Postcards from the Road

Asia – Concert Tour
April 18-30, 2010

World-Stage Concerts
The Silk Road Ensemble has given performances in locations ranging from concert halls to stadiums to museum galleries throughout the world, including Suntory Hall in Tokyo (above), Carnegie Hall in New York, Millennium Park in Chicago, Shanghai Stadium in China, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, the Royal Albert Hall in London and the United Nations General Assembly Hall.

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Members of the Silk Road Ensemble from 11 countries performed the 2008 United Nations Day Concert

11/4/2008 2:29:00 PM

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The Silk Road Ensemble rehearses before the concert

10/30/2008 3:37:00 PM

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After discussing the cross-cultural influences of the piece, Artistic Director Yo-Yo Ma performs a Sarabande by Bach for solo cello at a press conference at the UN

11/4/2008 2:06:00 PM

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At the UN press conference, Sandeep Das’s tabla playing is applauded by the UN's Eric Falt, Silk Road Project CEO and Executive Director Laura Freid, Yo-Yo Ma and Wu Man

11/4/2008 2:06:00 PM

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The concert opened with “Wandering Winds” improvised by Bassam Saba on ney, vocalist Dong-Won Kim and Kojiro Umezaki on shakuhachi, who first processed through the audience

10/30/2008 3:53:00 PM

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Artistic director and cellist Yo-Yo Ma with contrabassist Jeffrey Beecher and violinist Jonathan Gandelsman

10/30/2008 3:47:00 PM

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The Silk Road Ensemble performs “Wa Habibi” from Osvaldo Golijov’s “Air to Air,” which resulted from a 2006 commissioning workshop

11/4/2008 2:06:00 PM

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Cellist Yo-Yo Ma with violinist Jonathan Gandelsman and percussionists Joseph Gramley, Shane Shanahan, Dong-Won Kim and Mark Suter

11/4/2008 2:06:00 PM

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The audience sat at the delegates’ tables in the high-ceilinged United Nations General Assembly Hall

11/4/2008 2:10:00 PM

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Following the concert, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Silk Road Project Artistic Director Yo-Yo Ma

11/4/2008 2:06:00 PM

New York, U.S. – United Nations Day Concert
October 24, 2008

Silk Road Ensemble musicians from 11 countries were honored to perform in the grand and spacious United Nations General Assembly Hall. The United Nations Day Concert is held annually to commemorate the founding of the UN in 1945, and this year’s celebration embodied the spirit of international collaboration and friendship to an unprecedented degree, as Ensemble members from China, India, Israel, Azerbaijan, Iran, Korea, Spain, Lebanon, Switzerland, the United States and Japan filled the stage for an hour of musical works that spanned the globe.

Anticipation mounted throughout the day, after a morning press briefing and rehearsal gave journalists a sneak peek at the performance and a chance to speak with Ma, CEO and Executive Director Laura Freid, pipa player Wu Man and tabla player Sandeep Das.

Performing with his fellow Ensemble members at the UN was particularly significant for Silk Road Project Artistic Director Yo-Yo Ma, who was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2006 for his "dedication to overcoming cultural differences and bridging gaps between nations and generations."

The evening began with remarks from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who noted, “Yo-Yo Ma is one of my Messengers of Peace, and I thank him for his outstanding contribution to global harmony and understanding through the universal language of music. I cannot think of a better way to express the rich tapestry of our United Nations than to draw on the heritages of the Silk Road countries, from the Mediterranean to the Pacific. I salute Yo-Yo Ma for this magnificent initiative.”

The wide-ranging program included improvisations, newly composed and traditional works, festive dance music and poignant laments. From the complex rhythms of Shristi, a piece for percussion by Sandeep Das, to stirring solos by Ma on cello and Wu Man on pipa, the music hit home with the audience of 1,800 UN staff and delegates.

An excerpt from Layla and Majnun—a new chamber arrangement by Johnny Gandelsman of an Azerbaijani mugham opera—was unlike anything most had heard before, and it left the hall in moved momentary silence. The concert finished with an audience favorite, Night at the Caravanserei, arranged by Shane Shanahan. With the audience on its feet, the percussionists and Wu Man ended the evening with an encore performance of Vocussion (vocal percussion), which was almost drowned out as the elated crowd clapped along.

The Silk Road Project is most grateful to the Pershing Square Foundation, without whose generous support this concert would not have been possible. China was the host country at the United Nations for the performance. The concert was recorded and was broadcast on WNYC’s Evening Music on Thanksgiving Day.

WNYC's Evening Music broadcast: 2008 United Nations Day Concert

More media coverage of the concert

Participating Artists

Jeffrey Beecher, contrabass
Nicholas Cords, viola
Sandeep Das, tabla
Jonathan Gandelsman, violin
Joseph Gramley, percussion
Rauf Islamov, kamancheh
Colin Jacobsen, violin
Kayhan Kalhor, kamancheh
Dong-Won Kim, jang-go and vocals
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Ali Asgar Mammadov, tar
Cristina Pato, Galician bagpipe
Alim Qasimov, mugham vocals
Fargana Qasimova, mugham vocals
Bassam Saba, oud and ney
Shane Shanahan, percussion
Mark Suter, percussion
Kojiro Umezaki, shakuhachi
Wu Man, pipa

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New York, U.S. – United Nations Day ConcertOctober 24, 2008

Participating Artists

New York, U.S. – United Nations Day Concert
October 24, 2008