UCSB Arts & Lectures presents An Evening with Yo-Yo Ma, Reflections in Words and Music, 7 p.m. Saturday, April 5 at the Arlington Theatre.

In an evening of music and words the celebrated cellist will perform a special selection of his favorite pieces and share stories about a life dedicated to music.

Yo-Yo Ma’s multifaceted career is testament to his belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding. He strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce humanity.

The program will pair repertoire from the center of Yo-Yo Ma’s musical firmament with reflections on how it has shaped his thinking about art, human nature and the search for meaning.

Yo-Yo Ma is an advocate for a future guided by humanity, trust and understanding. Among his many roles, he is a United Nations Messenger of Peace; the first artist ever appointed to the World Economic Forum’s board of trustees; a member of the board of Nia Tero, the U.S.-based nonprofit working in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and movements worldwide; and the founder of the global music collective Silkroad.

His discography of more than 120 albums (including 19 Grammy Award winners) ranges from iconic renditions of the Western classical canon to recordings that defy categorization, such as “Hush” with Bobby McFerrin and the “Goat Rodeo Sessions” with Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile.

Yo-Yo Ma was born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris. He began to study the cello with his father at age four, and three years later moved with his family to New York City, where he continued his cello studies at the Juilliard School before pursuing a liberal arts education at Harvard.

He has performed for nine American presidents, most recently on the occasion of President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Tickets to see Yo-Yo Ma are $57-$157, general public; $24.50 for UCSB students with current student ID.

For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures, 805-893-3535 or buy online at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu; or the Arlington Theatre (limited tickets available).