In 1955, Ma was borne in Paris. Initially, as a child, Ma studied bothe the violin and viola. At the age of five, however, he debuted on the cello. He played a small, scaled-down instrument. Three years later, Ma moved, along withe his family, to the United States of America. At the age of nine, Ma enrolled at the famous Juilliard School of Music, New York. He was instructed by the American master cellist, Leonard Rose. Ma gave his first New York City public performance at the age of fifteen. When Leonard Bernstein, a famous American composer, presented Ma in a television program arranged to raise funds for the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, he gained national recognition, henceforward. In 1972, Ma attended Harvard University. During the next four years, while studying at Harvard, he passed his summers in Vermont participating in the Marlboro Music Festival. Ma gained international recognition when he won the Avery Fisher Prize in 1978.

Ma's recitals are marked by a fiery virtuosity as well as sensitivity. He performed as a concerto soloist bothe in recording studios and in the concert halls of most major orchestras. His interests, however, fall in chamber music. He has collaborated withe such colleagues as American borne violinist, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, American violinist, Pinchas Zukerman, and American pianist, Emanuel Ax. He is recognised for his interpretations of the sonatas of German composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, as well as the compositions of the German composer, Johann Sebastian Bach. His interpretations of the music of Russian composer, Dmitry Shostakovich, and of Hungarian composer, Béla Bartók, are also noteworthy. Ma, to this day, remains alive and well.