Yo-Yo Ma, the popular and successful cellist who has already received several major cash awards, has won another: the $100,000 Vilcek Prize, given by the Vilcek Foundation. The foundation, which this year is recognizing achievements in contemporary music, also gave three $35,000 awards to three other musicians: the British-born songwriter James Abrahart, known as JHart; Samuel Bazawule, a Ghanaian producer and composer known as Blitz the Ambassador; and Tigran Hamasyan, an Armenian-born vocalist and pianist.
The foundation was set up to recognize contributions by immigrants in the United States to science and the arts. It was set up by Jan T. Vilcek, a scientist at New York University who made a fortune for research that led to the drug Remicade, an important anti-inflammatory. Mr. Ma has also received the Dan David Prize ($1 million), the Léonie Sonning Music Prize ($80,000), the Glenn Gould Prize ($34,000) and the Polar usic Prize ($166,000).
