Released: May 12, 1999

Yo-Yo Ma concert gets enthusiastic response from Centre audience

DANVILLE, KY -- World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma found it diffcult to finish his May 11 concert at Centre College -- the enthusastic audience simply didn't want to let him go. The genial Ma and fellow-performer pianist Jeffrey Kahane performed three encores before giving a final bow to patrons of the college's Norton Center for the Arts. The concert climaxed the Norton's Center's gala 25th anniversary season.

In a performance that showed why he is celebrated world-wide for his musical abilities, Ma teamed up with Kahane for a flawless presentation. The first half of the concert was devoted to the "New Goldberg Variations," a set of complicated modern works. In the second half, Ma and Kahane simply cut loose with a vibrant performance of Rachmaninoff's "Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19."

The fact that the duo gamely agreed to wear Centre College shirts for the second half made them even more beloved by the hometown crowd.

Ma has made over 45 albums and won several Grammy awards. Considered by some to be the most gifted cellist of his generation, he is involved in many musical facets, including performing new concertos, revisiting familiar works, joining colleagues for chamber music, or committing himself to educational programs for the youth.

Kahane is a virtuoso in his own right, performing with symphonies the world over and recording on a number of labels.

Centre College's Norton Center for the Arts is a regional performing arts center which annually brings to the campus a series of important musical groups, Broadway shows, individual performances and other works from the performing arts. A complete series schedule and subscription information is available upon request.

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Centre College
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Danville, KY 40422

Coordinator of Public Information: Patsi Barnes Trollinger
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