The Perfect Valentine's Day Gift Yo-Yo Ma's New Album: 'APPASSIONATO'

NEW YORK, NY (Top40 Charts/ OTSP) - Classical music has always flirted with love and romance, and its recent surge in popularity makes clear the fact that classical music is reaching a much broader - and younger - audience. Young people are getting excited about this enduring genre, the same young people who have a passion for technology. Why not mix them both? World-renowned cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, has released his latest recording "APPASSIONATO," enjoying the highest percentage of first week digital sales for a Billboard Top 200 release. The album peaked at No. 2 on iTunes' overall album charts.

FOR B-ROLL, INTERVIEWS, AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION VISIT: https://www.onthescene.com/MNR/YoYoMa/YoYoMa_Appassionato.htm

Many of the works featured on "APPASSIONATO" have come to be closely identified with Yo-Yo Ma. His impassioned, intensely lyrical performing style illuminates treasured classics such as the Largo from Vivaldi's "Winter," "The Swan" from Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals, and the Allegretto poco mosso from Franck's Sonata in A minor (with pianist Kathryn Stott). "APPASSIONATO"'s musical bounty also includes the Andante con moto from Gershwin's Prelude No. 2, Bandolim's Doce de Coco, the Largo from Kabalevsky's Concerto No. 1 in G minor, "First Impressions" from Appalachia Waltz (the acclaimed collaboration with fiddler Mark O'Connor and bassist and Sony Classical artist Edgar Meyer), the Andante from Brahms' Double Concerto in A minor (with violinist Isaac Stern), and two works by Ennio Morricone "Looking For You" and an excerpt from "Gabriel's Oboe."

"APPASSIONATO" also features three selections that Ma has recorded for the first time: Michio Mamiya's Finnish Folk Song No. 4, "Mikin Pekko," Piazzolla's "Soledad," and Mendelssohn's immortal "Songs Without Words" with Emanuel Ax. Another high point is John Williams's "Going to School" from the popular 2005 film "Memoirs of a Geisha."

An exclusive Sony Classical artist, Yo-Yo Ma has amassed an army of admirers via his vast recording legacy. With a CD catalogue of astonishing breadth and depth, he has consistently been one of the top-selling classical artists in the world. His recordings have earned him a total of fifteen Grammy Awards. His lively appearances on a wide range of television programs, from "The West Wing" to "The Tonight Show" to "Sesame Street," have earned him a reputation as the most exciting ambassador for classical music since Leonard Bernstein. He can be heard on the soundtrack recordings of several major feature films, including "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" and "Memoirs of a Geisha." In 1998, he established The Silk Road Project, designed to shed light on the synthesis of cultural ideas along the famous Silk Road. Yo-Yo Ma's website can be accessed at www.yo-yoma.com.

To view Yo-Yo Ma video, click here: https://media.marketwire.com/attachments/2007AV/313781_yoyoma.wmv