New York, U.S. – Lincoln Center Concerts & Broadcast
June 5-9, 2009
As a highlight of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ 50th season, the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma presented three unique performances, two in the newly remodeled Alice Tully Hall and a free outdoor concert across the plaza in Damrosch Park, which was broadcast across the U.S. on PBS’ Live From Lincoln Center.
The music on June 5 and 6 ranged from the eccentric and witty—Giovanni Sollima’s The Taranta Project and Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky’s Paths of Parables—to the poignant Layla and Majnun, a multimedia chamber arrangement of an Azerbaijani opera. The New York Times concert review praised Layla and Majnun's "spare, deeply expressive laments, tinged and embellished with exuisite subtlety" and noted that the Silk Road Project "has carved out an invaluable niche for itself on the international classical music scene.”
One June 8, approximately 1,000 New York City public school teachers attended a private dress rehearsal in the park. Invited by the Silk Road Project, many of the teachers had attended a workshop in February introducing Silk Road Connect, the Project’s educational program for sixth-grade students, which will be implemented over the coming years in partnership with the New York City Department of Education and several arts and cultural organizations in the city. Teachers from five schools selected for a pilot program during the 2009-2010 school year had an opportunity to meet Yo-Yo Ma and Silk Road Ensemble members backstage after the rehearsal.
On the day of the final concert, a forecast of thunderstorms failed to dampen the expectations of an eager audience. More than two hours before the concert, 500 people already waited in a line that stretched around 62nd Street onto Amsterdam Avenue, and by show time Damrosch Park was filled with an overflow crowd of 3,500 for a concert by musicians from Japan, Korea, China, India, the United States, Switzerland, Iran, Canada, Israel and Spain.
For the final boisterous pieces, the Ensemble recruited reinforcements in the string and percussion sections. Guest artists included string players from the Manhattan School of Music, a Silk Road Connect partner, and percussion students of Joseph Gramley’s from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance.
In his review of the June 9 concert, Classical Music Writer James Oestreich applauded the spirit of the Ensemble: “the beauty of the project is that it has from the start attracted international performers whose musical virtuosity and personal charisma rival those of Mr. Ma, who often takes a back seat.” As Yo-Yo Ma often says, in the Silk Road Ensemble the world is gathered together on one stage.
CONCERT PROGRAMS & BACKGROUND:
 6/5 concert in Alice Tully Hall
6/6 concert in Alice Tully Hall
6/9 concert in Damrosch Park
Broadcast introduction from Live From Lincoln Center
Press release from the Silk Road Project |