Yo-Yo Ma performed surprise concert during post-vaccination observation period

Internationally renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma had 15 minutes to kill last Saturday after being vaccinated against COVID-19 at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, so he gave everyone an impromptu concert.

Ma is a part-time Berkshires resident and was receiving her second injection of COVID-19 at the vaccination site.

Richard Hall of the Berkshire COVID-19 Vaccine Collaborative told the local newspaper that the Berkshire Eagle said Ma brought her cello because he just wanted to “give back.” So he treated healthcare workers and people recently and soon to be vaccinated at a performance of Bach and Schubert selections.

Yo-Yo Ma plays for the other vaccinated

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Medical staff said silence fell on the clinic as Ma began to play. “It was so strange how peaceful the whole building became, with just a little music playing in the background,” said Leslie Drager, the senior clinical director of the vaccination site, according to the Washington Post.

Music probably provided much-needed comfort to those who feared getting vaccinated.

Ma was waiting at the vaccination site after receiving the vaccine because most people are advised to take a 15 minute observation period in case they have an allergic reaction. People most prone to allergic reactions are often asked to wait 30 minutes.

People with mild reactions are usually given a dose of Benadryl and then sent on their way.

Yo-Yo Ma at the White House in 1987.via Wikimedia Commons

It must have been an incredible experience for people to be able to hear the highly respected cellist perform in such a small, impromptu setting. Ma has recorded over 90 albums and received 18 Grammy Awards. He has been the United Nations Messenger of Peace since 2006 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.

He is famous for being an eclectic musician having performed on recordings of classical music, bluegrass, traditional Chinese melodies, the tangos of the Argentinian composer Ástor Piazzolla and the works of the minimalist composer Phillip Glass.

He is also known for his affable and down to earth personality.

The mini-concert comes exactly one year after he first shared recordings of himself at the start of the outbreak under #SongsOfComfort. He shared the recordings to help ease the stress and anxiety caused by the onset of the pandemic.

“In these days of anxiety,” he wrote on Twitter on March 13, 2020, “I wanted to find a way to continue sharing some of the music that comforts me. The first of my #SongsOfComfort: Dvorák – ‘Going Home’ “

In a time when good memories are hard to create, Ma has done a wonderful job of lending her talents to spread some joy in a stressful time. Hopefully he can return to larger rooms soon and can once again spread that joy to thousands of people per night.