UMass Fine Arts Center Concludes the 2020-21 Season with Virtual Concert Caravan on Thursday, April 29

Image
Members of the Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble
Members of the Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble

The UMass Fine Arts Center’s final performing arts presentation of the 2020-21 season is a virtual performance by the Silkroad Ensemble. The special hybrid of a prerecorded concert and live-streamed artist interaction takes place on Thursday, April 29, at 7 p.m. ET. Tickets are $12 per household or device and can be purchased from the FAC Box Office at fineartscenter.com or by calling 413-545-2511, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets allow patrons unlimited access to the show for 72 hours post performance.

Members of the Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble, together with special guests, present a program of solo and duo works, including original compositions, newly recorded arrangements, visual art and live improvisation. With pieces performed on the banjo, saxophone, Celtic harp, pipa, shakuhachi, tabla and more, this uniquely curated event highlights artistry with a global reach. The performance is interspersed with opportunities to hear Silkroad members talk about their pieces, and is followed by an interactive Q&A session in which select artists speak on a range of topics ranging from their musical influences to the future of the genre-bending, border-breaking social impact arts organization. Michi Wiancko, lead artist curator, has assembled an extensive roster for the UMass concert that includes Sandeep Das, tabla; Haruka Fujii, percussion; Rhiannon Giddens, banjo, voice, fiddle; Maeve Gilchrist, Celtic harp, voice; Shaw Pong Liu, violin, erhu; Danny Mekonnen, saxophone; Karen Ouzounian, cello; Kyle Sanna, guitar; Kojiro Umezaki, shakuhachi; Kaoru Watanabe, taiko, shinobue flutes; and Wu Man, pipa. Work from artists Kevork Mourad and Nomi Sasaki adds layers of visual context to the performance. Jamilla Deria, director of the UMass Fine Arts Center, joins Rhiannon Giddens, the artistic director of Silkroad, in a prerecorded conversation about the future of the ensemble. Patrons will have an opportunity to join in a live, post-show Q&A with Silkroad members by posting their questions in the comments.

Silkroad was conceived by the renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998 as a reminder that even as rapid globalization may result in division, it brings extraordinary possibilities for working together. Seeking to understand this dynamic, he recognized the historical Silk Road as a model for cultural collaboration – for the exchange of ideas, tradition, and innovation across borders. In a groundbreaking experiment, Yo-Yo Ma brought together musicians from the lands of the Silk Road to co-create a new artistic idiom: a musical language founded in difference, a metaphor for the benefits of a more connected world. This initial gathering of artists was rooted in a simple, initial question: “What happens when strangers meet?” And thus, Silkroad was born as both a touring ensemble comprised of world-class musicians from all over the globe and a social impact organization working to make a positive impact across borders through the arts.

Today, under the leadership of artistic director Rhiannon Giddens, Silkroad creates music that engages difference, sparking cultural collaboration and high-quality arts education to help build a more hopeful and inclusive world. The Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble thrills audiences worldwide with a collective of artists representing dozens of nationalities and artistic traditions, demonstrating how great beauty can emerge from great difference.

For more information, visit silkroad.org.

Visit fineartscenter.com for tickets and questions. The box office can be reached by email at facbox@umass.edu and by phone at 413-545-2511 or 800-999-UMAS, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Fine Arts Center hosts the Silkroad Ensemble with the support of Applewood Loomis Communities, Florence Bank, The Greenfield and Northampton Cooperative Bank,  Daily Hampshire Gazetteand Coca-Cola.The UMass Fine Arts Center is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts through the New England Arts Resilience Fund, part of the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund, an initiative of the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with major funding from the federal CARES Act from the National Endowment for the Arts.