The Silk Road Project Celebrates 15 Years with Carnegie Hall Performance by the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma

BOSTON, Sept. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Silk Road Project celebrates its 15^th anniversary with a Carnegie Hall performance by the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma on October 16th, and a new CD and DVD. The celebration will continue with concerts on three continents, including return engagements across North America, Europe and Asia, a full-length documentary and a culminating performance at Lincoln Center.

Founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998, the Silk Road Project is an international performing arts nonprofit with cultural and educational missions to promote innovation and learning through the arts. "The Project takes inspiration from the historical Silk Road trading routes, using the Silk Road as a modern metaphor for sharing and learning across cultures, art forms and disciplines," said Laura Freid, executive director and CEO.  "Look for a groundbreaking initiative to promote innovative cultural enterprise around the world that will be added over the next few months."

"Fifteen years after the Silk Road Project began, more than ever I feel that artists are society's unsung entrepreneurs and innovators. The values that artists bring to their work—collaboration, virtuosity, empathy, flexibility and innovation—are the very tools that will enable us to find solutions to the social, economic and political questions that concern us all. During the next fifteen years, we at the Silk Road Project look forward to doing our part to ensure that art and culture have a place at the table of public discourse," said Yo-Yo Ma, Artistic Director, Silk Road Project.

During the past 15 years, the Silk Road Project has undertaken major educational collaborations in Chicago, New York and Boston; co-created two best-selling social studies curricula; and offered diverse educational workshops and outreach programs, including the second annual "Arts and Passion-Driven Learning" institute presented this August in collaboration with Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Its current educational initiative is Silk Road Connect, an approach to learning in and through the arts that was launched in 2009 and is presently underway in New York City and Boston public schools.

"The Silk Road Project has never been content to repeat successes. During our 15^th anniversary, we will continue to take on new challenges that demand the skills and values that the arts instill. Now we are fortunate to have many ways of sharing our work, including a new CD and DVD from Sony Masterworks, as well as a documentary film in the works about Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble by director Morgan Neville," said Golnar Khosrowshahi, Board Chair and President.  "By reaching out to audiences around the world, we will be a catalyst for global citizenship and for broadening the role of arts in society—modeling a powerful message of cross-cultural exchange."

The Silk Road Ensemble has featured virtuoso artists from 20 nations; performed in 23 countries; commissioned more than 70 new works that are redefining classical music for the 21^st century; and recorded four CDs on Sony Classical, and one on World Village/In a Circle records that was nominated for a 2011 Grammy award. Its most recent CD "A Playlist Without Borders" and DVD "Live from Tanglewood" are being released in September in celebration of the Project's 15^th anniversary. Neville (20 Feet from Stardom) is director of both "Live from Tanglewood" and The Sound of Silk, the new documentary about the Ensemble, which is expected to be released in January 2015. Visit the Silk Road Project for further information about the new CD, DVD and documentary.

From October 20 to November 1, 2013, the Silk Road Ensemble will present a concert tour on the North American West Coast and conduct residencies at universities along the way. Tour cities include La Jolla, Northridge, Santa Barbara, Berkeley and Sonoma, California, and Vancouver, British Columbia.  For further information, visit the Silk Road Project calendar.

The Silk Road Project is grateful to its institutional partners, including Hyosung Corporation (Lead Sponsor), the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Pershing Square Foundation for enabling the Project to continue to promote innovation, education and cross-cultural understanding around the globe.

The Silk Road Project
The Silk Road Project is an internationally minded performing arts nonprofit with cultural and educational missions to promote innovation and learning through the arts. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma founded the Project in 1998 with a vision of connecting the world's neighborhoods by bringing together artists and audiences around the globe. The Project takes inspiration from the historical Silk Road trading routes, using the Silk Road as a modern metaphor for sharing and learning across cultures, art forms and disciplines. Under the artistic direction of Mr. Ma and the leadership of CEO and Executive Director Laura Freid, the Silk Road Project acts as an imagination platform, encouraging dialogue among artists and musicians, educators and entrepreneurs.

The Silk Road Ensemble
Hailed as "one of the 21^st century's great ensembles" by the Vancouver Sun, the Silk Road Ensemble draws together distinguished performers and composers from more than 20 countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Since the Ensemble formed under the artistic direction of Yo-Yo Ma in 2000, the group has explored contemporary musical crossroads, celebrating approaches to music from around the world and developing new repertoire that responds to the multicultural reality of our global society. The Silk Road Ensemble has performed to critical acclaim throughout Asia, Europe and North America and has recorded five albums. The Ensemble's most recent recording, Off the Map, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album in 2011.

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 soloist with orchestras worldwide and his recital and chamber music activities. In addition to founding and serving as artistic director of the Silk Road Project, Mr. Ma also is also the Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Institute for Learning, Access and Training. His work focuses on the transformative power music can have in individuals' lives, and on increasing the number and variety of opportunities audiences have to experience music in their communities.

Additional Media Resources
For more information on the Silk Road Ensemble, visit the Silk Road Project at http://silkroadproject.org or Opus 3 Artists at http://opus3artists.com.

SOURCE The Silk Road Project