About this Piece

Mundillo (Little World) is a new cello concerto for Yo-Yo Ma and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, inspired by the ways living organisms, both underwater and human, build habitats, collaborate, and weave networks of adaptive possibility. Its title references the Puerto Rican artisanal craft of mundillo, a handmade bobbin lace traditionally made primarily by women whose intricate patterns serve as a metaphor for connection, patience, care, and collective labor. The concerto draws parallels between the tradition and interdependent structures of mundillo and those of corals and sponges, showing how small, repeated gestures can form beautiful, complex, living structures that require great care to preserve.

At its core, Mundillo is a work of radical optimism and imagination. It invites listeners to explore alternative worlds and the power of collective creativity. Soloist and orchestra respond to and shape one another, knotting threads of sound into a shimmering acoustic ecosystem. Repetition and variation create delicate, interlaced patterns where strings are braided, twisted, plucked, and bowed in constant interplay.

The concerto explores soundscape ecology, inspired by conversations with Yo-Yo Ma about his humanitarian and climate advocacy work. The work is also informed by climate justice and social dreaming. It draws particularly on community-led initiatives in Puerto Rico, from agroecology projects to grassroots organizing. It is also shaped by broader engagement with environmental care. The cello, as versatile as it is expressive, serves as an anchor for imagining sustainable, decolonial futures rooted in local action. It offers a space to invent hope, respond to challenges with imagination, and propose microcosms of possibility.

The first movement, “Invocación a las manos que tejen la costa” [Invocation to the hands that weave the coast], opens as a greeting between soloist, orchestra, and the natural world. It honors the hands that shaped and continue to safeguard the water, asking for protection and blessing for the journey ahead.

The second movement, “Encuentro de espumas, agujas, canciones, hilos y pulsaciones” [Meeting of foams, needles, songs, threads and pulsations], unfolds as an encounter of actions and bodies in relation. Propulsive rhythms, pointed textures, insistent pulses, and rising lyrical echoes become gestures of connection, celebrating collaboration, inherited traditions, and collective action shaped by patience and care.

The final movement, “Archipiélago de resonancias y posibilidades” [Archipelago of resonances and possibilities], presents a constellation of voices in relation, where each member retains individuality while shaping and being shaped by others. Through listening, reciprocity, and touch, the movement imagines a decentralized landscape formed by mutual exchange. A shared cadenza flows under the soloist’s lead while a string quartet joins, contributing freely, creating a collective voice that opens paths to new realms of action.

Mundillo celebrates creativity, community, and possibility. It invites listeners to engage, explore ideas, and envision new ways of living and working together where hope is built consciously.

—Courtesy of Angélica Negrón