Dear Friends,
Watching Yo-Yo be honored by the Silk Road Ensemble and a cast of other extraordinary musicians in Washington, D.C., last month was one of the highlights of my life. It was such an incredible privilege to be backstage with the Ensemble as they prepared for the tribute.
There were so many memorable moments during our rehearsals and at the gala itself that it is hard to think of a particular one to share. Should I tell you about the collaboration with James Taylor? Or talking with John Williams about how significant Yo-Yo’s influence has been, not just on audiences but on musicians worldwide? It was a conversation I’ll always remember. Or how about one of the many pre-gala events I didn’t attend but heard so much about?
The night before the Kennedy Center Honors gala, Bill Irwin, Tony Award-winning actor and a friend of the Silk Road Project, gave a heartfelt toast to Yo-Yo. Bill was generous in sharing a few of his words with me, and I thought you would get a great sense of the moment if we shared them with you too.
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Millions know Yo-Yo Ma, the superstar, on the world music stage. Many fewer have seen him trotting down the concrete corridors of a public school, holding a priceless cello in one hand and a bow in the other and saying to security guards, "I am so sorry to be late; I am looking for the gymnasium."
Right through the rehearsals to the final loading up of buses, that priceless classical player's left hand is high-fiving scores, dozens, hundreds of 6th graders—music lovers are holding their breath, recording executives have to look the other way—but to the final kid, the high fives.
It's like any day in Yo-Yo-land—very hard to describe, very hard to make a summary of. You can have worked all your life in the theatre and not have seen anything like it.
If I can do my best to channel one 6th grader, she said, "Yo-Yo Ma was so happy. He was playing and he was so excited. I looked at him and I said, 'Oh my gosh, if he can be that excited, why can't I be, too?'" |
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Bill was referring to Silk Road Connect, of course— the Silk Road Project’s arts-education program in urban public schools. You can see Bill—and Genesis, the sixth-grader he quoted—in a new video that Bill narrated, about our Silk Road Connect performance at SummerStage.
I hope that it captures the spirit of that moment, and also the connections these students were making throughout their year of learning. Let us know what you think.
Right now, students here at Harvard are in the middle of a commissions workshop with us—a new development in our ongoing partnership with Harvard University. This year, we are fortunate to have the guiding hand of Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty member Tina Blythe during this weeklong workshop.
Tina and the talented members of the Silk Road Ensemble Leadership Council worked hard together to involve graduate and undergraduate students in the process, so that they could learn alongside our musicians while they rehearsed new works.
Today as I watched the musicians enjoy the discovery of a new piece, I had an “aha” moment. There on our rehearsal stage was a Syrian clarinet player, a Persian kamancheh player, a Moroccan-Israeli mandolinist, Indian, and Japanese, Chinese, and American musicians all sitting side by side. They were working together to make music come alive.
While that was remarkable to me in light of the newspaper headlines at this moment, it was not particularly unusual for the Ensemble. It was just another moment in the wonderful world Yo-Yo has helped them create onstage.
At the end of the workshop, the Silk Road Ensemble will present the new music in development, and students will share their reflections on the time they spent with us. We look forward to sharing these experiences with you in the next newsletter.
P.S. — I hope that you were one of the 8.5 million people who tuned in to the Kennedy Center Honors in late December. In case you didn’t catch it, I am really pleased to share with you this musical tribute to Yo-Yo.
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Laura Freid
CEO & Executive Director
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