About

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 Project presents performances by the acclaimed Silk Road Ensemble, holds cross-cultural exchanges and residencies, leads workshops for students, and partners with prominent cultural institutions to create educational programs and materials. Silk Road Connect, the Project’s multidisciplinary arts-integrated approach to education, works with students and teachers to inspire passion-driven learning.

The Silk Road Ensemble draws together distinguished performers and composers from more than 20 countries. The group formed under the artistic direction of cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 2000 to celebrate the multiplicity of approaches to music from around the world, balancing tradition and innovation, knowing deeply and sharing broadly. Called a “roving musical laboratory without walls” by the Boston Globe, the Ensemble has recorded five albums and performed to critical acclaim throughout Asia, Europe and North America.

Developing new music is a central undertaking of the Silk Road Project, which has been involved in commissioning and performing more than 70 new musical and multimedia works from composers and arrangers around the world.

For more information on the Silk Road Project, visit http://silkroadproject.org.