SIMULCAST: We the People - Yo-Yo Ma plays Bach’s Cello Suites

Space is limited; registration is required. Please sign up using the form above. Seating is first come, first served for registered attendees.

This November, Yo-Yo Ma will perform Bach’s complete suites for solo cello for the first time in one evening at home, in Boston. It’s music that he has offered to communities on all six continents, in moments of joy and in times of tragedy. For him it exemplifies how culture helps us to seek truth, build trust, and act in service.

This is more than a concert for Yo-Yo: it is an invitation to listen to each other and the world around us, to celebrate our community and the ways in which people all over the world—and here in Massachusetts—are bringing us together, creating shared space for connection, reflection, and action, and imagining a better future. 

Live broadcast, one night only 

Enjoy a live simulcast of the event as it happens, from Forbes Library. Hear every note and get an up-close view of Yo-Yo Ma’s artistry.

People across Massachusetts will come together in libraries, theaters, and community spaces to enjoy a powerful, uplifting evening of music, free of charge and for one night only. Celebrate the power of connection, reflection, and imagination: join friends and neighbors for this must-see live broadcast! 

Admission to simulcast events is free, and registration is required to attend. Please register using the form on this page, and include all people who will be attending with you.

Timeline:

• 7pm: Doors to the Coolidge Museum open
• 8pm: Simulcast begins
• 10:30pm: Approximate concert end time

About the artist: Yo-Yo Ma’s career is testament to his faith in culture’s ability to generate trust and understanding—from his iconic performances and recordings to original undertakings such as the Bach Project and Our Common Nature, a cultural journey to celebrate the ways that nature can reunite us in pursuit of a shared future. Yo-Yo was born to Chinese parents in Paris, where he began to study the cello with his father when he was four. Three years later, he moved with his family to the United States, where he continued his cello studies before pursuing a liberal arts education.

Program:
J.S. Bach | Suites 1-6 for unaccompanied cello, BWV 1007-1012
Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007
Suite No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1008
Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009
Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 1010
Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011
Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012

Streamed live from Symphony Hall, Boston. Presented by Celebrity Series of Boston. Produced by Celebrity Series and THE OFFICE performing arts + film in collaboration with Opus 3 Artists and Sound Postings, the office of Yo-Yo Ma.

We the People is made possible by Barbara & Amos Hostetter and the Barr Foundation with additional support provided by the Richard K. Lubin Family Foundation.

Looking for an alternate location to view the simulcast? Western Massachusetts simulcast locations include Forbes Library, the Greenfield Public Library, and HOPE Center for the Arts in Springfield. Farther west, you can catch the simulcast at Becket Athenaeum, Latinas 413 in Pittsfield, Tanglewood Learning Institute in Lenox, and the Porches Inn in North Adams.