Windy City museums and concert halls abuzz with excitement

This article is the second in a series describing Silk Road Chicago, the Silk Road Project’s yearlong partnership with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Together, the partners offer a series of cross-cultural performances, exhibitions, demonstrations, and events that celebrate the artistic legacy of the legendary trade route. Chicago is the first city in the world to collaborate with the Silk Road Project in this way.

Azerbaijani vocalist Alim Qasimov, center, dazzled listeners with his mugham presentation.

The Windy City’s cultural institutions teemed with energy during the Silk Road Ensemble’s most recent Silk Road Chicago sojourns.

Opening ceremonies for the Art Institute of Chicago’s new exhibition, The Silk Road and Beyond: Travel, Trade and Transformation, on September 30 found Ensemble percussionists taking center stage between the iconographic bronze lions on the museum’s front steps to welcome the crowd. Ensemble musicians performed throughout the Art Institute that day, and museum attendance matched a record high. On November 5, Ensemble musicians representing Azerbaijan, Armenia, Israel, Japan, and the United States presented a free concert in conjunction with the University of Chicago’s Middle East Music Ensemble. Nearly 500 people flocked to the university’s Mandel Hall to hear the groups perform individually, then together in a rousing finish. Ensemble member Kevork Mourad, a visual artist, responded spontaneously to the music: As his line drawings took shape, they where projected onto a large screen above the stage and morphed into an animated sequence of a woman dancing in the strains.

Nearly every selection received a standing ovation, but Azerbaijani vocalist Alim Qasimov seemed to dazzle the audience most. Qasimov, a beloved “living national treasure” in his country, is an internationally recognized interpreter and teacher of mugham – Azerbaijan’s centuries-old tradition of blending music and poetry.

To provide a way for children to engage with Silk Road Chicago programming, the Silk Road Project launched Express Passport on November 6 at the Children’s Museum, where Chicago Public School students eagerly stepped up to be the first to experience the broad range of cultural activities offered by partner institutions.

- Nick Harkin