Valley Performing Arts Center is pleased to host its first gala fundraising event since the opening of the venue in 2011, with the incomparable cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Hosted by VPAC’s new executive director Thor Steingraber on May 6, the performance will begin at 6:30 p.m. The evening also spotlights Mr. Steingraber’s inaugural 2015-16 Season Announcement, with performance highlights featured in an exclusive keepsake program booklet. While the dinner tables are sold out, individual concert tickets that include a pre-show reception are still available at http://www.valleyperformingartscenter.org/calendar/yo-yo-ma-gala/view/2015-05-06.
The repertoire for the event will include three popular J.S. Bach suites – No. 1 in G Major, No. 2 in D minor, and No. 6 in D Major, as well as pieces by modern classical composers Saygun and Mark O’Connor.
The multifaceted career of cellist Yo-Yo Ma is a testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Mr. Ma maintains a balance between his engagements as soloist with orchestras worldwide and his recital and chamber music activities. His discography includes over 90 albums, including more than 17 Grammy award-winners.
Mr. Ma serves as the Artistic Director of the Silk Road Project and as the Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Institute for Learning, Access and Training.
Mr. Ma has received numerous awards, including the Avery Fisher Prize (1978), the National Medal of Arts (2001), the Sonning Prize (2006), the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award (2008), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2010), the Polar Music Prize (2012), and the Vilcek Prize in Contemporary Music (2013). In 2011, Mr. Ma was recognized as a Kennedy Center Honoree. Mr. Ma serves as a U.N. Messenger of Peace and as a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts & the Humanities.
Valley Performing Arts Center’s Yo-Yo Ma Fundraising Gala is sponsored by Neiman Marcus Topanga, Ventura Blvd Magazine, City National Bank and Agora Realty & Management. Additionally, more than 200 CSUN Student Tickets were underwritten by CSUN alumni Earl and Karen Enzer.
Individual tickets are $150 for the performance and a pre-show reception and are available at http://www.valleyperformingartscenter.org/giving/2015-yo-yo-ma-gala-fundraiser/.