Since 1978, Ma has been married to Jill Hornor, an arts consultant.

“I’ve been married 42 years and been gone for 27 touring. Now, being home during the pandemic has become normal. Jill hasn’t kicked me out yet!” Ma joked.

Although Hornor has been interested in music since she was a young girl and has done some little works in that regards, she has not become famous for it, but rather as the wife of Yo-Yo Ma.
She also used to be a violinist.

It was on October 2, 1953, that Jill Hornor was born. Of mixed race, she was brought up in different parts of the world including Europe where she spent many years.

For her education, Hornor went to the Mount Holyoke High School. While she was there, she joined the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra for which she played the violin.

She would go to Paris for her junior year before graduating from Mount Holyoke. Next, she proceeded to Cornwell University where she graduated with a degree in German literature.

Jill and her husband, Yo-Yo Ma, met when she was in her sophomore year at the Mount Holyoke High School.

Yo-Yo Ma was a 16-year-old kid at the time. He was at the Marlboro Festival the summer before he entered Harvard, and it was there that he first met Hornor.

The two became acquainted and Ma fell for her because like him, she was raised in two cultures and she was interested in what his thoughts were.