Yo-Yo Ma plays Elgar

The American cellist Yo-Yo Ma is one of the most renowned living musicians in the world, making his visit a significant event in Icelandic musical life. He has released over 120 recordings and won Grammy Awards 19 times, in addition to numerous other awards. His influence extends far beyond the music world, as he has used his music for decades in the fight for peace and cooperation and has been one of the United Nations Messengers of Peace since 2006.

At this concert, Yo-Yo Ma will perform Elgar's impactful Cello Concerto with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Eva Ollikainen, the orchestra's chief conductor. The work was composed shortly after the end of the First World War and expresses deep longing for the past. The concerto is a complex tapestry of triumph and sorrow, lyricism, and dissonance—a sort of artistic confession in the face of the devastation of war.

Fact of the Matter by Hildur Guðnadóttir premiered at the BBC Proms music festival in 2022. Hildur has described the piece as a response to the divisions prevalent in a world where everyone holds their own opinions about facts. "We are regressing, and instead of coming together, we seem more interested in being recognized for being right," Hildur said in an interview after the premiere.

The concert concludes with suites from Stravinsky's ballet Petrushka. Petrushka is an irresistibly entertaining ballet that showcases the formation of Stravinsky's powerful compositional voice, which would later revolutionize the history of music.