Yo-Yo Ma, cultural gardener

“Culture is kind of like a living seed and it can grow in places that are not fertile,” says one of the most prolific cultural gardeners of our time.

That would be Yo-Yo Ma, the cellist, master of crossing cultures and nicest guy in classical music, who on Oct. 7 will be celebrating his 60th birthday.

(Yes, really. Sixty.)

One of the places most in need of musical fertilization is the educational system, Ma tells Martin Steinberg in an interview published in Strings magazine:

http://www.allthingsstrings.com/Article-Index/Department/Feature/Yo-Yo-Ma-On-Intonation-Practice-and-the-Role-of-Music-in-Our-Lives