Critically-acclaimed cellist and musician Yo-Yo Ma to perform in Nairobi

The performance will mark the 36th and final performance of Yo-Yo Ma’s five-year tour of his 'Bach Project', a 36-city, six-continent tour in which he performs J. S. Bach’s cello suites mixed with local cultural programming.

The 'Bach Project' has brought Yo-Yo Ma’s music and message to communities across the world, from Paris to Dakar, New York to Seoul, and Sydney to Mumbai.

Speaking about the event, Afrika House senior convener Peter Holmes à Court said that the event was a chance for Nairobi to stage a world-class event as well as an opportunity for Yo-Yo Ma to meet and work with many of Nairobi’s rising creative and tech stars. 

“We are honored to be presenting Yo-Yo Ma in Nairobi, not just because of his enormous musical stature, but because of his dedication to highlighting the cultural acceleration underway in Kenya," he said. 

"This is a chance for Nairobi to stage a world-class event—a performance that any city would love to host—and at the same time, the Bach Project’s three days of activation will see Yo-Yo meeting and working with many of Nairobi’s rising creative and tech stars. There could not be a better way to show Nairobi to the world at this important time.”

Not only is the project motivated by Yo-Yo’s six-decade relationship with Bach’s music — which is among the first he learned at age four — it is also driven by Bach’s ability to speak to our shared humanity, bringing people together at a time when civic conversation and inclusivity (was) so needed. 

Yo-Yo Ma, known for his humanitarian spirit and his commitment to collaboration, is performing Bach's Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello. 

This remarkable feat entails playing nearly two and a half hours of music from memory alone on the stage, without an interval. 

The Nairobi performance, which is eagerly anticipated, will also see plans to expand the performance to outside the theater due to the limited internal seating capacity. 

To further enrich the experience to the Kenyan fans, the presenters are exploring the use of large screens in the Kenya Cultural Centre and seeking streaming partners to reach the widest possible audience. 

Furthermore, a significant number of seats within the theater are being held for rising Kenyan cultural and music leaders to be allocated in partnership with the local community.

This final concert in Nairobi promises to be a memorable experience, as Yo-Yo Ma brings his extraordinary talent, passion for music, and his vision of culture as a unifying force to the stage, creating a unique and inspiring musical event for audiences in Kenya.

Born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris, France, Yo-Yo Ma began studying the cello with his father at age four and, three years later, after moving to New York City, he continued his cello studies before pursuing a liberal arts education at Harvard.

Besides winning 19 Grammy Awards, Yo-Yo Ma has also won numerous other global awards and has also performed for nine American Presidents including John. F. Kennedy in 1962. He was only 7.