The Silk Road Ensemble will Perform at globalFEST on January 8, 2012

November 14, 2011, Boston, MA —The Grammy-nominated Silk Road Ensemble will perform at 9:40 p.m. on January 8, 2012, at globalFEST, a premier annual showcase for international music in New York City. The Silk Road Ensemble is an international collective of musicians who take inspiration from the centuries of cultural exchange along the historical Silk Road that connected Asia and Europe. The Ensemble is the performing arm of the internationally minded Silk Road Project, an arts and educational nonprofit founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998. In sharing traditions from various cultures, the Silk Road Ensemble develops new music that explores and expands contemporary musical crossroads.

The Ensemble’s performance at globalFEST will feature 14 artists from six countries, and instruments from Western strings and world percussion to the gaiita (Galician bagpipes), the tabla (Indian drums), the pipa (Chinese lute), the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute), and the sheng (Chinese mouth organ). The program will draw on global confluences and the traditions of Galicia, India, Persia, Kazakhstan, China, Japan, Brazil, and the Mediterranean, as well as the music of the Roma people (gypsies). 

The Ensemble first formed under the artistic direction of Yo-Yo Ma in 2000, and over the past 11 years has performed to critical acclaim with him throughout Asia, Europe and North America. The Ensemble has recorded five albums; the most recent recording, Off the Map, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album in 2011. The group’s performance at globalFEST will mark the outset of expanded Silk Road Ensemble concert touring. 

Part of the annual Association for Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) conference, globalFEST 2012 will feature 12 groups of artists on three stages at the historic New York City nightclub Webster Hall, on East 11th Street at 3rd Avenue. Tickets for all 12 performances are available to the general public for $35 through November 24, 2011, and $40 beginning November 25, 2011. Ticketing information can be found on the globalFEST website.

Hyosung Corp. is Lead Sponsor of the Silk Road Project 2011-2014. Rolex is the Exclusive Partner of the Silk Road Project. MetLife Foundation is the Official 2011 Tour Sponsor of the Silk Road Project.

For more on future Silk Road Ensemble performances, visit the Silk Road Project calendar. 

The Silk Road Ensemble at globalFEST 2012

Jeffrey Beecher, bass
Mike Block, cello
Nicholas Cords, viola
Sandeep Das, tabla
Haruka Fujii, percussion
Jonathan Gandelsman, violin
Joseph Gramley, percussion
Colin Jacobsen, violin
Eric Jacobsen, cello
Cristina Pato, gaita
Shane Shanahan, percussion
Kojiro Umezaki, shakuhachi
Wu Man, pipa
Wu Tong, sheng

The Silk Road Project

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 prominent cultural institutions to create educational programs and materials. Silk Road Connect, the Project’s multidisciplinary arts integration approach, inspires students and educators to make connections across all areas of their lives and studies. 

Developing new music is a central undertaking of the Silk Road Project, which has been involved in commissioning and performing nearly 70 new musical and multimedia works from composers and arrangers around the world. 

Additional Media Resources

For more information on the Silk Road Ensemble and individual artists, visit http://silkroadproject.org/ensemble. 

For more on the Silk Road Project, visit http://www.silkroadproject.org.

For high-resolution photographs, contact Heidi Koelz at heidi@silkroadproject.org or (617) 496-6314.

###