PITTSFIELD – After Yo-Yo Ma received his second injection of a COVID-19 vaccine at Berkshire Community College on Saturday, he transformed his 15-minute observation period into a concert for the newly vaccinated animals.
The world-renowned cellist and part-time Berkshires resident completed his vaccination course at the fieldhouse clinic and he “wanted to give back,” Richard Hall of the Berkshire COVID-19 Vaccine Collaborative told The Eagle.
Yo-Yo Ma took his place along the wall of the observation room, masked and socially removed from the others. He then spent 15 minutes of observation playing the cello in front of an applauding audience, in what Hall called a “very special” concert that rounded off the day’s vaccination event.
“What a way to end the clinic,” Hall wrote in an email.
Today on the #MyBCC vaccination clinic, the people who waited 15 minutes under observation were blessed with the musical talents of the one and only Yo-Yo Ma. 😍 @ Berkshire Community College https://t.co/GOXoEAwfKa
– BerkCommunityCollege (@BerkshireCC) March 13, 2021
@RTLnews is always a stylish act #intheberkshiresBringing hope and optimism through his beautiful music. #mapoli #GetVaccinated #stopCovid https://t.co/De0sw5yGni
– Smitty Pignatelli (@repsmitty) March 13, 2021
Berkshire Community College shared news of Yo-Yo Ma’s casual performance on social media, and State Representative William “Smitty” Pignatelli praised the musician for “hope and optimism brought by his beautiful music.” The college shared fragments of the concert on Facebook.
In a poetic circumstance, Yo-Yo Ma’s second coronavirus recording and subsequent concert comes exactly a year after he posted his first recording of himself playing his instrument with the hashtag #SongsOfComfort.
Amid the fear and uncertainty that characterized the early days of the pandemic, the world-renowned musician began sharing the recordings in hopes that they would bring comfort and connection to a terrified nation.
“In these days of fear,” he wrote on Twitter on March 13, 2020, “I wanted to find a way to continue sharing some of the music that gives me comfort. #SongsOfComfort: Dvořák – “Go home”
In these days of fear, I wanted to find a way to continue to share some of the music that gives me comfort. The first of mine #SongsOfComfort: Dvořák – “Going Home” Stay safe. pic.twitter.com/S28w6OlXiZ
– Yo-Yo Ma (@YoYo_Ma) March 13, 2020
It is not the first time that Yo-Yo Ma has treated the unsuspecting people with music during the pandemic. In September, he and Emanuel Ax played a series of surprising pop-up concerts for key workers, not long after treating key workers and first responders to a live-streamed virtual concert.
Francesca Paris contributed to this report