Silkroad, formerly the Silk Road Project, Inc., is a not-for-profit organization, initiated by the cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998, promoting collaboration among artists and institutions, promoting multicultural artistic exchange, and studying the ebb and flow of ideas. The project was first inspired by the cultural traditions of the historical Eurasian Silk Road trade routes and now encompasses a number of artistic, cultural and educational programs focused on connecting people and ideas from around the world.On the Silk Road again – Harvard Gazette It has been described as an "arts and educational organization that connects musicians, composers, artists and audiences around the world"Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble Return to Japan — World Music Central, February 15, 2008. and "an initiative to promote multicultural artistic collaboration."Follow the mellow Silk Road with Yo-Yo and his cello — The Irish Independent, August 23, 2008.
In July 2020, Rhiannon Giddens took over from Yo-Yo Ma as artistic director.
Recent events In 2009, Silkroad began an educational pilot program for middle-school students in New York City public schools.Chancellor and Yo-Yo Ma Launch Partnership to Enrich Middle School Instruction — New York City Department of Education press release The Silk Road Connect program focuses on passion-driven education through arts integration and is being developed with help from education experts at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.Yo-Yo Ma visits HGSE with Silk Road Project — Harvard Graduate School of Education News, October 20, 2009. In July 2012, Silkroad and Harvard Graduate School of Education presented "The Arts and Passion-Driven Learning," an arts education institute that modeled the Silk Road Connect arts integration approach."Inspiring as well as educating: Musicians, Ed School leaders probe teaching methods that turn 'have to' into 'want to'" — Harvard Gazette, August 3, 2012. The program has continued each year since.
In celebration of its 10th anniversary, Silkroad presented performances and programs by the Silk Road Ensemble in North America, Asia and Europe from 2008 to 2010. Its anniversary season began with the Silk Road Ensemble's performance with Yo-Yo Ma of the United Nations Day Concert in October 2008.Oestreich, James. Silk Road Project Turns 10 — The New York Times, October 26, 2008. Tenth-anniversary activities also included a North American concert tour by the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma in March 2009, which featured the North American premiere of Layla and Majnun, a chamber arrangement for the Silk Road Ensemble of a traditional Azerbaijani opera.For the love of Layla: Yo-Yo Ma's Ensemble creates a version of Layla and Majnun — The New York Times, February 27, 2009.
The organization has published a book, Along the Silk Road, and commissioned more than 70 new chamber music compositions.Commissioned Works — The Silk Road Project Silkroad has also created educational materials entitled "Silk Road Encounters" and has partnered with the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) to produce Along the Silk Road, a curriculum for students in grades six-10,New Curriculum Brings Cultural Exchange to Chicago Classrooms — Silk Road Project Newsletter, Summer 2007. and The Road to Beijing, a documentary made available with related lessons about Beijing in advance of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.Program packages primer on Beijing in time for Games — Stanford News Service, July 9, 2008.
Partnerships Silkroad is affiliated with Harvard University; the organization moved its offices to the Harvard campus in Boston, Massachusetts, in July 2010, at the outset of a renewed five-year affiliation with the University designed to enable new artistic and cultural opportunities at Harvard and in surrounding communities.Silk Road Project moves to Harvard: New Allston headquarters will expand campus and community arts education, strengthen partnership — Harvard Gazette, April 13, 2010. Silkroad has been affiliated with both Harvard University and the Rhode Island School of Design in the USA, where the Silk Road Ensemble engaged with faculty and students in annual residencies.Silk Road Project, RISD and Harvard announce educational collaborations — press release Silkroad's partnership with the Rhode Island School of Design took place from 2005 through 2010.Silk Road Project ends tie to RISD — Providence Journal, April 14, 2010. As part of Silkroad programming, the Silk Road Ensemble has also been involved in short-term residencies at Museum Rietberg in Zurich, Switzerland; The Art Institute of Chicago; University of California, Santa Barbara;Exploring the Silk Road: History Cultural and Social Exchange — Silk Road Ensemble at UCSB residency brochure Rubin Museum of Art in New York City; Nara National Museum in Nara, Japan; the Peabody Essex MuseumCreative Exchanges: Sights and Sounds of the Silk Road — PEM residency archive in Salem, Massachusetts; and the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto.
The Music of Strangers The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble is a documentary film about Silkroad directed by Morgan Neville. The film was released in U.S. theaters starting in June 2016. The Orchard has acquired all worldwide rights to the film with the exception of U.S. domestic television rights, which HBO has acquired. Reviews of the documentary included: Rotten Tomatoes 85%; Washington Post 3/4; and, 7/10 IMDb.
