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Percussionist's hands with mallets striking percussive bowls

© DAVID O’CONNOR

Silk Road Ensemble Instruments
Silk Road Ensemble musicians play a variety of instruments from around the world, some of them as simple as these percussion bowls. Some have origins in a single region; the development of others over time illustrates the interactions among cultures along the historical Silk Road.

Empire State of Mind



Yo-Yo Ma and members of the Silk Road Ensemble surprised students at our "Connect Live!" celebration of learning in June by performing an interpretation of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' hit "Empire State of Mind." The song capped a day of creative student performances in the American Museum of Natural History's Milstein Hall of Ocean Life.

Silk Road Ensemble cellist Mike Block, music director for the event, arranged "Empire State of Mind" for Western strings, percussion, oud, gaita and guitar. "Connect Live!" concluded the first pilot year of Silk Road Connect, a multidisciplinary education program that brings professional musicians and artists to classrooms. By creating opportunities for hands-on experiences and providing teachers with resources to connect various subjects in the existing sixth-grade curriculum, Silk Road Connect aims to spark a lifelong passion for learning.

The Silk Road Project is conducting Silk Road Connect in middle schools during the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years by invitation from the New York City Department of Education.

"In my experience, musicians and teachers share a common goal: to communicate in a way that is memorable, that transports their audience. Transformative learning remains active in students' minds and connects to future experiences."
– YO-YO MA
Artistic Director