Yo-Yo Ma’s Cello Lost, Found

NEW YORK — It was the day the music almost disappeared.

Musician Yo-Yo Ma forgot his $2.5-million, 266-year-old cello in the trunk of a taxi Saturday, but police tracked it down at a garage in Queens in time for his evening concert.

“I did something really stupid,” Ma said sheepishly after he got the instrument back. “I was in such a rush, I was so exhausted, I’d given a concert at Carnegie Hall last night. I just forgot.”

Grinning with relief, he explained that police used the taxi receipt to find the driver within hours.

“Somehow magic happened, and I have my cello,” said Ma. “The instrument is my voice. So I need it. . . . I would be crying right now” if it hadn’t been recovered.