3/16
Special Event
Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble
Saturday, March 16, 2013, 8:00 pm
Hill Auditorium
Ford Honors Program
So, what did you think? People are talking on the UMS Lobby. Share your thoughts.
The Silk Road Ensemble
Yo-Yo Ma, Artistic Director
Jeffrey Beecher, contrabass
Sandeep Das, tabla
Joseph Gramley, percussion
Colin Jacobsen, violin
Kayhan Kalhor, kamancheh
Cristina Pato, gaita, piano
Mark Suter, percussion
Yang Wei, pipa
Nicholas Cords, viola
Johnny Gandelsman, violin
Hu Jianbing, sheng
Eric Jacobsen, cello
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Shane Shanahan, percussion
Kojiro Umezaki, shakuhachi
Can music nurture a deeper understanding? Yo-Yo Ma thinks it can: “I believe that when we enlarge our view of the world, we deepen our understanding of our own lives and culture.”
“Yo-Yo Ma is part modern Marco Polo, an explorer of cultures far beyond his own; part musical missionary, eager to share ideas and make vital connections between peoples.” (Chicago Tribune) Founded by Yo-Yo Ma in 1998, the Silk Road Project is about “seeing the world’s multiple perspectives, stirring the imagination, getting people to dream.” It has been a catalyst for a new kind of conversation, opening avenues of inter-cultural communication and collaborative thinking. For about 2,000 years the Silk Road was the main conduit for the spread and exchange of goods, ideas, religions, and culture, connecting people from Asia to the Mediterranean. The collective is drawn from internationally renowned musicians who share traditions from various cultures and develop and perform new music and multimedia pieces, exploring and expanding contemporary music crossroads. Yo-Yo Ma believes that “when we enlarge our view of the world, we deepen our understanding of our own lives and culture.”
At this concert, Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project will be recognized as recipients of the 2013 UMS Distinguished Artist Awards, presented as part of the Ford Honors Program. Details about the gala dinner to benefit UMS education and community engagement programs is available here.
The Ford Honors Program recognizes the longtime and generous support of UMS’s education and community engagement programs by
Program:
Silk Road Suite
| Improvisation | Wandering Winds |
| Giovanni Sollima | La Camera Bianca from Viaggio in Italia |
| Shane Shanahan | Saidi Swing |
| Sapo Perapaskero | Turceasca |
| Jia Daqun | The Prospect of Colored Desert* |
| Vijay Iyer | Playlist for an Extreme Occasion* |
| Colin Jacobsen | Beloved, do not let me be discouraged… |
| Kojiro Umezaki | seasons continue, as if none of this ever happened |
| John Zorn | Suite from Book of Angels (arr. Silk Road Ensemble)** |
*Commissioned by the Silk Road Project
**Arrangements commissioned by the Silk Road Project
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. His discography includes over 75 albums, including more than 15 Grammy Award winners. He is a UN Messenger of Peace and a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts & the Humanities.
This performance mark Yo-Yo Ma’s eleventh appearance with UMS. He made his Hill Auditorium debut in April 1982 at the 89th Annual Ann Arbor May Festival with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy. Since then, he appeared with the Cracow Philharmonic conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki, and has given six solo recitals in Hill Auditorium. He most recently appeared with the Silk Road Ensemble in March 2009.
The Silk Road Project was started in 1998 by Yo-Yo Ma to encourage deeper understanding of other cultures and beliefs. His hope was that we might better address our cultural differences if we had a greater appreciation for what we share in common.
UMS welcomes back the Silk Road Ensemble. The Ensemble last performed as part of the 2008-2009 UMS season.
2/2: Hill Auditorium Celebration
2/18: UMS Night School Session 7: Yo-Yo Ma, Classical Crossover, and the Future of Hill
Performance trailer
eNews Signup
