Yo-Yo Ma & Kathryn Stott Announce New Album Songs Of Comfort And Hope Available December 11 -- Preorder Now

A COLLECTION OF WELL-LOVED CLASSICS OFFERS SOLACE AND ENCOURAGEMENT

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Oct 16, 2020, 09:14 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Kathryn Stott come together again, this time for Songs of Comfort and Hope, set for release on December 11, 2020 on Sony Classical. Available now for preorder, Songs of Comfort and Hope is inspired by the series of recorded-at-home musical offerings that Ma began sharing in the first days of the COVID-19 lockdown in the United States. Throughout the spring and summer, Yo-Yo Ma's #SongsofComfort grew from a self-shot video of Antonín Dvořák's "Goin' Home" into a worldwide effort that has reached more than 18 million people.

Yo-Yo Ma & Kathryn Stott - Songs of Comfort and Hope - Available December 11, 2020

Ma and Stott mark the next chapter in the project with this new album, offering consolation and connection in the face of fear and isolation. The album includes 21 new recordings, which span modern arrangements of traditional folk tunes, canonical pop songs, jazz standards, and mainstays from the western classical repertoire. "Songs are little time capsules of emotions: they can contain long-lost dreams and desires, and feelings of great spirit, optimism, and unity," Ma and Stott write of Songs of Comfort and Hope.

"Songs bring a sense of community, identity, and purpose, crossing boundaries and binding us together in thanks, consolation, and encouragement. It had long been our wish to explore this medium further, but we could never have imagined that the catalyst would be a pandemic that fundamentally rearranged our ways of living. This is music that tells stories, that marks occasions private and public, that gives voice to celebrations, remembrances, and all of life's mysteries. These are songs that pay tribute to musical champions of social justice — like Paul Robeson and Violeta Parra — and to the troubadours of our joy, imagination, and sorrow — like Francis Poulenc, Wu Tong, and Benjamin Britten."

Among the new takes on old favorites are Pulitzer Prize® winner Caroline Shaw's artful and eloquently arranged "Shenandoah"; Australian composer Harry Sdraulig's "Fantasia on Waltzing Matilda"; pianist Stephen Hough's lush arrangement of "Scarborough Fair", and two-time Academy® Award-nominated icon Jorge Calandrelli's re-imagining of a pair of songbook treasures: "We'll Meet Again" by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles, and Violeta Parra's "Gracias a la Vida." See the full track list below.

Ma and Stott's recording partnership began in 1985, and includes Soul of the Tango and Obrigado Brazil, each of which garnered a GRAMMY® Award for "Best Classical Crossover Album." Most recently, in 2015, they released the critically acclaimed Songs from the Arc of Life, of which NPR wrote, "Over those many years, they've developed a wonderfully warm and mutually responsive musical partnership that has blossomed in performances that are both generous and incisive."

Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott share the warmth of decades of music making again with Songs of Comfort and Hope, offering audiences new paths into treasured musical memories and a few notes of hope for a better future.

Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, Milan Records, OKeh, Portrait and Masterworks Broadway imprints. For email updates and information please visit www.sonymusicmasterworks.com.

CONNECT WITH THE ARTISTS

YO-YO MA
WEBSITE: http://www.yo-yoma.com/
FACEBOOK:https://www.facebook.com/YoYoMa
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/yoyoma
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/yoyo_ma
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/YoYoMaVEVO

KATHRYN STOTT
WEBSITE: http://www.kathrynstott.com/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/kathystott
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/stott.kathryn

TRACKLISTING:
1. Amazing Grace, Prelude Traditional English Arranged and produced by Graham Fitkin	11. Fantasia on Waltzing Matilda Harry Sdraulig

2. Ol' Man River from Showboat, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II Arranged by Roderick Williams	12. Scarborough Fair Traditional English Arranged by Stephen Hough

3. Shenandoah Traditional American Arranged By Caroline Shaw	13. Solveig's Song from Peer Gynt, Edvard Grieg

4. Goin' Home from Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World" Antonín Dvořák Arranged by William Arms Fisher	14. Les Chemins de l'Amour Francis Poulenc

5. Jewish Song from Jewish Life, No. 3 Ernest Bloch	15. Marietta's Lied from Die tote Stadt, Erich Wolfgang Korngold)

6. Zdes' khorosho, Op. 21, No. 7 Sergei Rachmaninoff	16. Thula Baba Traditional Zulu lullaby Arranged by Roderick Williams

7. Moscow Nights Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi and Mikhail Matusovsky Arranged by Stephen Hough	17. The Last Rose of Summer Traditional Irish Arranged by Benjamin Britten

8. Over the Rainbow from "The Wizard of Oz," Harold Arlen Arranged by Tom Poster	18. Londonderry Air (Danny Boy) Traditional Irish Arranged by Fritz Kreisler

9. Rain Falling from the Roof Wu Tong	19. Gracias a la Vida Violeta Parra Arranged by Jorge Calandrelli

10. Song Without Words, Op. 109 Felix Mendelssohn	20. We'll Meet Again Ross Parker and Hughie Charles Arranged by Jorge Calandrelli

	21. Amazing Grace, Postlude Traditional English Arranged and produced by Graham Fitkin