Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach – Suite 1: The Music Garden

Inspired by Bach presents cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing the six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach in collaboration with artists from different disciplines, in a set of six films. THE MUSIC GARDEN opens the Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach series with an exploration of music as interpreted through gardening on a grand scale. The film follows the efforts of Yo-Yo Ma and landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy to create a formal garden, based on J.S. Bach’s First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello, in the centre of Boston.

Inspired by the music to reawaken the nature buried beneath the concrete of a modern city, Yo-Yo and Julie are a study in optimism as they set off to convince politicians, financiers, bureaucrats and planners to join in their great dream.

Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach – Suite 2: The Sound of the Carceri

Inspired by Bach presents cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing the six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach in collaboration with artists from different disciplines, in a set of six films. THE SOUND OF THE CARCERI explores the deep relationship between music and architecture through a high-tech “virtual confrontation” between the architecture of Giovanni Battista Piranesi and the music of J.S. Bach. Using a striking and highly contrasted visual style, director François Girard places Yo-Yo Ma within a series of computer-generated, three-dimensional recreations of Piranesi’s well-known prison etchings. Through Yo-Yo Ma’s and music producer Steven Epstein’s struggle to recreate and interact with the imaginary space that Ma performs in, THE SOUND OF THE CARCERI examines the complexity of illusion, of representation and reality.

Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach – Suite 3: Falling Down Stairs

Inspired by Bach presents cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing the six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach in collaboration with artists from different disciplines, in a set of six films. Follows an intense year-long collaboration between Yo-Yo Ma and choreographer Mark Morris, which culminates in a spectacular performance, conceived especially for film, of J. S. Bach’s Suite No. 3 for Unaccompanied Cello as interpreted by Yo-Yo Ma and the 14-member Mark Morris Dance Group. The film shows the intimacy, soul-searching and humor involved in the creative process, as Yo-Yo and Mark struggle to create a completely new work that can live up to the title “Inspired by Bach.”

Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach – Suite 4: Sarabande

Inspired by Bach presents cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing the six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach in collaboration with artists from different disciplines, in a set of six films. A missed limousine; a masterclass; a doctor’s office; a recital. Inspired by the moods and emotions of the Fourth Suite, SARABANDE is a dramatic film directed by feature film director Atom Egoyan and starring Yo-Yo Ma, Lori Singer, Arsinée Khanjian and Don McKellar. The film weaves together numerous stories in a series of coincidences intimating themes of generosity and exchange. Beginning with Ma’s confused and humorous arrival at Toronto International Airport, his taxi ride downtown and the goings-on at a doctor’s office, this enigmatic drama culminates in a masterclass conducted by Yo-Yo Ma and attended by the doctor (played by Lori Singer). Ultimately, the film examines the effect of music on the everyday lives of the characters and specifically the value of music to healing, especially in relation to the Bach Cello Suites.

Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach – Suite 5: Struggle For Hope

Inspired by Bach presents cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing the six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach in collaboration with artists from different disciplines, in a set of six films. Two celebrated artists – cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Kabuki actor Tamasaburo Bando – combine talents to create an emotionally charged dance performance to J.S. Bach’s Fifth Suite for Unaccompanied Cello that draws its very inspiration from two very distinct worlds. Struggle For Hope follows Yo-Yo and Tamasaburo on this seemingly impossible collaboration. As Eastern mysticism meets Western rigour, the two rehearse and discuss the ultimate goal: a performance that enhances both traditions and transcends the cultural boundaries that naturally exist between them.

Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach – Suite 6: Six Gestures

Inspired by Bach presents cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing the six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach in collaboration with artists from different disciplines, in a set of six films. When Yo-Yo Ma decided to re-record J.S. Bach’s Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, he approached world champion skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean to join him in interpreting the Sixth Suite. Combining beautiful images of Yo-Yo Ma’s performance with magnificent sequences of Torvill and Dean and J.S. Bach’s first person narrative, SIX GESTURES investigates J.S. Bach’s personal and professional history while linking his life and music to our modern world