The Noorda Center for the Performing Arts
Yo-Yo Ma
February 25, 2026 7:30 p.m.
Concert Hall
Photo by Jason Bell
Yo-Yo Ma
Cello
The following selections will be announced from the stage.
Appalachia Waltz MARK O’CONNOR (b. 1961)
Ramblings of Modisana, for cello & voice ABEL SELACOE (b. 1992)
Eau – Matière (Water – Matter), for solo cello CAMILLE PÉPIN (b. 1990)
Naissance de l’onde
Remous, plis et noeuds
Abysses
Pluie, tempête, courants chauds
Dernière onde
When, after Maya Angelou CAROLINE SHAW (b. 1982) a shared tone a shared pulse a shared song
Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012
Prélude
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Gavottes I and II
J.S. BACH (1685–1750)
Gigue Management: Opus 3 Artists, LLC. opus3artists.com
COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES
CAMILLE PÉPIN
Born in 1990, Camille Pépin is one of the most widely recognized composers of her generation.
Her works have been performed by leading ensembles, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie Orchestre, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, under the direction of conductors such as Alain Altinoglu, Elim Chan, Mikko Franck, Ben Glassberg, Jun Märkl, Kent Nagano, Sakari Oramo, Leonard Slatkin, and Simone Young.
A close artistic collaboration links her to violinist Renaud Capuçon, for whom she composed a violin concerto (2023), several chamber music works with pianist Guillaume Bellom, as well as an orchestral work premiered by Capuçon as conductor (2025). In 2025, she premiered a new work at The Last Night of the Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Elim Chan, and saw her music performed at Tanglewood by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Samy Rachid.
In 2026, she is composing a solo cello work for Yo-Yo Ma, as well as a new piece for Renaud Capuçon and Guillaume Bellom.
Camille Pépin has received major awards, including the Grand Prix Sacem for Symphonic Music, as well as several prizes from the Académie des Beaux-Arts. She was named Composer of the year at the Victoires de la musique Classique in 2020 and was appointed Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2022. Her works have been published by Billaudot, and were previously issued by Lemoine and Durand-Salabert-Eschig.
South African cellist Abel Selaocoe has taken the world by storm since bursting onto the scene in 2021 with his BBC Proms debut. Abel combines virtuosic cello and vocal performance with improvisation and sweeps audiences along in captivating shows, which blaze with creation.
Abel grew up in Sebokeng, where he first began learning cello with his brother at the African Cultural Organisation of South Africa (ACOSA) in Soweto. He continued his studies on scholarship at St. John’s College before moving to the UK, where he found a musical home at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. In Manchester, he met the musicians who are now his most regular collaborators, and this has led to the formation of his bands, Chesaba and the Bantu Ensemble.
Abel has quickly amassed fans all over the world. His debut album on Warner Classics Hae Ke Kae was released to critical acclaim in 2022 and his second album Hymns of Bantu was released on 21 February 2025, celebrating his South African heritage and tracing his ancestral path that leads into his vast influences, including Western classical repertoire.
Abel plays a copy of a circa 1735 Montagnana, made by Robin Aitchison in 2020, with the generous support of the Alan Powell Trust.
CAROLINE SHAW
Caroline Shaw is a musician who works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Shaw is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music, an honorary doctorate from Yale, four Grammys, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She has written and produced for iconic artists and ensembles across the musical spectrum, including Rosalía, Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Tiler Peck, Nas, Kanye West, the LA Phil, the NY Phil, and others. Recent tv/film/stage scoring projects include “Leonardo Da Vinci” (Ken Burns/PBS), “Julie Keeps Quiet (Leonardo Van Dijl), “Fleishman is in Trouble” (FX/Hulu), “The Sky Is Everywhere” (Josephine Decker/A24), vocal work with Rosalía (MOTOMAMI), “The Crucible” (Lyndsey Turner/National Theatre), “Partita” (Justin Peck/NYC Ballet), “Moby Dick” (Wu Tsang), and “LIFE” (Gandini Juggling/Merce Cunningham Trust). Current touring projects include shows with Sō Percussion, Ringdown, Attacca Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, Graveyards & Gardens, Gabriel Kahane, and Kamus Quartet. Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite smell is rosemary.