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Sandeep Das playing tabla, kneeling on a platform in front of schoolchildren at the Art Institute of Chicago

© DONG-WON KIM

Unique Musical Experiences
Silk Road Ensemble member Sandeep Das (above) demonstrates the tabla to a group of schoolchildren at the Art Institute of Chicago. The Silk Road Project is committed to providing educational opportunities for audiences of all ages.

Silk Road Ensemble Recordings

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Nominated for a 2010 Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album

 

Off the Map

Released 2009
Off the Map from World Village and In a Circle Records features Silk Road Ensemble performances of globe-spanning new works commissioned from Osvaldo Golijov, Gabriela Lena Frank, Evan Ziporyn and Angel Lam.

Learn more in the press release. 

Listen to sample tracks from the CD on the World Village and In A Circle Records websites.


REVIEWS OF OFF THE MAP:

Spinner.com: "Silk Road Ensemble thread their way through new lands and sounds"

eMusic review by John Schaefer: "On first album without Yo-Yo Ma, Silk Road Ensemble still shines"

WYNC's Soundcheck: Picks of the week

Lucid Culture: "The Silk Road Ensemble's most adventurous album"

Blog Critics: "the proof is in the pudding"

Oregonian gift guide: "Exhilarating world music"

World Music Central: 'Magnificent Silk Road"

RootsWorld: "Not like anything else you've ever heard"

Absolute Sound: "All the joyful energy, dazzle of instrumental color and serene beauty that listeners have come to expect from the group"

   
New Impossibilities  

New Impossibilities

Released 2007
New Impossibilities from Sony Classical features traditional and newly composed works performed by the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma and recorded live in Orchestra Hall with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Miguel-Harth Bedoya. This album was ranked second in the Echoes Listeners' Poll of the top 25 albums for 2007.

     
Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon  

Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon

Released 2005
This release from Sony Classical accompanies a new 10-part television series about the Silk Road produced by the Japanese television company. Among the featured composers is Zhao Jiping, well-known for such soundtracks as Farewell My Concubine, Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern.

     
Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet  

Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet

Released 2002
Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble perform works commissioned by the Silk Road Project along with traditional pieces from the Silk Road lands on this Sony Classical release.

Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet was included in NPR's November 2009 All Songs Considered list of the decade's 50 most important recordings.

     
The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan  

The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan

Released 2002
Produced by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in partnership with the Silk Road Project, this two-CD compilation offers a panoramic survey of traditional music along the Silk Road. 

"Off the Map is sumptuous, magnificent and simply stunning, as if we'd expect anything different from The Silk Road Ensemble." 
– WORLD MUSIC CENTRAL
Review of Off the Map


"Silk Road is redefining the classical tradition to include east and west, ancient and contemporary. Four major pieces each present a different vantage point on this unexplored, challenging terrain." 
– CASUAL LISTENING
Review of Off the Map

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

"[New] Impossibilities is splendidly sumptuous proof of the possible, an intersection where composers and musicians meet and can travel the same road together. Listeners will welcome the wild ride."
– WORLD MUSIC CENTRAL