In this rare video we can see a 7 year-old Yo Yo Ma performing Breval’s Concertino N. 3 with his sister Yeou-Cheng in front of a selected audience, introduced by Leonard Bernstein.
At that time, Yo Yo Ma, born in China, had just moved to the US from Paris with his family and was being introduced in the circle of the most influential people in American musical world. The benefit concert took place on Nov. 19, 1962. The audience included John F: Kennedy, Marian Anderson, Van Cliburn, Robert Frost, Fredric March, Benny Goodman, and Bob Newhart.
In his speech, Bernstein introduced Yo Yo Ma as an example of multicultural excellence: “a seven-year-old Chinese cellist playing old French music for his new American compatriots”.
Leonard Bernstein was a great supporter of Yo Yo Ma and kept contacts with him also in the further developments of his career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNvAUobb1y4