cultural programming. Both endeavors reflect Yo-Yo’s lifelong commitment to stretching the boundaries of genre and tradition to understand how music helps us to imagine and build a stronger society.

Yo-Yo Ma was born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris, where he began studying the cello with his father at age four. When he was seven, he moved with his family to New York City, where he continued his cello studies before pursuing a liberal arts education.

Yo-Yo has recorded more than 120 albums, is the winner of 19 Grammy Awards, and has performed for nine American presidents, most recently on the occasion of President Biden’s inauguration. He has received numerous awards, including the National Medal of the Arts, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Birgit Nilsson Prize. He has been a UN Messenger of Peace since 2006, and was recognized as one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020.

Solon Gordon, piano

© 2025 Sham Sthankiya

Solon Gordon leads a multifaceted career in music and technology. As a pianist, he specializes in collaborative playing and finds joy in working with a wide range of musicians, from young students to touring professionals. In recent years he has enjoyed partnerships with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, baritone Jack Hornor, clarinetist/composer Jonathan Russell, and violinist Lily Tsai. He also performs frequent solo recitals for his neighbors at Youville Assisted Living.

In his work as a software engineer, Solon has contributed to fields including education technology and distributed databases. He also maintains an extensive live music calendar for the Boston area at bostonshows.org.

Solon is ever grateful to his principal musical mentors: Monique Duphil, at Oberlin Conservatory, and Sandra Dennis, at the Community Music School of Springfield, Massachusetts.

Music at Grace Farms

Experience Grace Farms’ distinctive, daylit acoustic music performances in the glass-enclosed Sanctuary, against the backdrop of 80 acres of natural landscapes. Season highlights include a recital by internationally acclaimed cellist and 19-time GRAMMY® winner Yo-Yo Ma, GRAMMY® Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell, and a special recital by Grace Farms Artist-in-Residence and GRAMMY®-winning Canadian cellist Arlen Hlusko.