Internationally renowned Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma to perform at Harvard University
Free concert March 27, 2011, kicks off multi-year affiliation
February 23, 2011, Boston, MA — The Silk Road Project and Harvard University will kick off a five-year affiliation with a free concert by the critically acclaimed Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma on Sunday, March 27, 2011, at 1 p.m. in Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. This event will be the first in a series of performances, workshops and collaborative projects throughout the next several years. The concert will include a wide range of music, new and traditional, hailing from Asia to Europe to the Americas, including world premieres of “¡Chayraq!: Rough Guide to a Modern Day Tawantinsuyu” by Gabriela Lena Frank, which recalls the music of indigenous festivals of Latin America, and “Norma’s Secret,” a love song by Lebanese-born composer Rabih Abou-Khalil whose music blends traditions of the Arabic world with jazz improvisation and European classical techniques. Osvaldo Golijov’s “Air to Air” from the Silk Road Ensemble’s Grammy-nominated album Off the Map will be another highlight of the program, in addition to pieces composed and arranged by several Silk Road Ensemble members inspired by musical traditions of China, Persia, Brazil and Galicia. Free tickets, limited to two per person, will be available through the Harvard Box Office (617-496-2222) to Harvard ID holders beginning March 8, and, if available, to the general public beginning March 22. Our calendar contains detailed ticketing information.
“We would like to welcome the Harvard community to our first concert since the Project moved to campus,” said Laura Freid, chief executive officer and executive director of the Silk Road Project. “We are working on so much exciting programming here over the next few years, and I hope our audience will consider this performance the start of an ongoing creative dialogue between the Silk Road Project, Harvard students and faculty, and our neighbors in Boston and Cambridge.” A workshop for Harvard student percussionists, planned in collaboration with the Office for the Arts at Harvard, will precede the concert on March 23, 2011, led by Silk Road Ensemble percussionist Shane Shanahan. In April the Silk Road Project will help celebrate cross-cultural and interdisciplinary exchange as part of the inaugural event for the Mahindra Humanities Center and will partner with Harvard Sangeet, a student-run organization promoting South Asian musical leadership, on a program involving Silk Road Ensemble member Sandeep Das, a renowned Indian tabla player. In September the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma will perform during a Humanities Center conference. Plans are also being made for a new commissions workshop with Harvard student involvement at the University in January 2012. A nonprofit organization promoting innovation and learning through the arts under the artistic direction of Mr. Ma (’76), the Silk Road Project has been affiliated with Harvard University since 2005. In July 2010 the Silk Road Project moved to the Harvard campus to provide opportunities for Harvard students and faculty to work with Silk Road Ensemble members and to act as a working laboratory at the University, exploring intersections between the arts and academics and encouraging partnerships with local arts, cultural and educational institutions. Immediately following the March 27 concert at Harvard, the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma will perform in Texas, California and British Columbia. For more on future performances visit our calendar. Hyosung Corp. is Lead Sponsor of the Silk Road Project 2011-2014. MetLife Foundation is the Official 2011 Tour Sponsor of the Silk Road Project. This performance is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo MaJeffrey Beecher, contrabass
Mike Block, cello
Shanir Blumenkranz, oud
Nicholas Cords, viola
Jonathan Gandelsman, violin
Joseph Gramley, percussion
Colin Jacobsen, violin
Kayhan Kalhor, kamancheh
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Cristina Pato, gaita
Shane Shanahan, percussion
Mark Suter, percussion
Kojiro Umezaki, shakuhachi
Wu Man, pipa
| |  | Cristina Pato & Kojiro Umezaki during the August 2010 U.S. Festivals Tour by the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma © TODD ROSENBERG
| | The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma performing on ‘Live From Lincoln Center’ in June 2009 © JENNIFER TAYLOR
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| Yo-Yo Ma & Mike Block during the August 2010 U.S. Festivals Tour by the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma © TODD ROSENBERG
| | The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma performing on ‘Live From Lincoln Center’ in June 2009 © JENNIFER TAYLOR
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For high-resolution photographs contact Heidi Koelz.
About the Silk Road EnsembleThe Silk Road Ensemble
is a collective of internationally renowned performers and composers
from more than 20 countries. Each Ensemble member’s career responds to
one of the preeminent artistic challenges of our times: to maintain the
integrity of art rooted in authentic traditions while nourishing global
connections. Many of the musicians first came together under the
artistic direction of Yo-Yo Ma at a workshop at Tanglewood Music Center
in Massachusetts in 2000. Since then, in various configurations,
Ensemble artists have collaborated on a diverse range of musical and
multimedia projects, presenting innovative performances that spring from
Eastern and Western traditions and contemporary musical crossroads. The
Silk Road Ensemble has performed to critical acclaim throughout Asia,
Europe and North America and has recorded five albums. The Ensemble’s most recent recording, the Grammy-nominated Off the Map, explores uncharted territory with globe-spanning music commissioned from Osvaldo Golijov, Gabriela Lena Frank, Evan Ziporyn and Angel Lam.
About Yo-Yo Ma
Whether
performing a new concerto, revisiting a familiar work from the cello
repertoire, coming together with colleagues for chamber music, reaching
out to young audiences and student musicians, or exploring cultures and
musical forms outside the Western classical tradition, Yo-Yo Ma
seeks connections that stimulate the imagination. Mr. Ma maintains a
balance between his engagements as soloist with orchestras throughout
the world, his recital and chamber music activities, and his recording
projects. In each he works to expand the cello repertoire through both
performances of lesser-known twentieth-century music and the
commissioning of new works. Mr. Ma has made more than 70 albums,
including over 15 Grammy winners, reflecting his wide-ranging interests.
Besides the standard concerto repertoire, he has recorded many of the
works he has commissioned or premiered and has made several successful
crossover discs. Mr. Ma serves as the Artistic Director of the Silk Road
Project. He is also a Creative Consultant to the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra and a member of the President's Committee on the Arts &
Humanities.
About the Silk Road ProjectThe Silk Road Project is a nonprofit arts and educational organization with a vision
of connecting the world’s neighborhoods by bringing together artists
and audiences around the globe. Founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998 as a
catalyst to promote innovation and learning through the arts, the Silk
Road Project takes inspiration from the historic Silk Road
trading routes as a modern metaphor for multicultural and
interdisciplinary exchange. Under the artistic direction of Mr. Ma and
the leadership of CEO and Executive Director Laura Freid,
the Silk Road Project presents performances by the acclaimed Silk Road
Ensemble, engages in cross-cultural exchanges and residencies, leads
workshops for students, and partners with leading cultural institutions
to create educational programs and materials. Developing new music is a central undertaking of the Silk Road Project, which has been involved in commissioning and performing more than 60 new musical and multimedia works from composers and arrangers around the world. Hyosung Corp. is Lead Sponsor of the Silk Road Project 2011-2014.
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