Child prodigies: How Yeou-Cheng Ma and Yo-Yo Ma learned to play classical music with their father

In this exclusive interview conducted by Peiwen Wang in New York City, Dr. Yeou-Cheng Ma shares inspiring and often very humorous stories from her childhood in Paris and then New York, and her days as a student at Harvard University. She also shares practical advice--drawn from her own experience studying piano and violin--for young musicians trying to develop and perfect their art.
Dr. Ma is an accomplished violinist and pianist, having studied with her father, Dr. Hiao-Tsun Ma. Dr. Ma is the sister of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and has accompanied him on piano and violin since their days as child prodigies performing on television for President John F. Kennedy and the conductor Leonard Bernstein.
A practicing pediatrician educated at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Ma is currently Executive Director of the Children's Orchestra Society, a non-profit organization devoted to providing musical education to young students. Founded by her father, the Society celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019. Dr. Ma's decades-long work for the Society was profiled in The New York Times in May 2019.
This is a condensed version of a longer interview with Dr. Yeou-Cheng Ma.