Superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma will lead a Bach youth project in Guangzhou, China, this January as part of the annual Youth Music Culture Guangdong, an intensive nine-day workshop with the cellist and international colleagues that is open to young musicians from all around the world.

Yo-Yo Ma. Photo © Jason Bell

Yo-Yo Ma makes his Australian debut in November, performing JS Bach’s Cello Suites in Sydney and Melbourne as part of The Bach Project, which has also seen him perform on the border between the US and Mexico.

The music of Bach will also be central to the 2020 Youth Music Culture Guangdong, which will see students “explore the questions of how the music of Bach, a fundamental composer of Western classical music, is relevant in Guangzhou in the 21st century; how his music can keep pace with the times, become integrated into the present, and inspire the future”.

“In times of change and uncertainty, people often turn to the wisdom of those who have gone before us,” Yo-Yo Ma said. “Whether philosophers or artists, the ‘ancients’ can often see our situation more clearly than we can ourselves, reminding us of the...