Watch: Yo-Yo Ma Performs in the Middle of the Woods with Chirping Birds

Yo-Yo Ma is widely considered the best cello player on the face of the Earth.

Audiences come from all corners of the globe to witness his skill and prowess on the stringed instrument. The 66-year-old artist sold millions of albums and millions of concert tickets in his decades-long career as a musician.

That’s why seeing Yo-Yo Ma in the middle of the woods playing his cello for the trees, twigs, fallen leaves and chirping birds is such a beautiful, monumental sight.

The artist performed and recorded the video as part of The Birdsong Project, which is an undertaking organized by the Audubon Society as a “celebration of the joy and mysteries of birdsong.” The endeavor is working to use mediums like visual art, music and poetry to highlight its central cause.

In the below music video from the album For the Birds: The Birdsong Project, Vol II (2022), the cellist plays the song, “In the Gale,” which he created in conjunction with the composer Anna Clyde.

The video showcases Ma alone with in his cello in the woods, performing the stirring work with a chorus of real-life tweeters (non-social media variety, of course). The song is likely the only one written for cello and birds.

Check it out below and enjoy the stunning artist and musician that is Yo-Yo Ma.

Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images