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==Early life and education== Ma's mother, Marina Lu, was a singer, and his father, Hiao-Tsiun Ma, was a violinist, composer<ref>{{cite book |author1=Marina Ma |author2=John A. Rallo |title=My Son, Yo-Yo |publisher=[[The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press]] |location=Hong Kong |language=English |year=1995 |url=https://cup.cuhk.edu.hk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=198}}</ref> and professor of music at Nanjing [[National Central University]] (now relocated in [[Taoyuan, Taiwan|Taoyuan]], [[Taiwan]]; predecessor of the present-day [[Nanjing University]] and [[Southeast University]]). They both migrated from the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] to France during the [[Chinese Civil War]]. Ma's sister, Ya tong sang, played the viola and piano professionally before obtaining a medical degree from Harvard and becoming a pediatrician.<ref name= "Pong">{{cite book | last=Pong | first=D. | chapter=Yo-Yo Ma | title= Encyclopedia of Modern China | publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons/Gale, Cengage Learning | year=2009 | isbn= 978-0-684-31566-9}}</ref> The family moved to Boston when Ma was seven.<ref name= "Journeys">{{cite journal|last1= Tassel|first1=Janet|title=Yo-Yo Ma's Journeys|journal=Harvard Magazine |date=March 2000|issue= March–April 2000 |url= http://harvardmagazine.com/2000/03/yo-yo-mas-journeys-html |access-date=March 7, 2016}}</ref><ref name= "Smithsonian">{{cite journal|last1= Covington|first1= Richard |title= Yo-Yo Ma's Other Passion |journal=Smithsonian Magazine|issue=June 2002|url= http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/yo-yo-mas-other-passion-63898487/?no-ist |access-date=March 7, 2016}}</ref> From the age of three, Ma played the [[drums]], [[violin]], [[piano]], and later [[viola]], but settled on the cello in 1960 at age four. When three-year-old Yo-Yo said he wanted a big instrument, his father went to see Etienne Vatelot, a foremost violin maker in Paris who, after a chat, lent him a 1/16th cello. He jokes that his first choice was the [[double bass]] due to its large size, but he compromised and took up the cello instead. While Hiao-Tsiun handled much of his son's early music education, he eventually conceded that Yo-Yo required a more skilled teacher, and signed his son up for cello lessons with the renowned Mme Michelle Lepinte. He began performing before audiences at age five and played for presidents [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] and [[John F. Kennedy]] when he was seven.<ref>{{cite AV media notes | first=Mark | last=Salzman | others=Yo-Yo Ma | year=2001 | title=Classic Yo-Yo | url=http://www.artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/archive/2003-2004/perform/ma.asp | publisher=Sony | id=089667 | access-date=January 14, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080204153205/http://www.artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/archive/2003-2004/perform/ma.asp | archive-date=February 4, 2008 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite episode|title =1|series = Faces of America|series-link = Faces of America (PBS series)|network = [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]|airdate = February 10, 2010 |season = 1|number = 1}}</ref> At age eight, he appeared on American television with his sister<ref>{{citation | last = Pang | first = Amelia | title = This Is New York: The Untold Story of Dr. Yeou-Cheng Ma, Violin Prodigy and Medical Doctor | year = 2001 | publisher = New York City Life}}</ref> in an event introduced by [[Leonard Bernstein]]. In 1964, [[Isaac Stern]] introduced them on ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]'', and they performed the Sonata of Sammartini. After moving to New York, Ma enrolled at the [[Juilliard School]], where he studied under renowned cellist [[Leonard Rose]], and attended [[Trinity School (New York)|Trinity School]] in New York but transferred to the [[Professional Children's School]], where he graduated at age 15.<ref>Whiting, Jim "Yo-Yo Ma: A Biography" p.39</ref> He appeared as a soloist with the [[Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra]] in a performance of [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]]'s ''[[Variations on a Rococo Theme|Rococo Variations]]''. Ma attended [[Columbia University]], but dropped out. He later enrolled at [[Harvard College]]. Prior to entering Harvard, Ma played in the Marlboro Festival Orchestra under the direction of cellist, conductor and Ma's childhood hero [[Pablo Casals]]. He spent four summers at the [[Marlboro Music Festival]] after meeting and falling in love with [[Mount Holyoke College]] sophomore and festival administrator Jill Hornor during his first summer there in 1972.<ref>{{cite book | last = Weatherly | first = Myra | title = Yo-Yo Ma: Internationally Acclaimed Cellist | publisher=Compass Point Books | year = 2007 | location = Minneapolis, MN | pages = [https://archive.org/details/yoyomainternatio0000weat/page/49 49]–50 | url = https://archive.org/details/yoyomainternatio0000weat | url-access = registration | isbn = 978-0-7565-1879-0}}</ref> Even before that time, Ma gained fame and performed with many of the world's major orchestras. He has also played [[chamber music]], often with pianist [[Emanuel Ax]], with whom he has a close friendship from their days at Juilliard. Ma received his [[bachelor's degree]] in [[anthropology]] from Harvard in 1976,<ref name= "USAToday20060114">{{cite news |url= https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-01-14-yo-yo-ma_x.htm | title= Yo Yo Ma named U.N. peace ambassador | date= January 14, 2006 |work=USA Today | agency= Associated Press |access-date= April 10, 2007}}</ref> and in 1991 received an honorary doctorate from Harvard.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9328691 |title= Yo-Yo Ma|encyclopedia= [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=April 8, 2007}}</ref>
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