PITTSFIELD – After receiving his second blow from a COVID-19 vaccine at Berkshire Community College on Saturday, Yo-Yo Ma turned his 15-minute observation period into a concert for the pass.
The world-renowned cellist and part-time resident of Berkshires completed his vaccination course at the field clinic and he ‘wanted to give something back’, Richard Hall of the Berkshire COVID-19 Vaccine Collaborative told The Eagle.
Yo-Yo Ma sat down next to the wall of the observation area, masked and socially far from the others. He spent 15 minutes playing the cello for a cheering audience, in what Hall calls a ‘very special’ concert that limits the day’s vaccination event.
“What a way to end the clinic,” Hall wrote in an email.
Today at the #MyBCC vaccination clinic, the people who waited 15 minutes in observation are delighted with the musical talents of the only Yo-Yo Ma. 😍 @ Berkshire Community College https://t.co/GOXoEAwfKa
– BerkCommunityCollege (@BerkshireCC) 13 March 2021
@YoYo_Ma is always a posh act #intheberkshires. Brings hope and optimism through his beautiful music. #mapoli # Get vaccinated # stopCovid https://t.co/De0sw5yGni
– Smitty Pignatelli (@repsmitty) 13 March 2021
Berkshire Community College shared the news of Yo-Yo Ma’s informal actions on social media, and State Representative William “Smitty” Pignatelli praised the musician for “hope and optimism through his beautiful music.” The college shared snippets of the concert on Facebook.
In a poetic circumstance, Yo-Yo shot Ma’s second coronavirus and the ensuing concert comes exactly one year after he posted his first recording of himself playing his instrument using the hashtag #SongsOfComfort.
Amid the fear and uncertainty that characterized the early days of the pandemic, the world-renowned musician began sharing the recordings in the hope that they would bring comfort and commitment to a frightened nation.
‘In these days of anxiety,’ he wrote on Twitter on March 13, 2020, ‘I wanted to find a way to continue sharing music that comforts me. The first of me #SongsOfComfort: Dvořák – “Going home”
In these days of anxiety, I wanted to find a way to continue sharing the music that comforts me. The first of me #SongsOfComfort: Dvořák – “Going home” Stay safe. pic.twitter.com/S28w6OlXiZ
– Yo-Yo Ma (@YoYo_Ma) March 13, 2020
This is not the first time that Yo-Yo Ma has enchanted the unsuspecting with music in the course of the pandemic. In September, he and Emanuel Ax played a series of surprising pop-up concerts for essential workers, not long after discussing essential workers and first reactions to a live virtual concert.
Francesca Paris contributed to this report