Yo-Yo Ma strums the cello. Meryl Streep gives a stirring poetry recital. We can die happy now.
We all know Meryl Streep is a goddess of unfathomable range, depth, and magic. And Yo-Yo Ma is so talented we can barely look directly at him without having to shield our eyes. The two of them teaming up to perform poetry for the Center on US-China Relations and The Aspen Institute is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The works selected for performance were Martha Graham’s poem, A Letter to Agnes De Mille and Wang Wei’s Luzhai.
We’ll give you a moment to let the awesome power of the moment wash over you. The performance reminds us that poetry transforms into something animated when you breathe life into it, speaking it out loud. Poetry carries power in any form, but there’s something so unyielding about the way it holds itself when it’s spoken. Especially by the iconic Streep.
Yo-Yo Ma, for his part, accompanied Streep with George Crumb’s Sonata for Solo Cello. It was, by all counts, perfect.
Feature image via @SmpageSteve on Twitter.
