Sony Classical announces the release of a new recording of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott.
The single, newly arranged by Jorge Calandrelli, is available digitally everywhere now; 100% of the artists’ earnings from sales and streams will be shared equally by the Musicians Foundation (U.S.) and Help Musicians (U.K.).
“As alienating and isolating as life has felt this past year, the day will come when communities can join together once more: in celebration, in grief, in hope, in music,” said Ma. “The refrain ‘Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, and you’ll never walk alone’ is truly an anthem for this time.”
“When Yo-Yo and I got together a few months ago,” said Stott, “we were determined to find a way to help support our colleagues in what is essentially the bleakest of times for the musical profession. ’You’ll Never Walk Alone’ has always been such an iconic song, but during the pandemic has taken on even greater significance.”
Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott’s most recent collaboration, Songs of Comfort and Hope, was released by Sony in December. Songs of Comfort and Hope finds its origins in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown in the United States, when Ma began sharing recorded-at-home videos of short performances using the hashtag #SongsofComfort. Throughout the spring and summer, Ma’s #SongsofComfort grew from a self-shot video of Antonín Dvořák’s “Goin’ Home” into a worldwide effort that has reached tens of millions of people. Songs of Comfort and Hope marked the next chapter in this effort with 21 new recordings, spanning modern arrangements of traditional folk tunes, canonical pop songs, jazz standards, and mainstays from the western classical repertoire.
