While in town for a performance at the Kennedy Center yesterday (March 7), prodigious cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed on the sidewalk in front of Washington, D.C.'s Russian Embassy in a musical protest against the ongoing war in Ukraine.
As you can see in a screenshot via Popville (which also has a brief video clip of the street performance), Ma played in solidarity with Ukraine, standing next to a makeshift street sign reading "Zelensky[y] Way," in honour of the intrepid Paddington Bear-voicing Ukrainian president.
The distinguished performer reportedly went largely unnoticed next to the gate between the stone walls in front of the Embassy, until passing cyclist Ryan Stitt stopped in amazement.
"I just asked him, point-blank: are you Yo-Yo Ma?" Stitt told local TV station WUSA, adding that he proceeded to have a nice chat with the musician.
"The thing I remember him saying was, 'Everyone has to do something,'" said Stitt.
Ma took his stand even further by beginning his Kennedy Center concert — alongside pianist Emanuel Ax and violinist Leonidas Kavakos — with a rendition of the Ukrainian national anthem, which prompted the whole audience to rise to their feet in unity.
Watch a clip of the virtuoso's in-concert dedication to Ukraine below.
As you can see in a screenshot via Popville (which also has a brief video clip of the street performance), Ma played in solidarity with Ukraine, standing next to a makeshift street sign reading "Zelensky[y] Way," in honour of the intrepid Paddington Bear-voicing Ukrainian president.
The distinguished performer reportedly went largely unnoticed next to the gate between the stone walls in front of the Embassy, until passing cyclist Ryan Stitt stopped in amazement.
"I just asked him, point-blank: are you Yo-Yo Ma?" Stitt told local TV station WUSA, adding that he proceeded to have a nice chat with the musician.
"The thing I remember him saying was, 'Everyone has to do something,'" said Stitt.
Ma took his stand even further by beginning his Kennedy Center concert — alongside pianist Emanuel Ax and violinist Leonidas Kavakos — with a rendition of the Ukrainian national anthem, which prompted the whole audience to rise to their feet in unity.
Watch a clip of the virtuoso's in-concert dedication to Ukraine below.
This is hardly the first time the cellist has taken it from the performance hall to the streets: he performed in a Montreal Metro station back in 2018. Meanwhile, Canadian composer Jeremy Dutcher was a featured collaborator on Ma's 2021 album Notes for the Future.
