Yo-Yo Ma is a world-renowned cellist known for his extraordinary skill and for playing music from many different cultures and traditions around the world, not just classical repertoire. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and raised largely in the United States, he began performing publicly as a young child prodigy. He founded the Silk Road Ensemble, bringing together musicians from countries along the historic Silk Road, has won more than a dozen Grammy Awards, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. He continues to record and perform today, and is known for using music to bring people from different cultures together.