MUSIC

Society for the Performing Arts (SPA), presents Yo-Yo Ma with The Silk Road Ensemble, at 8pm, Saturday, April 2, 2011 in Wortham Center's Brown Theater. Part of the 2010-2011 "Experience the Magic" Season CenterPoint Energy Music Series.

For centuries, the great trade route from China to the Mediterranean exposed its participants to the cultures and sensibilities of foreign peoples. In that same tradition, the Silk Road Project uses music to promote innovation and learning through the arts and bring different cultures together. Or as they put it, “connect the world’s neighborhoods.”

The Silk Road Ensemble, under the artistic direction of Yo-Yo Ma (pictured), is a group of internationally renowned musicians, composers, visual artists and storytellers from more than 20 countries. They each bring their own unique perspectives steeped in the musical culture and heritage of their homelands. Then they explore how these rich, authentic traditions can blend to form beautiful new art.

Their collaborations have produced a diverse range of musical and multimedia projects, several critically acclaimed albums, and along the way, have made the world a little bit smaller and smarter.

Yo-Yo Ma was born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris. He began to study the cello with his father at age four and soon came with his family to New York, where he spent most of his formative years. Later, his principal teacher was Leonard Rose at the Juilliard School. He sought out a traditional liberal arts education to expand upon his conservatory training, graduating from Harvard University in 1976.

He has received numerous awards, including the Avery Fisher Prize (1978), the Glenn Gould Prize (1999), the National Medal of the Arts (2001), the Dan David Prize (2006), the Sonning Prize (2006), and the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award (2008). Appointed a CultureConnect Ambassador by the United States Department of State in 2002, Yo-Yo Ma has met with, trained and mentored thousands of students worldwide including Lithuania, Korea, Lebanon, Azerbaijan and China.

He has performed with and conducted master classes for members of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra. In 2006, Secretary General Kofi Annan named him a U.N. Messenger of Peace and in 2007 Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon extended his appointment.