Museum residency in Switzerland draws record crowds

The Ensemble engages audiences at the Lucerne Festival and Museum Rietberg in Zürich

Zürich’s Tages-Anzeiger called the Silk Road Ensemble’s Lucerne concerts “insistent, imaginative, respectful…an experience—and not only a musical one” © Will Kracher 2007

The museum’s internationally renowned collection of Asian art was much more than a backdrop for concerts. Silk Road Project staff and Ensemble members collaborated closely with Museum Rietberg’s curators and educators to present an array of programs from multimedia performances to school workshops to interactive story tours that encouraged visitors to explore connections among cultures and between art and music.

“We all at the museum were enchanted by the music, the stories and especially the friendliness and enthusiasm of all of the people involved in this project,” said Museum Rietberg’s director Dr. Albert Lutz.

Daily gallery programs featured the arts, music and poetry of Japan, China and Persia. Ensemble members Siamak Jahangiry and Siamak Aghaei of Iran took a break from performing to demonstrate calligraphy, and storyteller Ben Haggarty presented adult audiences with “The Amorous Adventures of Krishna,” stories of passion and seduction based on Indian miniatures in the museum’s collection.

On September 1, the annual Lange Nacht der Museen (the Museums’ Long Night, for which cultural institutions in Zürich remain open till 2 a.m.) drew a record crowd of more than 4,600 to the Museum Rietberg.

At midnight came “The Afterlife: Sounding the Nao Bell,” a new work inspired by a unique opportunity to ring a centuries-old Shang Dynasty bell in the museum’s collection.

Silk Road Ensemble member Sandeep Das © Will Kracher 2007

Musicians had arrived with ideas for the piece, but adjusted the composition once they heard the bell, which had two tones—a C and a D—but rang softly. Eventually, Ensemble members used melodies for sheng, pipa and cello to bookend spare, improvised percussion that augmented the bell’s clear ring.

Another program saved for this extended evening was “108 at 1:08 a.m.,” a meditative improvisation on the significance of the number 108 in Hinduism, Taoism and Buddhism, composed and performed by Ensemble member Kojiro Umezaki on shakuhachi.

“To see, hear and feel the music and the art inspiring each other was a revelation,” said Alexandra Von Przychowski, the museum’s assistant curator for Chinese art. “Our art cannot be brought to life more beautifully.”