Yo-Yo Ma Kicks Off Concert With Poignant Tribute To Ukraine
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World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Emanuel Ax and violinist Leonidas Kavakos showed solidarity with Ukraine at the start of their all-Beethoven program at The Kennedy Center in Washington on Monday with a performance of the Ukrainian national anthem.
People in the full audience stood throughout the rendition. They remained silent for several seconds after it finished, then burst into applause before taking seats.
Yo-Yo Ma, along with Emanuel Ax and Leonidas Kavakos, begins his performance at Washington’s Kennedy Center with a performance of Ukraine’s national anthem. A full, standing house. pic.twitter.com/m1shyLzY4Z
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) March 8, 2022
Earlier Monday, Ma performed to little fanfare outside the Russian Embassy in Washington.
“Everyone has to do something,” he reportedly told a passerby surprised by the famed cellist’s low-key gig.
On the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Ma retweeted this appeal from United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres:
Under the present circumstances, I must change my appeal:
President Putin, in the name of humanity, bring your troops back to Russia.
This conflict must stop now.— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) February 24, 2022
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.