The Silk Road Ensemble
The Silk Road Ensemble is a musical collective and a part of Silkroad. The ensemble is not a fixed group of musicians, but rather a loose collective of as many as 59 musicians, composers, arrangers, visual artists and storytellers from Eurasian cultures.
The Ensemble has regularly commissioned new works from across a broad musical spectrum, including works by Zhao Jiping and Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky, and is known for its series of interdisciplinary festivals and residencies presented in North America, Europe, and Asia. They have performed in many locations along the historic Silk Road, including Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, India, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan.
The Ensemble uses various instruments from the Silk Road region, including a pipa, a Chinese short-necked plucked lute; a duduk, an Armenian double reed woodwind; a Shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute; and a morin khuur, a Mongolian horse head fiddle; among many others.
Discography The Silk Road Ensemble has recorded ten CDs. The group's 2009 CD Off the Map was nominated in the Best Classical Crossover Album category at the 53rd Grammy Awards in 2011.Small Labels, Superhuman Symphony Dominate Classical Grammy Nominations — Deceptive Cadence from NPR Classical, December 2, 2010 Their 2016 CD Sing Me Home won Best World Music Album at the 59th Grammy Awards in 2017.Grammy Awards 2017 : The Full List Of Winners : The Two-Way — NPR.org, February 12, 2017
2001 - Silk Road Journey: When Strangers Meet 2005 - Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon (released earlier in Japan in 2004 titled Enchantment) 2007 - New Impossibilities 2008 - Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago 2009 - Off the Map 2013 - A Playlist Without Borders 2016 - Sing Me Home 2017 - The Vietnam War: A Film By Ken Burns & Lynn Novick [soundtrack] 2020 - Falling Out of Time 2024 - American Railroad
Members In addition to Ma, performing members of the ensemble include:
Siamak Aghaei - santur/composer Edward Arron - cello Kinan Azmeh - clarinet Jeffrey Beecher - double bass Mike Block - cello Nicholas Cords - viola Gevorg Dabaghyan - duduk Sandeep Das - tabla/composer Joel Fan - piano Haruka Fujii - percussion Jonathan Gandelsman - violin Joseph Gramley - percussion/composer Ben Haggarty - storyteller He Cui - sheng Hu Jianbing - sheng, bawu Rauf Islamov - kamancheh Colin Jacobsen - violin/composer Siamak Jahangiry - ney Kayhan Kalhor - kamancheh/composer Ganbaatar Khongorzul - urtiin duu (long song) Dong-Won Kim - janggo, vocals/composer Ji Hyun Kim - kayagum, vocals You-Young Kim - viola Li Hui - pipa Liu Lin - sanxian Ali Asgar Mammadov - tar Max Mandel - viola Gulia Mashurova - harp Kevork Mourad - visual artist Cristina Pato - Galician bagpipe /composer Alim Qasimov - mugham vocals Farghana Qasimova - mugham vocals Bassam Saba - oud, ney/composer Shane Shanahan - percussion/composer Mark Suter - percussion/composer Kojiro Umezaki - shakuhachi/composer Wu Man - pipa Wu Tong - sheng, bawu/composer Betti Xiang - erhu Yang Wei - pipa DaXun Zhang - double bassSilk Road Ensemble list — The Silk Road Project Reylon Yount - yangqin Jason Duckles - Cello
Silk Road Ensemble composers and arrangers include:
Rabih Abou-Khalil Christopher Adler Franghiz Ali-Zadeh Jia Daqun Gabriela Lena Frank Osvaldo Golijov Jeeyoung Kim Glenn Kotche Angel Lam Alisher Latif-Zadeh Ljova (Lev Zhurbin) Nurlanbek Nyshanov Sangidorjiin Sansargereltekh Vache Sharafyan Byambasuren Sharav Giovanni Sollima Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky Zhao Jiping Zhao Lin Evan ZiporynSilk Road Ensemble list — The Silk Road Project
Silk Road Chicago
Silk Road Chicago was a citywide celebration, from June 2006 to June 2007, with special events, performances, and exhibitions that explored cross-cultural discovery and celebrated the artistic legacy of the historic Silk Road. Silk Road Chicago was a partnership among Silkroad, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Chicago Office of Tourism, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and The Art Institute of Chicago.
References
External links Silkroad Instruments from the Silk Road Artists associated with the Silk Road Ensemble Silk Road Chicago Article from The World & I about Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project Interview with Yo-Yo Ma about the Silk Road Project - Weekend America