The Ensemble, featuring virtuoso musicians from 11 different countries, will perform in the new and highly-praised Alice Tully Hall with two multi-cultural programs June 5 and 6 including the New York premiere of Giovanni Sollimas The Taranta Project.
On June 9, in celebration of Lincoln Center's 50th Anniversary, the Ensemble with Ma will perform a special FREE concert in Damrosch Park, which will be broadcast on PBS on the Emmy Award-winning Live From Lincoln Center.
Currently celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Silk Road Project under Artistic Director Yo-Yo Ma connects the world's neighborhoods by bringing together artists and audiences from around the globe. The three Lincoln Center performances will feature several works commissioned for the Silk Road Project Ritmos Anchinos by US composer Gabriela Lena Frank; Sulvasutra by US composer Evan Ziporyn; Empty Mountain, Spirit Rain by Hong Kong composer Angel Lam; Path of Parables by Uzbek composer Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky; and Uzeyir Hajibeyov's Layla and Majnun, a multimedia chamber arrangement of a beloved Central Asian opera based on a seventh-century Arabian tale of ill-fated love.
Educational programs are an integral component of the Silk Road Project, and it recently launched a two-year program with the New York City Department of Education featuring teacher training, musical instruction, and multidisciplinary lessons from the Along the Silk Road curriculum. Approximately one thousand educators and students from New York City public schools will be invited to a special dress rehearsal of the Silk Road Ensemble with Ma at Lincoln Center. This is part of Campaign for Middle School Success, announced by the NYC in 2008 to improve the academic performance of middle-school students across the city.
Tickets for the two concerts in Alice Tully Hall, priced at $60, $80, and $100, are available at the Alice Tully and Avery Fisher Hall box offices, Broadway at 65th Street, by calling CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, or by visiting Lincoln Centers website at www.LincolnCenter.org.
For more information about the FREE concert in Damrosch Park, please visit www.LincolnCenter.org.
About the Silk Road Project
The Silk Road Project is a not-for-profit artistic, cultural and educational organization with a vision of connecting the world's neighborhoods by bringing together artists and audiences around the globe. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma founded the Project in 1998 as a catalyst to promote innovation and learning through the arts. The Silk Road Project takes inspiration from the historical Silk Road trading route as a modern metaphor for multicultural and interdisciplinary exchange. Under the artistic direction of Mr. Ma and the executive direction of Laura Freid, the Silk Road Project presents performances by the Silk Road Ensemble, engages in cross-cultural exchanges and residencies, leads workshops for students, and partners with leading cultural institutions to create educational materials and programs. The Silk Road Project is affiliated with Harvard University and Rhode Island School of Design, where the Silk Road Ensemble holds regular residencies to promote cross-cultural and interdisciplinary interaction with students and faculty. Developing new music is a central mission of the Silk Road Project, which has been involved in commissioning and performing more than 60 new musical and multimedia works from composers and arrangers from around the world.
About Yo-Yo Ma
The many-faceted career of cellist Yo-Yo Ma is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Mr. Ma maintains a balance between his engagements as a soloist with orchestras worldwide and his recital and chamber music activities. His discography encompasses more than 75 albums, including 16 Grammy Award winners.
One of Mr. Ma's goals is the investigation of music as a means of communication and a vehicle for the migration of ideas; in 1998 he established the Silk Road Project to promote the study of cultural, artistic and intellectual traditions along the ancient Silk Road trade routes.
Mr. Ma was born in Paris to Chinese parents who later moved the family to New York. He began to study the cello at the age of four, attended The Juilliard School, and in 1976 graduated from Harvard University. He has received numerous awards, including the 1978 Avery Fisher Prize, the 1999 Glenn Gould Prize, the 2001 National Medal of Arts, the 2006 Sonning Prize, the 2006 Dan David Prize, and the 2008 World Economic Forum's Crystal Award. In 2006, he was designated a United Nations Messenger of Peace by then Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In 2007, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon extended his appointment.
About the Silk Road Ensemble
The Silk Road Ensemble is a collective of internationally renowned musicians, composers, arrangers, visual artists and storytellers from more than 20 countries. Each Ensemble member's career illustrates a unique response to what is one of the artistic challenges of our times: nourishing global connections while maintaining the integrity of art rooted in authentic tradition.
Many of the musicians first came together under the artistic direction of Yo-Yo Ma at a workshop at Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts in 2000. Since then, in various configurations, Ensemble artists have collaborated on a diverse range of musical and multimedia projects, presenting innovative performances that explore the relationship between tradition and innovation in music from the East and West. The Silk Road Ensemble has recorded four albums and performed to critical acclaim throughout Asia, Europe and North America.
Support for Great Performers is provided by Suzie and Bruce Kovner, Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser, The Florence Gould Foundation, Movado, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc., The Shubert Foundation, Robert and Anne Essner, Mitsubishi International Corporation, The Winston Foundation, The Geoffrey C. Hughes Foundation, The French-American Fund for Contemporary Music, Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, J.C.C. Fund, Great Performers Circle, Chairman's Council, and Friends of Lincoln Center.
Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Corporate support is provided by The Bank of New York Mellon.
Endowment support is provided by UBS.
Movado is an Official Sponsor of Lincoln Center, Inc.
WNBC/WNJU are Official Broadcast Partners of Lincoln Center, Inc.
Continental Airlines is the Official Airline of Lincoln Center, Inc.
Nokia is the Official Mobile Equipment Provider of Lincoln Center, Inc.
MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center, Inc.
Great Performers is a presentation of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA), which serves three primary roles: presenter of superb artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. As a presenter of over 400 events annually, LCPA's programs include American Songbook, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Midsummer Night Swing, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and Live From Lincoln Center. In addition, LCPA is leading a series of major capital projects on behalf of the resident organization across the campus.
Lincoln Center is committed to providing and improving accessibility for people with disabilities. For information, call the Department of Programs and Services for People with Disabilities at (212) 875-5375.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
