Community is music. Music is community.
Exemplifying that idea as a master world-renowned musician, cellist Yo-Yo Ma not only praised the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra musicians and singers on the Mount Baker Theatre stage on April 26, he expressed his delight with our connection to the land and water in our magnificent home.
“Yo-Yo Ma came for us,” my son, Andy Saxton, said to me after the thrilling performance. “He came to us. The audience was people in our town. It was our community.”
Joanne Donnellan, now retired but once the longtime concertmaster of the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra, reveled in how attendees welcomed the icon. “The audience responded as one when Yo-Yo Ma came out on the stage and received a standing ovation — before he’d even played.”
After exchanging a hug with BSO music director Yaniv Attar, Ma gave a friendly wave to the audience and said, jokingly, “Goodbye,” before he settled into his cello chair.
As he took his bow to play the first notes of the Elgar Concerto in E minor, Ma seemed transported to another world. Joy, sorrow, wonder — his face reflected the masterpiece that was composed in the chaotic aftermath of The First World War.
As he played, Ma exchanged smiles with Concertmaster Dawn Posey, glanced around at the violists, and gave a special nod to Principal Cellist Samantha Sinai.
“He played as though he was talking to the audience and orchestra through his music,” Donnellan continued. “Both with his impeccable technique and his understanding of the music and the ease with which he played.”
BSO cellist Nick Strobel said that during rehearsal earlier that day, Ma spoke with the musicians throughout, to reinforce musical ideas. “He talked a lot about character,” Strobel said, “and encouraged us to tap into the various characters that Elgar wrote into the work.
Strobel shared that Ma told the orchestra that these characters “were reflections of us as humans, and were an essential part of the piece.”
The concert also featured the BSO Chorus, directed by Dr. Frederick B. Mabalot, performing Bach’s “Dona nobis pacem” from the Mass in B minor.
Soprano Andrea Shupack posted on her Facebook page that “most telling of Yo-Yo Ma’s character to me was that he spent 10 minutes backstage with us, visiting and making jokes, wanting to show us his support.”
Bass singer Roger Clark shared his similar experience, “Ma stood outside his dressing room and greeted each singer, even though he didn’t have to go onstage until the second half.”
Bellingham cellist Clea Taylor Johnson, who was in the audience, said: “His playing was so relaxed in his posture, while simultaneously flying all around the fingerboard with complete ease. It was decisive, vulnerable, powerful, expressive, intense, and joyous.”
After the chorus performed, Ma spoke at length to the musicians backstage about music and our community.
“We were all moved by his post-concert speech about the power of music to promote world peace,” Clark said.
Samantha Sinai said that the opportunity to play so close to Yo-Yo Ma was a musical highlight of her life.
“Although he was the soloist,” she said, “it felt more like playing chamber music. He made direct eye contact with me many times, as well as our other string principals, and it felt like we were making music together.”
It was less about the hierarchy of soloist vs. orchestra and more about connection.
“I was so thankful that I memorized a lot of my cello part so I could make eye contact with him,” she continued. “It was amazing to watch his bow and mine move at the same time.”
One of the highlights of the concert was after Ma received the traditional thank-you bouquet of flowers, he “lunged over the conductor’s podium,” Sinai said, to hand them to her.
She was in tears.
“And as if the night couldn’t get any more dreamy,” she said, “he then gave me a hug.”
Part of what drew Yo-Yo Ma to Bellingham was BSO Executive Director Gail Ridenhour’s appeal that this concert would be part of the symphony’s long-running “Harmony from Discord” series. Its mission is to celebrate music that transcends oppression and shines a light on composers whose music has endured through the darkest of times.
That convinced Ma to come play with the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra.
Talking with the audience, Ma quoted his mentor, Pablo Casals: “I think of myself as a human being first, a musician second, a cellist third.” He then played an encore of his favorite Casal’s piece, “Song of the Birds.”
What propelled his performance into the category of one for the ages? “The sheer and utter joy emanating from his gentle heart and resplendent soul,” said music educator Pat Lundquist. “I could see members of the orchestra wiping tears from their eyes, but also smiling involuntarily at his playfulness with them, which seemed to say: ‘Come and join me in this concert of joy.’ We were all swept up in it.”
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