With a discography that numbers more than 75 albums and includes 16 Grammy winners, Yo-Yo Ma is undoubtedly one of the world’s most famous living cellists. Not many other musicians have been referenced by Kramer on Seinfeld, jammed with the Sesame Street crew, bantered with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report, and performed at the White House for five presidents.

A child prodigy who started playing the cello at the age of four, the cellist extraordinaire caught the attention of violin virtuoso, Isaac Stern, when the family moved to New York. By the time Ma was eight years old, he had already performed in front of Presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower, and appeared on American television with his sister in a concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

Trained at Julliard under the guidance of Leonard Rose, Ma is one of the most versatile cellists of all time. Other than the standard classical recordings and his work with the Silk Road Ensemble, a sampling of his multifaceted repertoire would include an eclectic collaboration with Bobby McFerrin, the tangos of Argentinean composer Ástor Piazzolla, as well as his work on soundtracks such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Seven Years in Tibet.

His wide-ranging career plays witness to his persistent search for new ways to communicate through music, and to his own longing for artistic growth and renewal. Already famous and rich, with numerous prizes and accolades to his name, Ma would have been forgiven for choosing to coast through the rest of his life playing the same concertos round the world like other virtuosi have done. Instead, in 1998, he founded The Silk Road Project to convey the spirit of the ancient trade routes. The not-for-profit organisation works to promote the study of artistic, cultural and intellectual traditions along the Silk Road.

Born in Paris to Chinese parents and raised in New York, Ma has personal roots in three different continents. It is perhaps this cross-cultural background, together with a Harvard degree in anthropology, that’s given him the sense that the world should be an interconnected family. Ma assures that “when the Silk Road Ensemble performs, we try to bring much of the world together on one stage.”

The Silk Road Ensemble’s concerts are the most well known activities among the initiative’s projects. The ensemble is a loose collective of about 60 musicians, composers, arrangers and storytellers from more than 20 countries. A “creative lab” whereby members are asked to constantly learn from each other’s cultures, it is not merely a series of concerts, but a serious intellectual attempt to create a new kind of music and communication.

With four albums under its belt, the ensemble celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. They have performed to critical acclaim throughout Asia, Europe and North America, and for the first time, Yo-Yo Ma is bringing the collective to Macau. If you haven’t got a ticket already, you are truly missing out on one of the most unique musical experiences of our time as the one-night-only performance is already sold out.

Alice Chan

Tickets: Sold Out.