Yo-Yo Ma is one of an increasingly rare breed of classical musicians known even by people who don’t know classical music. And there’s perhaps nowhere in the world that goes gaga for Yo-Yo more than Massachusetts, the state he calls home.

When he performed all six of J.S. Bach’s cello suites at Tanglewood in summer 2019 as part of his ambitious, globe-trotting “Bach Project,’’ he played to a sold-out crowd of 20,000 that filled the Koussevitzky Music Shed and surrounding lawn. For years, whenever he played in Boston, be it with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, his longtime and recently retired collaborative pianist Kathryn Stott, or his friends pianist Emanuel Ax and violinist Leonidas Kavakos, the hall has sold out quickly. There was no reason to think that anything he might do in town in the future would be any different.

And that — which is to say, a sold-out hall full of devoted fans — was not what he wanted for his performance of the Bach suites at Symphony Hall on Friday. It couldn’t be “just another Bach cello suite concert,’’ said Celebrity Series of Boston president and executive director Gary Dunning.

First, Ma wanted to give away 1,000 tickets for the Symphony Hall concert “to just get it out to the people who otherwise probably wouldn’t be able to come,’’ either because they couldn’t afford the tickets or wouldn’t be able to get them before they sold out to Celebrity Series subscribers, Dunning said.

“We were totally like — that sounds great. And also challenging and expensive to do,’’ Dunning said. “But it’s hard to say no to Yo-Yo. He’s been there for us for decades, and the idea fits so perfectly with how we think about our work in the big scope of things.’’

Ma bandied around the idea of giving those free tickets to librarians, first responders, or youth groups. “He really wanted to celebrate the organizations and people in Massachusetts who are doing the work,’’ said creative producer Bruna D’Avila of The Office, a New York-based independent company Ma has worked with on several projects, including this one.

Ma landed on a plan to not only distribute those thousand tickets for the live event, but also livecast his performance to locations around the state where more people could attend for free and mingle with others in their community. The goal was to “really gather people in places where culture connects us,’’ D’Avila said. “It’s not something that people can just open their laptops and watch in their living room. It’s really about being with each other and gathering.’’

From North Adams to Wellfleet, all the livecast locations are also hosting preshow events. “Each different partner created something that was deeply rooted in what was meaningful to that local community. That’s really the special thing that Yo-Yo is able to do, connecting the global to the local,’’ D’Avila said.

With the upcoming holidays and winter months in mind, some are hosting coat or food drives. At the Greenfield Public Library, the Bach livecast will be preceded by a performance from the Greenfield Ukulele Players, an all-welcome group that meets at the library twice a month. Pittsfield-based Latinas413, a community resource nonprofit, will be hosting a paper craft workshop. That and the introduction to the performance will be in both English and Spanish.

At the New Bedford Whaling Museum, cellist Velléda Miragias will be playing a few movements from the suites and answering questions as people wait in the lobby. The idea is for it to be very informal, she said, “to sort of prepare them for what they’re about to hear.’’

Miragias is used to performing the Bach suites in traditional concert halls where “there’s a protocol . . . people are quiet and listening and don’t clap between movements, because it creates a sort of atmosphere of reverence.’’ She appreciates that formality, she said. “But I think it’s also important for people who don’t know the protocol to appreciate [the music] and feel comfortable. To feel, ‘I like this tune,’ even if they don’t know the terminology that it’s called by.’’

At the Newton Community Stage, where the Newton Free Library is hosting the livecast, attendees will be invited to participate in a book swap, with the intention of letting people bond over their love of reading, said library programming manager Lily Weitzman. “We’ll have note cards, if people want to write a note to share with whoever takes the book next, and we’ll have discussion prompts,’’ she said.

In his program notes for the evening, Ma reflects on advice from children’s television sage Fred Rogers, that children “always look for the helpers’’ in troubled times. “I believe strongly that we are a community of helpers. You know what is needed, and all of you have found a way to help,’’ wrote Ma, who appeared on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’’ several times.

In Ma’s eyes, D’Avila said, the same applies to anyone who chooses to attend the livecast events. “The whole point in creating these gatherings is that the more we have moments in communal spaces that connect us, like libraries and museums, the more we’ll be able to dream about a future that will be better for us all,’’ D’Avila said.

A.Z. Madonna can be reached at az.madonna@globe.com. Follow her @knitandlisten.