Cellist Yo-Yo Ma performs 100 metres underground at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN

On a recent visit to CERN, the world-famous cellist, Yo-Yo Ma played in a unique music hall – 100 metres underground in the tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This video shows Yo-Yo Ma playing the Prélude from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major.

Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist. Born and partially raised in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. Wikipedia

The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, western suburb of Geneva, on the France–Switzerland border. It comprises 23 member states. Wikipedia

“I have always thought that philosophy, arts, and sciences belong together as equal partners in this thing we call culture,” explained Yo-Yo Ma. “We must fight for this belief. Because the widening gaps between disciplines of inquiry and between culture, economics, and politics have led to increasing and frightening fractures in the world.”

Speaking after the performance, CERN’s Director-General, Fabiola Gianotti said “It was a great moment of music in a very special place, and an occasion to underline the deep links between art and science”.