Interlochen and Cristian Măcelaru partner with Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, and Joshua McClendon to celebrate America250 and advance creative youth development
Yo-Yo Ma will premiere a new cello concerto by Wynton Marsalis with the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra in side-by-side performances with professional orchestral musicians—all under the baton of Cristian Măcelaru.
Yo-Yo Ma (left; photo credit: Jason Bell) and Wynton Marsalis (right; photo credit: Japan Art Association)
Interlochen Arts Academy is going on tour in 2026 to ensure there is a platform for a youth voice on the occasion of the American semiquincentennial. Famed cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua McClendon, and renowned trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis—champions of citizen artistry and arts education—will join this one-of-a-kind collaboration.
Interlochen will present a two-part orchestral performance, highlighted throughout by multidisciplinary appearances from Interlochen dancers, actors, creative writers, film makers, and visual artists, all under the baton of Cristian Măcelaru, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Interlochen’s World Youth Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Designate of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. The concerts will feature side-by-side performances with Interlochen alumni in some of the nation's most storied professional orchestras.
“Interlochen Arts Academy students from 45 U.S. states and territories, 27 countries, and other young artists from the tour areas will come together as part of this performance to lift up the values of this country that they hold dear and point to our future as a democratic society,” explained Trey Devey, President of Interlochen Center for the Arts. “This will give an important youth voice to the America250 programming, creating mini-festivals in each community and reinforcing the essential role of youth arts education.”
As part of the tour, Interlochen faculty will visit the tour cities to work with youth arts organizations in all seven of Interlochen’s disciplines: music, theatre, visual arts, film & new media, dance, creative writing, and interdisciplinary arts. Students associated with these youth arts organizations will be chosen to receive full-tuition scholarships to Interlochen Arts Camp.
Interlochen Arts Academy’s 2026 tour will build on many recent student touring opportunities, including a performance as part of the New York Philharmonic’s 2022-23 season and a critically acclaimed 2016 performance by the Arts Academy Orchestra at the NY Phil Biennial. Other recent Arts Academy tours include a multidisciplinary performance at Miami’s New World Center in early March 2020 and premieres of new works at National Sawdust and Carnegie Hall in February 2019.
This tour is one of several major initiatives leading up to Interlochen's Centennial celebrations in 2028.
About Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works for cello, bringing communities together to explore culture’s role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Yo-Yo strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity. Yo-Yo Ma was born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris, where he began studying the cello with his father at age four. When he was seven, he moved with his family to New York City, where he continued his cello studies before pursuing a liberal arts education. Yo-Yo has recorded more than 120 albums, is the winner of 19 Grammy Awards, and has performed for nine American presidents, most recently on the occasion of President Biden’s inauguration. He has received numerous awards, including the National Medal of the Arts, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Birgit Nilsson Prize. He has been a UN Messenger of Peace since 2006, and was recognized as one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020.
About Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis is a world-renowned trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and a leading advocate of American culture. Marsalis was born to a musical family in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1961. He began performing jazz and classical trumpet music from an early age. In 1980, upon moving to New York to attend The Juilliard School, Marsalis launched his career performing as a member of the legendary Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.
In the four decades since, he has rekindled widespread international interest in jazz through performances, educational initiatives, books, curricula, and public advocacy. Between his 1982 debut and the present, Marsalis has released 129 recordings and composed hundreds of original pieces for symphony orchestra, jazz big band and small group, and a variety of chamber music configurations. He has performed in 858 cities and 65 countries across the globe to date. Marsalis is the recipient of 41 honorary degrees, countless awards, and has been appointed a UN Messenger of Peace (2001). He has been bestowed some of the world’s highest government honors for the arts: The National Medal of Arts (USA, 2005), a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur (France, 2009), The National Humanities Medal (USA, 2016), and the Praemium Imperiale for Music (Japan, 2023).
Marsalis presently serves as Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School, and President of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation. He continues to inspire new generations of musicians and audiences through his performances, recordings, compositions, and educational initiatives.
About Cristian Măcelaru
GRAMMY® Award-winning conductor Cristian Măcelaru is the Music Director Designate of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival and Competition, Music Director of the Orchestre National de France, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Interlochen Center for the Arts’ World Youth Symphony Orchestra, Music Director and Conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and Chief Conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, where he will serve through the 2024/25 season and continue as Artistic Partner for the 2025/26 season.
Măcelaru recently appeared at the Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony which was broadcast to 1.5 billion viewers worldwide. He led the Orchestre National de France and Chœur de Radio France in the performance of the Olympic Anthem as the Olympic Flag was raised beneath the Eiffel Tower. Măcelaru and the Orchestre National de France continue their 2024/25 season in tours throughout France, Germany, South Korea and China. Guest appearances include his debuts with the Oslo Philharmonic and RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Turin as well as returns with the Wiener Symphoniker, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in Europe. In North America, Măcelaru leads the Pittsburgh Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Măcelaru’s previous seasons include European engagements with the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Concertgebouworkest, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks,Staatskapelle Berlin and Budapest Festival Orchestra. In North America, he has led the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra and The Philadelphia Orchestra.
In 2020, he received a GRAMMY® Award for conducting the Decca Classics recording of Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti and The Philadelphia Orchestra. His most recent release is of Enescu Symphonies and two Romanian Rhapsodies with the Orchestre National de France, released on Deutsche Grammophon.
