In perhaps the most acclaimed campus performance since Yo-Yo Ma’s recital last year, Yo Ma-ma’s debut at the Bing Concert Hall last night was nothing short of astonishing. Early reviews have reported that she left each and every member of the audience breathless, yet satisfied – no small feat in a packed house.
“Pretty much everyone I knew came tonight,” said sophomore Harry Peter after the show. “Most of us had to come in the back door, though, because the front was too crowded.” Peter’s concerns regarding the hall’s available space were echoed by many in attendance, as the allure of Yo Ma-ma caused the hall’s best seating to be rationed to early-arriving attendees, although the prevailing attitude of the night seemed to express that coming prematurely diminished the overall experience.
“I was here really early, but there were already, like, a couple hundred guys inside,” lamented junior Michael Oxhard. “I couldn’t really focus. I’ve been to a lot of these things, and usually this doesn’t happen.” Oxhard added that, nevertheless, he was still “touched” during the performance.
Event organizers were similarly stimulated; Jerry Kanoff, managing director of the Bing Concert Hall, called Yo Ma-ma a “true heavyweight” in her genre, marveling at her “sheer gravity” and “outsize presence.” When asked if there were plans to bring her back, though, Kanoff was coy, only stating that he had “never experienced anything quite like Yo Ma-ma last night.”
