Yo-Yo Ma, score in hand, discussing a piece with a young woman holding a violin

Music Education
Artistic Director and cellist Yo-Yo Ma talks with a student participant in a "Tradition and Innovation" workshop at Tanglewood Music Center. The Silk Road Project is committed to working with talented young musicians.


Silk Road Ensemble members Kayhan Kalhor and Colin Jacobsen	© TODD ROSENBERG/SONY BMG MASTERWORKS

Silk Road Project Commissions

The Silk Road Project's dynamic commissioning program has given rise to more than 70 new musical works from composers and arrangers from 20 countries, including China, Azerbaijan, Korea, India, Lebanon, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Armenia and the United States. These commissioned works are the foundation of our performances, recordings and educational programs.

Since very little existing repertoire is arranged for the Silk Road Ensemble's variety of instruments, commissioning new musical works is essential for sustaining performances and ongoing artistic exchange.

Silk Road Project commissions celebrate diverse musical traditions while promoting innovative collaborative encounters among those traditions. New works are developed collaboratively in commissioning workshops by Ensemble members and composers.

country	title	composer
	The Adventures of Prince Achmed (film score)	Silk Road Ensemble collaboration
Argentina	Air to Air	Osvaldo Golijov
Argentina	Rose of the Winds	Osvaldo Golijov
Armenia	The Morning Scent of the Acacia’s Song	Vache Sharafyan
Azerbaijan	Dervish	Franghiz Ali-Zadeh
Azerbaijan	Caravan	Javanshir Guliev
China	Tactile Time	Han Yong
China	The Prospect of Colored Desert	Jia Daqun
China	Nirvana II	Liu Yuan
China	Ambush from Ten Sides	Traditional, arr. Wu Tong & Li Cang Sang
China	Ambush from Ten Sides for Pipa, Sheng Guitar, Cello and Orchestra	Traditional, arr. Li Cang Sang
China	Blue Little Flower	Traditional, arr. Wu Tong & Li Cang Sang
China	Wine Madness	Traditional, arr. Wu Tong & Liu Lin
China	Red.Blue.Green Suite	Traditional/, arr. Wu Man & Ljova
China	Mido Mountain	Traditional, arr. Wu Tong
China	9 Rivers	Wu Tong
China	Fusion	Xiaoyong Chen
China	Yi Xin	Zhang
China	Echoes of a Lost City	Zhao Jiping
China	Moon Over Guan Mountains	Zhao Jiping
China	Sacred Cloud Music	Zhao Jiping
China	Summer in the High Grassland	Zhao Jiping
China	Distant Green Valley	Zhao Jiping & Zhao Lin
China	The Battle Remembered	Zhao Lin
China	Silk Road Reverie	Zhu Jian-er
China/Kazakhstan	Yanzi (Swallow Song)	Traditional, arr. Zhao Lin
England	Cut the Rug	David Bruce
Ethiopia	Musiqawi Silt	Girma Beyene, arr. Colin Jacobsen
Hong Kong	Empty Mountain, Spirit Rain	Angel Lam
India	Shristi	Sandeep Das
India	Sumohini (Reflection of Grace)	Sandeep Das
India	Tarang (Currents)	Sandeep Das
India	Mohini	Sandeep Das & Indrajit Dey, arr. Ljova
India	Kolam	Zakir Hussain & Ethan Iverson, arr. George Brooks
India	Mohini	Sandeep Das
Iran	Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur	Kayhan Kalhor, arr. Kalhor & Stephen Prutsman
Iran	Mountains are Far Away	Kayhan Kalhor, arr. Ljova
Iran	Silent City	Kayhan Kalhor, arr. Kalhor & Ljova
Iran	Ascending Bird	Traditional, arr. Siamak Aghaei & Colin Jacobsen
Iran	Where the Wind Will Take Us	Siamak Aghaei, arr. Colin Jacobsen
Italy	The Taranta Project	Giovanni Sollima
Kazakhstan	Altynai	Traditional, arr. Nate Shaw
Korea	Once We Were...	Dong-Won Kim
Korea	Ancient Bell	Jeeyoung Kim
Korea	Tryst	Jeeyoung Kim
Korea	Hae-Maji Gut: A Shaman Performance to the New Moon	Joon-Il Kang
Korea	When the Wind Circles	Kim/Umezaki
Lebanon	Norma's Secret	Rabih Abou-Khalil
Mongolia	Khara Khorum	Sangidorj Sansargereltech
Mongolia	Legend of Herlen	Byambasuren Sharav
Russia/United States	Everywhere is Falling Everywhere	Lev Zhurbin (Ljova)
Switzerland / United States	Weavings	Mark Suter
Tajikistan	Circles of Time	Alisher Latif-Zadeh
Tajikistan	Toj	Alisher Latif-Zadeh
Tajikistan	Silk Road Dreams Dancing	Tolib-hon Shahidi
Tajikistan	The Sufi and the Buddhist Monk	Tolib-hon Shahidi
Turkey	Mahur Orientale (Night at the Caravanserai)	Abd-El Wahab, arr. Shane Shanahan
Turkey	On the Back Streets of Old Istanbul	Hasan Uçarsu
United States	Music for a Royal Palace	Christopher Adler
United States	Sulvasutra	Evan Ziporyn
United States	Ritmos Anchinos	Gabriela Lena Frank
United States	Saidi Swing	Shane Shanahan
United States	¡Chayraq!: Rough Guide to a Modern Day Tawantinsuyu	Gabriela Lena Frank
United States	Rionji	Joseph Gramley
United States	Damagomi	Michael Ward-Bergeman
United States	Playlist for an Extreme Occasion	Vijay Iyer
United States	Mille Etoiles	Glenn Kotche
United States	Suite from Book of Angels (arrangement)	John Zorn, arr. Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, Johnny Gandelsman, Cristina Pato, Shane Shanahan
United States/Japan	Side In Side Out	Kojiro Umezaki
Uzbekistan	Night Music: Voice in the Leaves	Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky
Uzbekistan	Paths of Parables	Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky
Uzbekistan	Bukhara Concerto	Mustafa Bafoyev

"For [the Silk Road Ensemble] the connection between Western and non-Western is now almost a mutation; they've opened the gates of communication. This is good for music."
– OSVALDO GOLIJOV