Yo-Yo Ma returns to the IDAGIO Global Concert Hall on Friday, October 23, 2020, with a live concert event honouring the 75th anniversary of the UN’s creation. Three performances throughout the day make it possible to enjoy this event LIVE from every time zone in the world.
~ From Yo-yo Ma’s official website
A couple of weeks ago, I watched and listened to these New Equilibrium concerts. Whether it was carefully crafted and curated to be all that I felt it had been, the result was something rather astounding and powerful in its many-layered message of unity, diversity, and inclusion. Once again, Ma inspires us to keep expanding and growing as artists and to reach out because ultimately that is what it means to be a creative force in the world.
In the later part of March, the pandemic shut down businesses which included live performance venues and the vendors associated with them. However, performers were finding the need to continue to share their work – we couldn’t keep quiet. Maybe it was a bit of vanity and a desperate need for distraction, but I think it is in our human nature to use our creative “voices” in times of uncertainty. We heard the balcony serenades every night when Italy was being ravaged; we banged our pots and pans for frontline workers at the end of their shifts; we made Acapella and Tiktok videos for one another to keep us afloat, and connected. We communicated, commiserated, and sadly, said our goodbyes to those we lost.
7 months later, we have become well versed in virtual options from Zoom meetings to Facetime calls. Live performances have restarted with virtual options, mask requirements, and social distancing for those attending in person. It is a strange new world and sometimes I wonder if this is the way things are going to be moving forward. Is it a stop-gap or is it a new way of living? Is this purgatory or a virtual waiting room? Either way, this is the way it is; this is what we have to work with…
“Like so many others. I have lost more than a beloved friend. I have lost an inspiration. She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness, and her glow has warmed the world.”
Adlai E. Stevenson, United States representative to the United Nations, on the passing of Eleanor Roosevelt
Ma’s New Equilibrium concerts celebrated the spirit of Roosevelt’s UN Charter vision and represented the lighting of many candles. It gave us a panoramic view of the things that we have in our toolbox in this moment to be as creative and imaginative as before – perhaps even more as we learn to navigate the different platforms and grow accustomed to being our own engineers, producers, and directors. Being locked out of our traditional venues has been a blow to live performances, but necessity has truly been the mother of invention. A live, hour-long concert that features 10 or 11 cellists, and an impressive array of international artists: I can’t even imagine the logistics and cost of producing a live version of this, much less the ticket price if I am lucky to be in a city that is on their touring schedule. But in the hands of imaginative “do-ers” such as Ma, the idea comes to life.
Inclusion, Diversity & Unity
Ma performed live at the three appointed times as a matter of honoring those who put aside the appointed hour to watch: 8 AM for Asia; 2 PM for Europe, and 8 PM for the Americas. Every effort was made to understand that we were “all” watching together even though we were not in the same space. He made it an “event” and included an invitation to come back to the “green room” for the chats – no VIP status required. In the chats, Ma answered some texted-in questions and shared the stories and wisdom of the people that inspired him to follow his current path with the Silk Roads Ensemble and the United Nations.
Most of the program had Ma sharing the stage with a large monitor that showed his guest artists and collaborators…including himself, prerecorded on layered tracks. We heard Dvorak’s “Songs My Mother Taught Me” arranged and performed in layers by Dara Hankins, Beethoven’s Pastoral performed by four versions of Yo Yo Ma himself, Mashrou’ Leila’s “Tyf”, along with duets with Wu Tong, Abdullah Ibrahim, and Zolani Mahola and Seachange Collective.
“Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die.”
~ EM Forster, “Howards End”
This message was perhaps the most multi-faceted aspect of the concert that Ma tied all together with under the title of A New Equilibrium. In those three separate time spots, Ma virtually connected us all; through sharing his inspirations he connected us through time; through his collaborations, he connected us to the world as a living collective that is experiencing a pandemic and global climate change. The world does get smaller when you understand that we are just a part of a whole.
For the performers, Ma said rather passionately that it was futile to ‘whine and complain’ about the inconvenience of this virtual existence for musicians. It was a call-to-action for us to be inventive, creative, and be brave as we learn about becoming a musician in society, not just the concert hall. For professional musicians listening out there, Ma made his most pointed call to action when recalling Pablo Casals self-reflections: We are human beings first, musicians second, and instrumentalists last. We must act and have those actions aligned with conscience and commit to them as long term and sustainable goals.
