World-acclaimed cello virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma will headline the 2018 Viva Health Starlight Gala on Sunday, May 6.
The Viva Health Starlight Gala is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center. This elegant evening benefits the center’s programming and community outreach and education.
| The Viva Health Starlight Gala is the biggest fundraiser of the year for UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center. This elegant evening benefits the center’s programming and community outreach and education. |
Whether he is performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, coming together with colleagues for chamber music, or exploring cultures and musical forms outside the Western classical tradition, Ma strives to find connections that stimulate the imagination. Ma’s many-faceted career is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences, and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Ma maintains a balance between his engagements as soloist with orchestras worldwide and his recital and chamber music activities. His discography includes more than 100 albums, including 18 Grammy Awards.
All tickets include a pre-performance cocktail reception and seating for the performance.
For current Alys Stephens Center members at the Supporter level or higher, tickets are $150. Non-member tickets are $175.
A VIP dinner package is also available for the evening. For more information on the VIP dinner package or Center membership, please contact the Development Office at 205-975-4012 or email ASCdevelopment@uab.edu.
Ma plays two instruments: a 1733 Montagnana cello from Venice and the 1712 Davidoff Stradivarius. His successful recordings defy categorization; across his full range of releases, he remains one of the best-selling recording artists in the classical field.
Ma is the artistic director of Silkroad, an organization he founded to promote cross-cultural performance and collaborations at the edge where education, business and the arts come together to transform the world. More than 80 works have been commissioned specifically for the Silk Road Ensemble, which tours annually.
Juilliard-trained and Harvard-educated, Ma was born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris. He began to study the cello with his father at age 4, and soon came with his family to New York, where he spent most of his formative years. He has received many awards, among them the Avery Fisher Prize (1978), the National Medal of Arts (2001) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2010). In 2011, Ma was recognized as a Kennedy Center Honoree.
The 2018 Viva Health Starlight Gala chairs are Kelley M. and C.T. Fitzpatrick. For a city to really thrive, it needs to attract creative, highly skilled people who contribute to the innovation and health of a city, says Kelley M. Fitzpatrick.
“To attract and retain them, we must have the arts,” she said. The pair say they are in awe of the leadership that has turned Birmingham into a world-class city.
“We hope to build upon our collective successes and make Birmingham an even better place for future generations,” said C.T. Fitzpatrick.